“You have to have a passion!”

On my bucket list for this trip was Dove Valley, even though I didn’t know if there was even a tour or anything to see. After a slow start, we lay on the bed and decided if we go now, the Broncos training facility was doable before the Jefferson County Jail tour Jason & Nemily had arranged for us all.

There were no signs for it driving in, but when we got there, we saw that there was a team store, so that made me happy. Me and Lincoln shopped for ages while Mommy watched on, Reagan didn’t want to go, so it was just us. I managed to get a couple of shirts that were subtle Bronco endowed but sadly there was no 18 Jerseys which was sort of what I was looking for or a good hoodie but disappointingly XL was my size and there were non on the racks.

The lady was so nice and when she realised we were from the UK she rang the main building and asked them to let us in which they did and allowed us to take photos with the 3 Lombardie’s and all the AFC trophies too! Not everyone’s best day but by noon as we drove back to Grandma’s I’d already ticked off a bucket list item.

The jail tour was brilliant, a real insight into what goes on there, and we got to see far more than we would have without insider help. We were in the vacinity of Idaho Hot Springs, another planned activity, so we decided to drive up there and end the day with pizza after soaking in the Springs.

Today was a good day!

With the threat of a storm, it was with trepidation that I opened the hotel room curtain at 5am, hoping it hadn’t arrived early. To my relief, although it was snowing, it was barely an inch deep plus no wind, so I went back to bed. At 7am, the snow had stopped, the temperature was above freezing, so there was no panic to get on the road back to Denver. We had arranged to meet Jack and Linda for breakfast across the street at 08:30 so we took full advantage of the hotel pool and jacuzzi until it was time to leave.

Breakfasts here are huge and this mornings did not disappoint. My burrito could have easily fed two but I managed to devour the lot like it was man vs. food, today man won. There is always a couple of stops on the way Grandpa & Grandma’s  house and then Cheyanne to their resting place. It was a relaxed trip back even with the detours because there was no snow once we’d left Torrington and Denver had non either so we just had to brave the cold at the cemetery and briefly at the state line for the obligatory Welcome to colorful Colorado photo’s.

The Hornet was our chosen place to eat after putting in a load of laundry and then lazing around for a couple of hours. Walking down Broadway there seemed a lot of shall we say “characters” which was somewhat concerning for Reagan and Lincoln. The food was really good and once we had finished we went across the road to the Punch Bowl, and after 10 goes each the score was 99 to Mommy, Reagan & Lincoln making me the loser on 86

A bit of family time with Grandma and then late on Emily Jason (briefly) and Jordan before retiring to contemplate life before calling it

Took the children to Washington Park to play for an hour before we had to prepare for the BBQ and took Jordyn too. The y had a whale of a time, and although it was cold in the shade, it was a glorious Colorado morning. When we got back Cliff was pulling his pork and Pam was preparing the garden for guests. By the time 2pm came around there was a garden full of people including neighbours from all over and freinds of Jamie’s and her Mom and Dad’s. Keith and Raul turned up and it was great to see him again and finally meet his husband. I finally met Louise one of my biggest fans on Facebook and a couple of other freinds of Pams

A lady from across the road went to the toilet, sat down for a wee and was minding her own business when Jordyn walked in saying “I need to poop!” and proceeded to drop his trousers and sit on the potty next to her. Shocked and slightly perturbed she struck up a conversation with him until she heard his Mom searching for him, upon hearing this and realising how this may look she jumped up and got dressed and quickly left passing Emily as she left.

Emily found Jordyn trying to get the poop into the toilet with his hands having got up too soon, quite the scene when she’d only just got home from work shortly before. Choosing to get Jordyn cleaned up first she left the bathroom and took him back to her house to get cleaned up.

Jamie unaware of the situation found the bathroom in a state and preceeded to clean it up as she would always do if either of her children had an accident. After returning to the party she began to tell me what she’d found when Emily turned up wondering who the hell had cleaned up as it was her responsibility and was so thankful.

As the sun went over the house it started to get chilli quickly having been almost too hot to sit in all day and people began drifting of leaving us to get an early night in preparation for the drive over to Torrington in the morning. It was such a relaxed day and yet again great family time this holiday has barely begun but we’ve packed so much in already

We left the hotel and drove to Grandma’s house taking in the mountains, mile high and lots of Mommy’s memories as ignored the satnav preferring to take i70 with its view of the city! Upon our arrival at Sherman St we found it was closed off so parked in the next street along and walked to the house. I think we were spotted by Cliff on our approach because he welcomed us at the door closely followed by Grandma who hugged both her grandchildren tightly before Mommy finally got the hug she craved for so long.

The next couple of hours were all about family and getting either reacquainted or meeting  everyone over breakfast

I spent the day in the yard getting sunburn on my legs and head while talking to Jason and Cliff and the girls went shopping. Lincoln played with Jordyn until I couldn’t take anymore sun. We lazed around and waited for the girls to return, we ended the day at Texas Roadhouse eating steak and drinking Margeretas, but although it was only 6pm here in our heads, it was 3am in our heads and we all got tired very quickly and it was time to call it a night.

We arrived at the hotel, exhausted after 14 hours of travelling, and managed a few hours of sleep before our bodies said you need to be awake now. The children slept well which was good it will help with the jetlag Mommy and me slept until 6am but Mommy’s excitement got the better of her.

We left JFK with the intention of staying awake because for us it was red eye flight 1am to 6am but when we arrived in Denver it was 11:15 at night, but both me and Reagan nodded off for a couple of hours. Mommy and Lincoln sat a few rows in front of us, I know Lincoln slept. I am not sure Mommy did. We collected our bags and went to dind  our next flight, and of course, my baggage tag didn’t appear at self check so we had to queue yet again.

Once we got rid of our bags we went and got our pants pulled down at an airport bar 38 bucks for a beer, a red wine and two cokes. It was soon time to go catch our plane.

At DIA the pilot welcomed home any returning Denver natives which made Mommy cry. I’d forgotten we had to take a train to baggage reclaim and I smiled when the piano music played. We got our bags and cought a bus to Budget to collect the biggest car ever and after a tortuous wait in line we got to our car only to find it had no windshield wiper so had to go get another car. Mommy did marvellous to negotiate the roads she probably knew really well 15 years ago, to get us to the hotel when she was more tired than she’d been for ages and unfamiliar with the car and after so long away the roads especially in the darkness!

We are now getting ready to leave for THE HUG!