Been here and gone in At the foot of the hill

Daughter Rhonda, son-in-law, Mitch, granddaughter, Debra, great grandson, Cecil, and grand dog, Daisy arrived from Montana Wednesday, midafternoon . They departed yesterday and are now on the long road home.
We did have a great time.
Wednesday evening we were joined by son, Mike, daughter-in-law, Jeri and grandson, Dave for fried (KFC, actually) chicken, potato salad, etc. here at the apartment. ( Mitch’s brother showed up from the other side of the state and the two of them rushed off to catch the light rail downtown for the baseball game.) This place is hardly big enough for the people left here and a dog, but the overflow carried plates to the deck and the party continued. A few minutes before nine, they gathered up the folding beach chairs, drinks, baby and dog and went down into the parking lot where they could see the fireworks across the lake. (The view from our deck is obscured by the roof overhang but from the bedroom windows it’s great… but that would have been too cozy for all of us.) I am not a big fan of fireworks of any kind, having had a close encounter as a child, so I opted for the view from the bedroom. Shortly after the opening BOOM!!! from the other side of the lake, Rhonda came rushing in, being almost dragged by her little dog. She (Daisy) does NOT like fireworks! She was a basket case. She only settled down when we locked her in the bathroom. The show was, as usual, great, and didn’t last too long. Dave met up with some of his friends and I haven’t seen him since. The others, however, came back up and hung out for about an hour, waiting for the traffic to lighten up enough to even get out of our parking lot. Granddaughter and the baby went home with Mike and Jeri.
Thursday the Montana people (except for Daisy) went shopping… Well, you know when you live in the official “Middle of Nowhere” and there is a huge mall just across the street, temptation is pretty hard to resist!
Then we all went to Mike & Jeri’s for cook-out and lolling on the deck. While the food was on the grill and noisy thunderstorm came through and gifted us with a quick assault of quarter-size hail stones. Other grandson, Ben, got there in time to visit a bit and enjoy the food. The later it got, the more fireworks (which are mostly illegal in Colorado, except for professional displays like the one at the lake) were being set off all around us. Seemed like we were on the front line of a nasty little war. Again, poor Daisy was terrified.
Early Friday morning, Mitch took off to visit some of his mother’s relatives south of here. He took Daisy with him. At nine, Bob and I and Rhonda went to Mike’s and, along with Mike, Debra, and little Cecil, loaded into Jeri’s big SUV –she had to work– and headed up to the summit of the Rockies where we got to see Mike and Jeri’s newly purchased condo. About lunch time, we headed down to the Village where the ski lifts are. Had a leisurely lunch, walked around a bit, checking out shops and watching people. Debra scored free tickets for the gondola ride to the very top of the mountain. I was reluctant to do that because I had brought along my new walker. But the family really wanted to do it, so off we went. It was indeed beautiful from up there, and, even though it turned quite a challenge, I was glad I went.
Then it was back to the condo for a brief rest before we started down the Interstate toward home, with several thousand of our closest friends.....
Dinner was at a Mexican restaurant. Back here, we enjoyed visiting on the deck. Baby had a regular baby crisis which required some quick laundry being done before anybody could begin to think about going to bed. Mitch and Daisy returned from their side trip.
Saturday, Mitch and Rhonda packed up and we all went to Mike’s for breakfast. I think it was about noon before they got Debra and baby gathered up and loaded into the truck. They had scheduled a stop up the road for a quick visit with Mitch’s sister. We were left standing sadly on Mike’s front step waving bye-bye to Cecil.
Now it is very quiet around here....