You Know It’s an Adults-Only Week When….

….the pranks begin. First, you start finding unfamiliar pictures of yourself in random windowsills….

         

        Then, you start finding pictures of OTHERS perhaps randomly on your office desk….oh--and those others may also be posing in a porta-potty….the gift that keeps on giving….

        Then, you may all show up wearing the same clothes….always awkward…. (Aren’t these jackets awesome?  Thank you Marshall Gerry and Kalamity K for the awesome keepsake! They made these themselves and now we all covet….and covet some more….*ahem!*)

                 Oh! Check out the new patio benches we commissioned!  A local chainsaw artist did these for us and we couldn’t have been more pleased with how they turned out. Truly a piece of art--comfy art!

Even Rocky thinks so!

 

        We were thrilled this season to welcome Darcy and Luis back to their ranch home-away-from-home after being missed the past several years. This is a special place for them (and they are rather special to us) because in 2005, after being guests for a week, they flew back in to Colorado to come be married here at the ranch. And not just at the ranch, mind you—on a ride! Jerry, Cheri, Chad and Tammy were the special guests, witnesses and photographers and after we prettied up their horses with flowers and ribbons, the happy couple, their four guests and the preacher, all rode out on horseback to a special spot way back in a gorgeous valley and there they said, “I do” under a Colorado blue sky. It was certainly a day we all remember and hold dear, so we were thrilled to have them back again this year. It always feels like a family reunion when our friends come back to see us! (And no worries—they already booked for next year—so we won’t have to wait that long to see them again—whew!)

         Ok, back to Adults-Only Week:

         Jerry led an epic ride into the High Country one morning and what an adventure it turned out to be…

        (See the picture below? So happy they specify this sort of thing….would have been tough getting the horses to cross that swinging bridge….Hmmmm….I wonder if the wild horses knew to cross over this direction back in the day? Bet they wish they’d had that sign….)

        Jerry then led everyone up the river bed, much to the delight of everyone….well, uhh, almost everyone.  Here you can see Camille is wishing she had NOT asked for the shortest horse we  had. Good for getting up….bad for crossing rivers. “Seven”, here,  is only 2 feet tall you might notice. Also awkward when “bushwacking” through the sage. …

But it was right about…..NOW--

…we were thinking we were gonna get a liiiittle more wet than that as the storm rolled over the hill and straight for us. So we got out of the water--

  And took cover! (And then lots of pictures, because what else does a bunch of wild adults do when they are waiting out a rain storm in the woods? Right?)

        See what incredible guests we have? Tammy and Remi forgot their rain coats, so being the fine individuals they are, Abby and Christina graciously shared.  Now, let me take a brief moment to tell you that Christina was our only new victim, I mean, first-time guest this week. Everyone else had been here at least once before, but as you can see, she fits right in with the family here at the ranch—almost a little too well….. (where have you been all this time??)

                                             We are so happy she found us and from what we hear, she caught the ranch fever as well--we’ll be seeing her next year and we can’t wait!!

        While we waited for the storm to pass, we  practiced our riding technique and form. Ok, ok…..actually we were stuck in this position from our previous hours in the saddle…….or would you believe Jerry demoted us from riding our horses due to our silliness? Still not buying it? Fine. This was the “how to ‘go’ in the woods ride”.  Tammy was a phenomenal wrangler on this ride. We thank her for her cowgirl wisdom. *wink* Moving right along……

     

It might be an Adults-Only Week when…….

   …the staff busts out their finest duds and we start passing out the chips! Welcome to Buckhorn Saloon!

I love the jingle jangle of a cowboy’s spurs…..never a dull moment when Marshall Gerry is in town!

         But when that cow bell rings, you better be one of the first two to the stage! There’s big money at stake. And alllll you have to do is—well—whatever Cheri says! (Sounds easy right?) Now we can’t tell you what it is (you might practice—we know you people), but it’s ummmmm…..

  ….bound to make some blog-worthy photo ops (not to mention good, good laughs and memories!)  Great job you guys!

If mimicking is the highest form of flattery, then these ladies gave each other one big compliment. Best dressed award goes to Sue and Camille for sure!

        This couple also deserves an award. Marshall Gerry for taking home the buckle for the highest number of chips at the end of the night and the beautiful Miss Kalamity K for not being ashamed to to be seen with him! Ha!  What can we say, Gerry, except you scared the staff and you are truly one of a kind! (You seriously make us laugh dear friend! Now please stop borrowing Chad’s clothing….)

Your Bar Lazy J Wild West staff!

 

        Now just in case you thought things couldn’t get anymore “exciting” around here--you know--like we couldn’t have any more fun than that? Well, you’d be wrong. Thanks to the suggestion by one of our fine guests, Bar Lazy J hosted it’s first ever (that we know of) campfire game of charades! Oh and the word funny? Doesn’t even come close to what it was my friends….  

(Christina, you made it on there twice. You were just that good!) ;)

Pretty sure that night made history. That’s all I can say about that. So THANK YOU to Pete’s wonderful, wonderful parents—Mike and Stacie-- for getting it going. You guys were a treasured part of our week!

Need more proof of Adults-Only week?

A picture is worth a thousand words……

 

          And then sometimes, a “look” from your wife is worth 10,000 words…. of course in Cheri’s case, she can give the Publishing Clearing House of “looks”….

I could be mistaken, but this might be the “why are you in the pool with all your clothes on?” look.

         So, what can we say? Bring your kids for the all-time-get-outside and be-a-kid vacation of a lifetime, but then drop them off for some quality time with grandma and grandpa and head back out for our September weeks! You never know what might happen, but it’s guaranteed to be a belly-laughin’, boot-stompin’ good time!

Say Goodbye and Say Hello!

     Our Family Weeks have sadly come to an end, but what a great week we had to close it out! One for the books, that’s for sure! And we had such a large group of kids, we even pulled Miss Tammy out from her “kid wrangling” to do some old fashioned Kid Wrangling—which she was thrilled to come do again for a week!

      Now, you didn’t hear it from me, but there might have even been a special appearance in the Kid Program by one of our much loved bosses as well. Can’t say for sure….but IF it really happened, that person’s name might rhyme with “ferry” (ok, that doesn’t narrow it down….hmmmm…) …and be of the feminine persuasion, but I’m not sayin’ for sure! Let’s be honest—part of the magic of each week are the memorable stories you have to tell and we can’t tell all our stories out of class—you gotta come make your own! (But I will tease you a bit more by saying that more than one staff member may have crossed the river on foot that week—see what you’re missing??)

So NOW we say goodbye to our kids weeks! But we will try not to be sad as we bid farewell to this--

And this…

 

And even the ranch dogs will miss the extra lovin’!

Sadly, there won’t be any of this…

…..well maybe some of this still though…..they say this is for Gymkhana, but we think that’s just an excuse to finally wear what they want to wear…..

Express yourself!

Then Friday night our wonderful guests shared with us their favorite things—it was an emotional evening for both staff, kids and their parents. Very touching as everyone relayed the parts that meant the most to them from a week they’d never forget. And then they even treated US with some staff show entertainment! And we were thoroughly entertained let me tell ya! Thanks guys!! Sooo funny!

Well, MOST of us were entertained anyways…..you know they are having fun when their faces are dirty and they can’t stay up past 8pm!

   

THANK YOU to all of our wonderful kids and their families our closing family week! You guys were a memorable bunch and we love ya! We’ll see ya next year!

       But even though we had to say goodbye to our sand-dune-sliding, candy-store-riding, gold-panning, tye-dye-wearing, pizza-on-the-porch-eating, baby-shark-singing, hay-wagon-dancing, water-fightin’, ice-cream-eating kids weeks…..

….that meant we got to say HELLO to some others— our Adults-only Weeks! The last month of the season, when the kids have gone back to school, the ranch opens to a more “mature”  crowd. Wait—what did I just say?? Ok, maybe mature  was the completely wrong terminology…..

…but certainly entertaining! (To say the least!)

I believe this one will have “to be continued”….

more on the way….

The End of the Line…uhhh, I mean.…Year Staff Party!

         Our staff is pretty stellar. We have to brag a little. So what better way to show them how much we appreciate them, than to throw them off the side of a mountain? Right? In our defense-- they asked for it………

I don’t know why they look so scared. They know we needed them for work in the morning…..

So we harnessed them up,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And enrolled them in flight school!

Then once we confirmed no one weighed more than a school bus (that’s the maximum weight the cable can hold), we let ‘em rip!

I mean zip!!

 

As you can see they are hardly even enjoying it….so we had to throw in an amazing sunset in to keep them happy. Do you know in one of John Denver’s song where he sings “I’ve seen it rainin’ fire in the sky” ? Well, we can’t say for sure, but we’re convinced this is what he was referring to. When the sun sets behind a storm, the rain comes down in sheets of vibrant orange. These pictures don’t even do it justice. It’s breathtaking.

        After the zip lining, Jerry and Cheri had everyone over. This time of year, a handful of our staff have to head back to school while the majority stay until the end, so we try to have one last group outing all together. We want to say how much we love all of them and appreciate their hard work and dedication to making the Bar Lazy J a cut above the rest. We couldn’t be who we are without them! So thank you to our 2012 staff!

 

Your hard work shows!

(And we mean that!)