Cortez, CO

Wesley gets a lovely two weeks off for fall break. (Does this compensate for school starting in the middle of July? For me, no.) Thankfully Lauren's fall break overlapped with one of Wesley's weeks. (Not that my daughter having perfect attendance in preschool is important to me, but there's something about paying for preschool that influences some of my decisions.) 

I have two NPS friends living in Cortez, CO that I'd been wanting to visit for some time and I finally decided this September was the time. I'd found a perfectly priced tiny house to rent on Airbnb, bonus being able to cook and not eat out all your meals, and the kids and I were on our way. 

We arrived after dark on Thursday but found the house and got settled right in for a cozy first night.

The next morning, we explored our surroundings a bit.

Then we headed to Four Corners. In all the times I'd driven around and through the four corners area, I'd never actually been. We snapped a handful of pictures, wandered around, and had a snack before heading back to Cortez. The high desert is beautiful. 

We had lunch at our tiny house then headed to meet our friend. She works at Mesa Verde National Park. The kids and I toured around and worked on the junior ranger program before we meet up with LT. 

She got us a permit to explore a part of the park that had closed for the evening which was super cool. We had a picnic dinner, then she hiked us to some cliff dwellings (or cliff drawings if you're Lauren). Wesley is at an age where he understands a bit more and was awed by what we saw.

LT and I talked and talked and could have used another two hours but she had another appointment and I needed to get kids to bed. It was a wonderful visit. On the drive out of the park we saw two bull elk! So regal.

Saturday morning we met up with another friend and her daughter for a hike to see some other ruins and some beautiful views of the area. It was so fun to see our kids playing together and to get to chat and catch-up. We had a picnic lunch then headed to a playground to let the kids play so we could chat more. We parted for the afternoon for some quiet time then met up in town for dinner at a delicious Mexican restaurant. We snapped a few pictures.

Here's to almost fifteen years of friendship! Hooray for good friends!

On our last night, Lauren finally worked up the courage to climb up the ladder to the sleeping loft. (I shared the loft with Wesley and Lauren got the futon.) We took some pictures to celebrate and to remember our cozy home for the weekend.

We left in the wee hours of the morning on Sunday to drive to St. George for the blessing of our nieces. Thankfully, my brother's church starts at 1:30pm and not 9am. We got to my parents house and Gil surprised us by meeting us there! He'd gone to Huntington Beach the day before to surf, which we'd know he was, but we didn't know he was going to meet us in Utah!

The blessings were lovely and the twins looked beautiful. Getting some quality Aunt Kate time with one of the girls. 

Gil drove home that night and the kids and I the next day. Lauren was incensed when she realized we weren't going back to the tiny house, that we weren't moving in there. That took a few hours of screaming in the car to wear off...

I am so very blessed with wonderful friends!

Mommy and Wesley Trip 2025

This year was Wesley's turn to take a special trip with me. This boy LOVES trains. We decided to take the Grand Canyon Railway from Williams, AZ to the Grand Canyon.

My parents arrived Thursday to stay with Lauren and Wesley and I left that afternoon as soon as I picked him up from school. (Yes, I pulled my kid out of school on Friday to ride a train. No regrets.)

We drove to Williams and checked-in at the KOA where we had reserved a cabin. Wesley was enamored with the cabin and insisted on opening and closing the door each time we went in or out. We had dinner at our picnic table and read bedtime stories on the porch swing. It was quite cozy and so nice to finally enjoy some cooler temps.

We woke up early Friday, had breakfast, and headed to the train depot. Wesley was so excited and honestly, so was I.

I was a bit worried about him getting bored on the 4.5 hour round-trip ride to and from the canyon and brought card games and snacks. We played two rounds of Go Fish! in the dining car but otherwise, I kid you not, the Wee Lad spent almost the entire time on the train like this:

Window open, arms on the sill, head on his arms. Loved every minute of it! (Except the pretend train robbery, that he didn't like. Neither did I.)

We couldn't have asked for a better day. The sky was clear, the weather perfect, and it wasn't too crowded. We hiked along the rim trail a little bit and Wesley fell in love with every canyon layer rock example and asked for a picture with each of his favorites.

We found a bench with beautiful views of the canyon and ate the lunch that I'd packed. We then shopped (that kids likes to shop and he for sure doesn't get it from me) and he picked out a souvenir for the trip.

I insisted on hiking down into the canyon for at least a few minutes, just to say we did. Wesley wasn't too inclined until he saw this arch from the trail. We both decided that was a good goal to hike to and then turn around.

I love this boy!

We got back to Williams and had dinner at an old-fashioned Route 66 diner before heading back to our cabin. There was an indoor pool at the KOA and we went over to try it out. We ended up soaking in the hot tub instead - Wesley's idea. The next morning we watched the Grand Canyon IMAX movie. Wesley has never been to a movie in a theater before and I thought he'd find the IMAX pretty amazing but nothing, and I mean nothing, could overshadow the train ride the day before.

We headed home after this, stopping at a rest stop for a quick picnic lunch, before getting home and enjoying the rest of the weekend with my parents.

It was a wonderful trip! Wesley has already informed me that for his next Mommy and Wesley trip in two years we're going to go backpacking. I can't wait!