Our last day of school comes pretty late here in Washington, so as soon as school let out on June 17th, it was time to hit the road to the Berbert family reunion in Colorado Springs! I had taken the week off work, so we decided to make a long road trip out of it.
First stop, Meridian, Idaho. My sister let us crash at her place Friday night, and Lily was so excited to play with her little cousin Emmaline!
In the morning, we headed to our next stop in Utah at my parent's house. We spent a few days hanging out, playing at the park, shopping at Station Park, and eating In and Out burgers. We also got to celebrate Father's Day on Sunday with Drew and my Dad. Drew made his own fruit pizza to celebrate.
On Tuesday it was finally time to get the real party started, and we couldn't wait to get there! We left at 5 AM in the morning to make it to the Great Wolf Lodge in Colorado Springs at the earliest possibly opportunity to check in and start swimming. As soon as we arrived we were greeted by some other early arrivers in the extended family, and then we headed straight to the waterpark to ride slides and play in the wave pool.
The rest of my immediate family arrived a few hours later. (Minus Marc and Kelly who couldn't come and who we missed tremendously!) We showered and headed to Chuy's for dinner, because as soon as I heard there was a Chuy's nearby I couldn't wait to devour some chips and creamy jalapeno and reminisce about our early years in Austin.
Little Emmaline was also a fan of the creamy jalapeno sauce.
We spent the rest of the evening exploring GWL, and playing late night games with the family.
In the morning we hung out with the other early risers until it was time for our family's traditional morning cereal bar to open. Then we headed back to the waterpark as soon as it opened at 10 AM to spend a whole day riding slides, swimming, hanging out in the cabana with family, and having so much fun!
In the evening, we took Lily to do the ropes course and rock climbing wall, then watched the sunset with my parents, and played a round of "What do you meme?" while awaiting the traditional "midnight" donut run. My cousin was able to convince GWL to open the Dunkin Donuts for us at 9:30 PM so we could all gather, swear in new family members and eat donuts, of course.
After another sleep, we headed to the beautiful Garden of the Gods in the morning. The kids enjoyed the visitors center, and we did a short trail out to the stunning rock formations and back.
We snuck in a quick swim after hiking, then met up with the rest of the family at a local church building for a catered lunch and our family talent show. It was as enjoyable as ever, and Lily participated by playing a piano piece she's been learning.
In the evening, we played with cousins, had a really late pizza dinner, and then stayed up past our bedtimes for a final night of games with the family.
In the morning we joined everyone for one last cereal breakfast, and then started our road trip back home. The drive went quickly, if not altogether smoothly, as we hit a ripped truck tire in southern Utah that tore off the front bumper, undercarriage cover and back spoiler on it's way under our car. (Luckily the car still ran fine, and we were all safe, unfortunately the auto body shops near us are all booked out for weeks, so that's still on ongoing saga. )
Anyhow, we made it back to my parent's house by dinner, and spent the next two nights there. On Sunday morning Drew and I headed back home, and left the kids behind to spend a couple fun weeks with their grandparents.
Another awesome Berbert reunion in the books!
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