Denver, CO

In November, I had a conference presentation to give in Denver, Colorado, and, since Naomi still flies free, she and Drew came along for the fun!

Emilie and Michael - friends from our time in Utah - now live in Colorado and generously invited us to stay with them. Their daughter, Mackenzie, is just a couple of months older than Naomi, so bunking with them promised to be way more fun for all of us than the confines of a hotel room. So, we rented a minivan at the airport (actually, the rental place was a few miles and three shuttle buses away from the airport; now we know why their rates were so low...) and headed to their apartment outside of the city. Emilie works in downtown Denver, right across the street from the conference hotel, so I carpooled with her, while Drew and Michael hung out with our girls (and Michael worked on his dissertation) during the day. Mackenzie and Naomi were two peas in a pod; I've never seen Naomi play so well with another kid. The two of them are so similar in a lot of ways - energetic and smart and funny; watching them play together was so much fun that I'm afraid we mostly got wrapped up in watching it and forgot to document it with anything other than our phones. Here's a low-quality glimpse of the cuteness: 

One day, while I was conferencing, Emilie was working, Mackenzie was at daycare, and Michael was doing school, Drew and Naomi had a playdate. Drew picked up a Subway sandwich (and subsequently discovered that Naomi loves flatbread) and took her to a park near the Davidson's apartment. It was, in many ways, a mostly normal morning, but they had a great time playing in the sun and the snow, and Drew has really sweet memories of their time in Denver together, just the two of them. 

On Saturday morning, we took advantage of the warmer weather (and a lighter conference load for me) and headed (in our awesome and super convenient minivan) to Red Rock Amphitheater, an outdoor concert venue just west of Denver. When this place isn't filled with rockstars, it's filled with excercisers, yogis, and hikers. The red rock was impressive (and reminded us of some beautiful places in Utah) and, according to Naomi, it was great for climbing. After exploring the amphitheater, we wandered around some of the trails, even though we weren't exactly dressed for off-roading. Before long, we got pretty far from the van (and a little lost, I think), so Drew and Michael ran to get our ride while we four girls trucked along. Before they got back, we changed a dirty diaper, burned through all of our snacks, drank all of our water, and were all quite ready for a rest. After our adventure at Red Rock Amphitheater, it was naptime for Naomi and Mackenzie, and I headed into Denver for one final conference session.   

After my session, we took the girls to the park - it got dark quickly and it was pretty chilly, but they had a great time, and again, we had a great time watching them. 

Later that night (after a good bit of deliberation about how much excitement two girls under two can handle in one day), we drove north to see Jessica - another friend from our Utah days - and her twin sons (she and Emilie were actually working together at the time). We ordered some pizza and our kids played, while we enjoyed catching up and reminiscing. It took multiple renditions of every kid song we know to get our girls back home happily, but I have really good memories of that car trip. 

Although there were some small hints of toddler tension by our final day, Naomi and Mackenzie had so.much.fun together, and it was wonderful to spend time with Emilie and Michael. Naomi talked about "Kenzie" for weeks when we got home. We're really grateful to have good friends that are willing to put us up (and put up with us) in their space for a few days. Maybe someday they'll find themselves in Raleigh, and we can repay the favor!