Summer Vacation Part 5

Our last active day we chose to drive to Grand Lake, Colorado and hike to Adams Falls.  It was a short hike but I took plenty of water and snacks this time.  The kids wore their swimsuits and played in the frigid waters!  Afterwards, we went into town and ate lunch.  Grand Lake was a cute little place and the lake was beautiful!

 After visiting Grand Lake, we drove to Granby and rode on the ski lifts at the local ski lodge.  The kids thought this was one of the best activities!  I like riding on ski lifts as well!  Unfortunately, lightning struck within an eight mile radius so after our second ride up the hill, we had to be driven back down the mountain in a shuttle bus.  Kids think riding in buses is an adventure too so that was good!

 After that we drove all the way to the summit of the moutain by our cabin.  This was the signage that we made it to the summit!  It was chilly!

Emerson kept throwing her head back.  She thinks it is funny!

 After we returned from the moutain, the girls went to the playground for a little bit.  Emerson was happy to be crawling around!

 That evening we concluded the fun by listening to a mountain man tell tall tales.  He looked pretty legit!  The kids were a little bored.  Michael enjoyed the history.  Emerson enjoyed being loud!

After that we headed back to our cabin and packed up our stuff to prepare for an early morning departure!  In the night, I heard something and got up to check it out.  It was a mouse in the kids' bedroom trash can.  Michael had to dispose of it!  Then around one or two in the morning, I woke up to the sound of tires driving on the gravel.  I decided to get up and get a drink.  When I looked out our open window, I noticed all the lights of a cabin behind us were flashing on and off, on and off.  It was spooky and weird.  Then I looked out the window again and thought I saw someone right outside our bedroom!  So I started screaming hysterically!  I woke up Emerson and obviously Michael!  He checked things out and we shut the windows.  So sad because the cool night air was awesome!  When things calmed down, we decided I must have seen my reflection on the pane of glass. I don't know! To this day, there is a little doubt in my mind that it was just my reflection.  Needless to say, the last night was a little rocky and we didn't sleep much!  It took me almost two hours to get Emerson's back to sleep.  And I barely slept the rest of the night after that. The next morning, Michael asked Piper if she heard something and she said, "Ya, I heard mommy screaming.  Why were you screaming?  Did you see your shadow or something?"  Haha!  It is all comical now.  Thank goodness! All in all, we had a fabulous trip.  Some other fun things we did were attending a s'mores roast, indoor swimming, playing our own version of sharades with the kids each night, exploring, and talking to some Oklahomans who also were OSU fans!  On our way back to the airport to fly home, we stopped at Denver Biscuit Company, which the kids and I found on our last trip in October.  The cinnamon rolls were calling my name! Yummy!  

Thankful for my family and our special time together!

Summer Vacation Part 4

After our morning of hiking to the waterfall, the kids rode horses!  Now, when I first asked the kids if they wanted to ride horses the answer was NO!  But they agreed to pony rides.  When we stayed in Estes Park, Piper tried riding a horse but it was too scary and Briggs rode a pony, which he enjoyed and still talks about occasionally.  Unfortunately, at Estes Park, Piper was past the pony riding age limit.  But at Snow Mountain Ranch, she could ride!  So there was a lot of anticipation over the upcoming pony rides!  Fast forward to the ranch hand coming out of the barn with two ponies, but instead she was leading along two horses!  Piper said to me, "Ummm, that looks like a horse."  Briggs said, "I'm not riding that.  I'm not riding that."  They both asked where the ponies were!  So I asked the ranch hand and she said they don't really use ponies but smaller horses.  So Piper reluctantly agreed and rode her horse around once.  Poor Briggs was bummed.  When Piper and the ranch hand came back around, I asked if there was a smaller horse so she checked and sure enough there was!! Briggs looked at the horse and said, "That's better.  I'll ride that one!"  And the two of them went on a short little ride!  They did not want it to end and they kept asking to go back!  Another fun little victory in the bravery department!  Piper even asked me if I could find a place in Dallas where she could volunteer to take care of horses!  I think this day of vacation was my very favorite!

The horses liked eating treats!  On the property they also had goats and sheep you could feed.  Piper thought that was fun but they were a little wild acting for Briggs to enjoy.

Piper with her horse, Marcella.

Briggs with his horse, Horace.

Love this!  This trip definitely helped the two of them bond and spend good quality time together!

 Later in the day, Michael and Piper attended an archery session, while Briggs, Emerson, and I spent time at the little library and playground!  Briggs was too young for the archery range, but the staff member let Michael practice with Briggs at the very end when the other guests had left.

We went roller skating twice while we were there.  I think my kids have my coordination skills!

This was our view outside of the cabin.  

Playing in the dirt again!

Emerson didn't get her picture taken as often!

Summer Vacation Part 3

On our fourth day, we set out to take a leisurely hike to a waterfall a staff member mentioned to us; the same one in which we were going to take the night before when it had been raining.  However, we failed to realize that the hike was three miles round trip and did not bring water or snacks.  It was worth the gorgeous view but we had a few upset kiddos!  Oops!  For most of the hike, I had the hymn stuck in my head, "For the Beauty of the Earth" which I think fits perfectly with being in nature in Colorado!

The lyrics are as follows:

For the beauty of the earth,

For the beauty of the skies,

For the love which from our birth,

Over and around us lies.

For the beauty of each hour,

Of the day and of the night,

Hill and vale, and tree and flow'r,

Sun and moon, and stars of light.

Lord of all, to thee we raise,

This our hymn of grateful praise.

Michael and the kids are at the very top of the waterfall! The kids really loved climbing and being "dangerous."  

Summer Vacation Part 2

Another fun activity we had planned was the outdoor rock climbing wall.  Piper has a miniture one in her gymnasium at school that she loves and Briggs even likes it but this wall was very tall for a little person!  She was very hesitant at first but at some point, something clicked in her mind to keep trying until she reached the top and pushed the victory buzzer!  We were so PROUD of her because we knew she was scared but worked hard at overcoming her fear!  Daddy enjoyed it too!  And Briggs gave it a brief try after a long period of hesitation.  I was so happy he tried it!

The climbers!

No he is not asleep.  He is playing in the dirt but in an awkward sleeping position!  This was on our 3rd day.  He was tired and he is a home body.  He kept saying "Let's go back to our cabin house!"  He needed some non-active recharge time more often than we were giving him I think.  At this point,  he really thought rock climbing was super boring!

And this was my usual activity while we were doing "activities" together as a family!  My friend loaned me this carrier and it was super helpful the entire trip.  We would have been stuck in the cabin with a napping baby or been dragging a super cranky baby around if I had not had this!  

He finally decided to harness up!  So proud of him!!!

And he made it about this far!  But he tried which was so great!!  And he actually prefers climbing on real rocks anyway!

Piper made it to the top after trying and trying!  After that she wanted to keep climbing but our time was up and unfortunately all the other time slots for the week were booked!  She was bummed!

She was so proud!

Then that night after a full day, I took them to the recreation center.  At the rec center, they have roller skating, basketball, ping pong, etc.  We went there several times for those things but in the evenings they sometimes had group activites planned.  On this night, we had originally planned to go on a twilight hike but it was raining!  So instead we played Human Hungry Hippos with a bunch of people we did not know.  Briggs thought it was so much fun and Piper wasn't so sure.  It created a lot of laughs and excitement!