Tuesday May 8th Bev and I picked up Holly and Kevin at the Denver International Airport. After getting them settled in at their hotel we all headed to Pam and Kent's house for more food and fun. We always have a great time with Pam and Kent and Bev just loves being with her sisters. It was too bad that Bev and Pam's middle sister Linda wasn't here to complete the family but she had to stay home to recover from knee surgery. (We love and miss you Linda, you are in all of our thoughts.)

Wednesday May 9th (Oh it's my birthday - happy birthday to me) Holly, Kevin, Bev and I did some sight seeing. We headed up the mountains to visit the casinos at Central City, CO. It is a great old mining town of yesteryear which is now dedicated to the casinos. We all played the slots but didn't win our fortunes. Kevin treated us to my birthday dinner at one of the casinos so I came out ahead of the game (thank you Kevin). The scenery heading up here was awesome.

Check out the sign at Annie Oakley's dispensary in Central City. No wonder the people here are so happy.

I didn't post any pictures of the spectacular mountain scenery because pictures just don't do it justice. You have to come to Colorado to enjoy this beautiful state.

Our next stop was Buffalo Bill's Museum & Grave. By his request, Buffalo Bill was buried on Lookout Mountain in 1917, overlooking the Great Plains and the Rockies. It is only thirty minutes from downtown Denver.

I did not realize that he was a MEDAL OF HONOR recipient.

Holly and Kevin blocking the view of the valley. Hey, Kevin took us out for my birthday dinner so I have to give him and Holly some space on the blog.

Thursday May 10th back to Pam and Kent's house. Today is Elisabeth's graduation from the College of Music, University of Colorado Boulder. We took pictures at the house before we headed out to Boulder. We were so sad that Linda was not here to be in these pictures but she is definitely in our hearts and minds.

Mom and Dad with Elisabeth

Holly and Kevin with Elisabeth

Bev, Me, Holly, Elisabeth, Kent, Pam

Notice I am hiding in the back. That's what happens when you get to fat, you hide.

Next we headed to the University of Colorado Boulder where she received her Bachelor of Music Education. Congratulation Elisabeth!

This is the moment

Linda got to see the ceremonies though because Pam "skyped" Linda using Elisabeth's IPad. Isn't technology great? Between Bev and Pam they held up the IPad capturing the feed during the whole ceremony. I bet their arms were tired.

This phase of the ceremony is over but tomorrow we will attend the main graduation ceremony with the whole university.

Friday May 11th back on the road to Boulder, CO. Bev and I were up at 4:15 am, picked up Holly and Kevin 5:45 and hit McDonald's for breakfast (oh yes, I had a Sausage McMuffin with Egg & medium coffee - life is good).

We arrived back in Boulder at 6:45 am because the stadium opened up at 7:00 am. The graduation ceremonies started about 8:30 am. We arrived early because the crowds were expected to be enormous and we wanted great seats. We were right on the first row close to where Elisabeth would be sitting and was able to see her as she filed in to her seat. Once the throngs of graduates were seated though we lost view of her.

We were seated on the opposite side from this view and it was filled to capacity.

With around 5000 graduates they didn't call out each name individually but conferred the Degree by each of the individual Colleges as a group.

The temperature was in the low 40's with a breeze so it was cold sitting in the stadium. We were prepared though and was dressed for winter. The speeches were interesting and we had a great time at the commencement ceremonies. Thank you Pam, Kent, and Elisabeth for inviting us.

Congratulations Elisabeth, you worked hard for your Degree and we are all very proud of you. Good luck on your next phase working for your Masters.