So far, Bessie has taken us from Nashville to Kansas City, Missouri, through the great, flat state of Kansas, to Denver for Memorial Day weekend with Andrew’s sister, Jenn, and her family.

In the past, we’ve somehow only visited Denver in the dead of winter, so it was really nice to experience the city when being outdoors with young kids was a good option.

In addition to staying up way past their bedtimes, giggling with their cousins, and jumping on the backyard trampoline, the kids spent their time with us, exploring downtown Denver and catching a quick, very chilly swim in a neighborhood pool.

Highlights from our day downtown included statues and sculptures around the Denver Art Museum, a soaking in the fountains outside the city’s beautifully renovated Union Station, and ice cream at Milk, inside, once everyone had dried off.

That afternoon, we headed to the Denver Children’s Museum, a well-planned, fully-imagined space filled with climbing areas, a bubble room, a pretend farm stand and a real test kitchen, a paper rocket launching station, an alley filled with gears, buttons and balls (picture a giant marble run) and a huge art space for painting and pottery making, among others.

The museum’s outside space was equally impressive, featuring a giant sand dune, a zipline, haystacks to jump, and a water area that simulated snow melt, allowing the kids to build dams at the bottom of the rock incline to capture a burst of water at the end. It was so much fun to watch the kids work together on the dams as they waited for the trickles to turn to a flood that was met with true delight.

We only get to see Jenn and Tom and their three kids (ages 9, 7 and 5) a couple times a year, but because the cousins are so close in age and genuinely enjoy each other’s company, they always seem to pick right up where they left off, sharing secrets, book recommendations, art lessons, elaborately imagined stories and the sweet friendship among people who know they belong together.