Colorado Springs

From Las Vegas, we drove 13 hours west, across all of Utah, half of Colorado, and scaled the Rocky Mountains to reach my childhood home in Colorado Springs. It was an extremely long drive for me and baby Wentzel, but at least the Western scenery was gorgeous along the way!

We didn't have a whole lot of time in town (only three days) so we kept our official plans to a minimum and focused on resting and spending quality time with my parents. We visited a few of our favorite restaurants, did a little shopping, and took several walks down memory lane as we looked at photos and raided our children's book collection to jumpstart baby Wentzel's library.

One big priority we accomplished was spending a large amount of time with our good friend Ren. She was the one who introduced James and I back in college, and played a significant role in our wedding. Unfortunately, James hadn't seen her since before we moved to Japan, and I was only able to see her once during my visit following the earthquake and tsunami. So we went out to a late lunch with her one day, and brunch at the Omlette Parlor the following day. We were available to continue hanging out after breakfast, but she claimed to have another commitment at 10:30. So we planned to play it by ear and maybe meet up later.

Little did I know that "a little later" would be only 30 minutes later. James took a long, round-about way back to the house to ensure that all of the guests for the surprise baby shower Ren and my Mom had planned would arrive and be in place before we pulled up. I had no idea this was coming. Because I don't have many lady friends still living in CO, the guest list was mostly made up of neighbors and older ladies from church. But it was wonderful to see all of them again, and to soak up their wisdom and the love they showered on our little growing family! I also appreciated all the cute decorations my mom put up and did pretty well during the games! I look forward to utilizing the thoughtful gifts to care for and dress up our little man in a few months.

Me and my lovely hostesses!

On our last day in town, we drove out to Garden of the Gods to soak in some sunshine and classic Colorado beauty! We took a short walk around Kissing Camels and snapped some fun family portraits. Then we went out to lunch at Poor Richard's downtown. Again, our agenda was simple, but it meant a lot to relax and enjoy the company of my family after being away for so long. It was difficult to leave on Friday morning. But thankfully, we had a big family reunion in Nashville and Louisville to look forward to in April. Looking forward to more Zuercher family fun!

True family portrait