We’re just back from a week in Colorado—L’s second major trip of the summer.

We spent the first four days of the excursion in Denver with Powergirl’s BFF from college (and her husband). We spent the last three days of the trip in Estes Park with my BFF from college (and his wife, who is a ranger in Rocky Mountain National Park).

My wife’s buddy and her hubby don’t have kids yet, but undoubtedly will make some before too long. My buddy and his wife have two kiddies—a three-year-old boy and an 18-month-old girl. To put it simply, connecting our trio with the the latter foursome was, for me, the biggest treat of the entire trip.

Really, it was all about the offspring. Fifteen years ago, when this buddy and I shared a room near Northwestern University, I’m not sure either of us would have believed you if you told us we’d find wives, much less have kids.

Yet there we were Monday night, breaking bread at a table for seven—with two high chairs and a booster seat.

That first meal was a bit chaotic; (aside from our socially awkward Russian waiter) the kiddies littered the floor with food, napkins and just about everything else they could get their hands on. Then they started running/crawling all over the restaurant until we grown-ups took turns chaperoning them to a grassy knoll near the river outside.

Subsequent get-togethers were much more laid-back. Tuesday morning we met my buddy and his clan at their house (which is really a cabin, and sits inside the park) for some hanging out/tea/hot dogs and watermelon, then we dragged the kids on a (short) hike up to a tiny lake before the skies opened up.

Perhaps the highlight of the week came after the downpour on Tuesday afternoon. Before we returned to the cabin, my buddy’s wife had to fill a hummingbird feeder in the middle of an off-trail meadow bursting with wildflowers, and the six of us got to tag along. As we wandered across this deserted stretch, my buddy’s son chased butterflies while his daughter picked up sticks. L watched them both (from my arms) and laughed like she’s never laughed before.

We, in turn, laughed so hard we cried as well.

I always hoped that if my buddy and I were lucky enough to have families, the kids would be friends. That moment, then, was, quite literally, a dream come true. In the shadow of Long’s Peak, under an ominous and steely Tuesday sky, nothing but family and friends mattered at all.

I can’t think of a better way to celebrate parenthood with an old friend.