Colorado 2012-We made it!!

We made it! We arrived in Estes Park around 5pm MST on Saturday! Along the way we had to stop to pick up a new Bumbo, as we lost ours on the way. Just after we crossed the border into Colorado we heard a loud THUD.....I was sitting in the backseat, between the kids, feeding Nora....Luke looked back to realize we were losing some of our stuff out of the Yakima on the top of our car!! Luke had had a root cannel the week before and was suffering from some tooth pain on the drive....we stopped so he could look for some Advil...he opened up the Yakmia to check his suitcase and it must not have shut properly. Thankfully we didn't lose all our luggage....we did manage to lose our bumbo, beach towels, bag, sunscreen, bucket and oxiclean (to clean Nora's blowouts) and our games...cribbage and backgammon. The car behind us hit the bumbo straight on, so they stopped behind us to check to see what happened and to make sure we were ok. There was no damage to either cars....and after checking out the situation, we kept going. Luke thinks he saw a beach towel on the side of the road on our way home! Oops!

Our first stop after arriving in Estes was Little Nicky's for dinner!! Nora and Daddy were ALL smiles. It felt good to get out of the car!

We checked into our place and they had screwed up our room. It was a bit stressful--we were all ready to unpack, get out of the car and settle in.........and Nora needed to eat NOW! After about 20 minutes we figured things out and they put us in a different room and explained we would need to move for our last 2 nights. All in all, it worked out just fine, just a little stressful to start.

Sunday was July 1st--and it was 5 years ago on this date that Luke and I got engaged in Rocky Mountain National Park! We love Estes and the park, so it was fun to be back during the same time that we got engaged!

We went on a very short hike (quite the opposite of the 13 mile hike we went on to get engaged....but a lot has changed in 5 years)! :) We packed a lunch and hiked around The Alluvial Fan.

Bishop was quite the hiker and rock climber! There was NO WAY he was getting the backpack this day!! He impressed us all and loved every minute of it!

We ate in on Sunday night and enjoyed some time in the pool!

Bishop didn't sleep in very late on vacation-he was usually up by 5:30am...and he didn't go to bed until probably 9ish. The good part of him waking up so early, was we got an early start to our hikes, which was important to get a parking spot at the trails. If you don't get there early enough the lots fill up and you end up having to park and ride a shuttle, which adds a lot of time to your day!

Monday morning we drove up the Bear Lake entrance, which was under construction. We finally got to the trailhead and got a parking spot!

Bishop ready to hike!

I love these two guys so much!!

We hiked up to three lakes, Nymph Lake, Dream Lake and Emerald Lake. It was a beautiful day! We got up to Emerald Lake around 10:30 or so...just in time for lunch! :) We stopped to eat our sandwiches and I fed Nora.

Nymph Lake

Relaxing at Emerald Lake

Emerald Lake

Bishop hiking down

We made it! It was a beautiful hike and a beautiful day!

Of course we had to celebrate our first "real" hike with some icecream! Bishop got Cotton Candy Icecream...and he claimed he needed one for each hand, so I gave him mine for a couple minutes!

While we were walking around downtown Bishop told us to "Go Backwards". He wanted us to keep walking and not turn around....because he had to poop! The first time he did this, was with Luke in Coloardo. He kept saying...."Daddy, go backwards". Luke would turn around and then sneak a peak. Bishop would be grunting and clenching his fists. He just doesn't want to go in the toilet!! It was pretty cute (and we were decided a pull-up was the way to go while on vacation, so we didn't have to clean up poopy underwear)! He was great about telling us when he had to go potty though, so that's still positive! :)

Here he is pooping behind a tree!

We went swimming every day we were on vacation. Bishop loved every second. We took Nora once or twice, but realized once we got out she had to go in right away, or she got too cold. I had such a fun time swimming with Bishop. He would jump off the side of the pool and he got so adventurous that he started spinning in the air when he jumped in!

She was happy as could be watching us swim!