A Great Trip

Being a pack rat sometimes has its benefits.

I keep way too much of my kids’ school work. But sometimes, those keepsakes come in handy. They can offer a glimpse into who a kid is at a particular moment in his life.

I love this little piece of school work about our trip to Colorado in 2009. My dad and stepmom had just moved from Florida to Colorado. We visited them over the summer — a long, 24-hour road trip that was well worth it. Gabe has always loved being outdoors, so for him to experience the natural beauty of Colorado from a kid’s perspective was pretty amazing. He wrote about it for a school project in second grade.

Here’s the journaling:

At the beginning of second grade, one of your in-class assignments was to write about a favorite trip. You wrote about our road trip to Colorado, which we had just completed right before school started. Your recollection of the trip: Where did you go? “Colorado. I hiked on mountains. We went to the top at the mountains. And I like that state!” What did you do? “ Play my (Nintendo) DS. I played ”Ice Age: The Dawn of the Dinosaurs*” and Mario Kart and Super Mario Bros.” I love your spelling! You sound things out so well!

*a game about the movie of the same name

You really seemed to enjoy our trip to Colorado this summer. I am hopeful that we have many more trips just like this one as you grow up. I would love for you to have wonderful memories of visiting your Pa Pa and Omi out west. We will make it a point to get out there as often as possible—at least once a year, ideally.

School work: Fall 2009. Second grade.

Dad and Anita (Gabe’s Papa and Omi) moved back to Florida several years after this trip. We didn’t get to go out there as often as we had hoped (our own fault), but I am so thankful that we were able to make this trip and a couple of others. These are memories we treasure together as a family.