Monday, July 26th

We took a train ride to the top of Pikes Peak. At 14,115 ft it was definitely chilly!

Madison found a flower to put in her hair before we boarded the train.

Sandy, Ryan, Madison, Bodi, and Brady on the Cog Railway.

One of the amazing views from the peak!

A picture of one of the cog railway cars which are made in Switzerland.

We could barely get them to stand still for a picture they were so cold!

Group photo!

We stopped in Mantitou Springs and did a little shopping and played at a park.

On the way to dinner at the Flyin’ W. Ranch we stopped by the Air Force Academy for just a bit. Ryan and Sandy have both taught classes at the academy.

Sunday, July 25th

We went to church and then headed out to the Royal Gorge. Pictures cannot do this place justice!

This is one of the world's highest suspension bridges and it hangs over the Arkansas River. 

They have all 50 states' flags flying on the bridge so we stopped for a family photo in front of the Illinois flag.

The bridge was made of a lot of wooden slats.  Some of the gaps were a bit too big for my liking.  Here is a photo looking through one such crack.

We rode in the aerial tram.  It is more than 1,100 fee above the canyon floor and is the world's longest single-span Aerial Tram.  You can see our tram shadow on the rocks.

Here you can see the tram off in the distance.

We also road in the world's steepest incline railway down over 1500 feet to the canyon floor.

Bodi calls Justin Uncle Jusseee and it is so darn cute.  He loves Uncle Jusseee's tractors and camper bus!

When we got back to the house Madison decided to relax in the hot tub.  Check out the view behind here.  Imagine how gorgeous it would be in the winter when the peaks are snow capped!

Saturday, July 24th

We headed out of the campground by 11:00 and headed to Florence, Colorado. This is where we met up with Ryan, Sandy, and Bodi True and headed on to their house – the Twin Creek Hacienda. They currently use this is a vacation rental. But in 15 months when Sandy retires from the Air Force, they will make this their permanent location. The views from their house were breathtaking! It still just blows our mind that we met the True’s in Vladivostock, Russia. We are so blessed by their friendship.

Off the back porch having lunch!

I will probably have this picture enlarged.  I love it!

View from the valley looking up at the house.

The Overstreet family of 5... for now :o)

Bodi and Blake!

After walking down a trail from their house, we went to the local county rodeo. I learned about muttin’ bustin’ – I think that was what it was called. Brady and Madison decided to enter the sheep scramble. They both decided that the sheep were too fast, kicked to hard, and they smelled bad!

Friday, July 23rd

We made our way to Colorado Springs. We stopped at a place called Ghost Town so the kids could ‘pan’ for gold. It was a complete tourist trap and boring. We then decided to go to Garden of the Gods. Who knew that we would enjoy rocks so much?!?! It was on top of these rocks that we began to fall in love with Colorado!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

9:00 a.m. we finally woke up from a surprisingly good night’s sleep and left the rest area by 10. It was extremely windy. By 12:30 we were in Lebanon, Kansas. This is the geographic center of the continental United States. It was a tiny rural town (smaller than Roseville/Colchester – kinda like Good Hope). We stopped at a gas station and the ‘locals’ were sitting in lawn chairs inside drinking coffee. They gave us the directions to the monument that actually marks the center. Below are some pictures.

I found myself getting a little teary-eyed as we were in the chapel and standing outside looking at the crosses. All three kids truly thought this little place was cool and really appreciated it. I think we may have one or possibly two more years of Brady enjoying time with us and enjoying this type of thing. It won’t be long and everything we say and do will be dumb and annoying to him. It really was a sweet family moment. In the chapel there were free wooden crosses that the kids could have and each one had a scripture engraved on it. We looked them up when we got back in the camper and Brady’s comment was “Wow mom, it is crazy how each scripture is perfect for the person who got it.” Funny how that works! There was also a comment box in the chapel and each one of us wrote something. My comment was “Thank you for such a simple pleasure in a complicated world.”

 

We then headed to Cawker City, Kansas – home of the world’s largest ball of twine. We each took a guess at how much twine was used to make the ball. The winner got $1.

Blake: 1 mile
Madison: 99 miles
Brady: 700 miles
Justin: 388 miles
Heather: 276 miles
The actual measurement was 7,801,766 feet or 1,477.6 miles. Brady won!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Documentation for the kids when they get older!

Today we left for our family vacation to Colorado in the Fleetwood Mac. Actually it is a 1994 Fleetwood camper that Justin got a ‘killer deal’ on. This is our first time vacationing in a camper and being out-doorsey.

We were supposed to leave at 9:00 a.m. and finally made it out of the house at 9:40. We forgot a booster seat for Blake and decided to stop at Grandma and Grandpa’s house to pick up one of theirs. We pulled in and scraped the top of the Fleetwood with a tree branch but thankfully didn’t put a hole in it! Of course everyone was at work so we didn’t even get the seat from the house. We stopped at Grandma’s work in Roseville and got the seat from her van. At 10:30 we were FINALLY on the road for real and the Fleetwood starting shaking like crazy. At this point we were only 30 miles from home!! Thankfully after slowing down and nearly coming to a stop the shaking miraculously fixed itself.

11:50 we make a stop at Walgreens in Peoria to pick up a prescription we about forgot.

Noon: Madison and Blake are fighting and Madison claims “This is the worst vacation ever!”

We finally met up with Justin’s brother, Jake, to have lunch with him for his birthday. At 1:40 we were on the road to Springfield to have documents apostilled for the adoption. We arrive at 3:05 and by 4:10 all 25 of our documents were done! We made it to the post office in time to get them set off to World Links in Pennsylvania. By 4:40 we were not only on the road again, but actually headed west! Madison had also decided she was done fighting with Blake for awhile and was helping him learn his colors. At 11 p.m. we stopped in Fairview, Kansas at a rest area and slept for the night. It was a first for all of us!

Before leaving home...

A little snack!  Yummmm!

Blake says, "This trip make me so happy!"

Night Night

Blake’s Readoption is complete!

Today has been a day of great news. One piece of good news that I can pass on to other PAP’s is that we got a message today from one of our facilitators in Russia. They are expecting families in July and August. So it doesn’t sound like there will be two months worth of ‘off’ time -- for vacations anyway.

Today was our court date for Blake’s readoption hearing. It lasted about 5 minutes. Justin was the only one that had to take the stand. He just had to say yes. Yes he is married, yes we live at…, yes we wish to readopt Blake, yes, yes, yes. Then the judge just asked me if I am Heather and if I agreed with all of the answers that Justin gave. Very simple. We should have certified copies of his new ‘birth’ certificate in a few weeks.

Blake 'took the stand' after we were all done.  We explained that this is the only time we would like to see him on the stand!  :o)

Blake with the judge.  This judge is retiring and this in one of the last cases he will be hearing.

In other exciting news, my sister Glennda found out today that she gets to start a new job on Monday and some of the most exciting news….. my youngest sister Dyan found out today that she is pregnant with TWINS!! We are so excited for our family!