Colorado 2014

We took another trip to Estes Park, CO this year! It was another fun week in the Mountains! We broke up the trip out into 3 segments...we drove to Worthington, MN (3 hour drive) on Thursday and stayed there--on Friday we drove to Kearney, NE (6 hour drive) and Saturday we got up and drove to Estes Park (6 hour drive).  Here is our adventure:

Our trip started out well-kids holding hands, getting along! :)

The kids LOVED the hotel! Bishop jumped from couch to couch and didn't fall asleep until 11pm on Thursday night! They were EXCITED!!!!

LOVING the headphones-or as they call them "Ear muffs"!

I tried to provide as many "activities" for the drive out as possible. I brought some washable markers for the kids to color on the windows....the only problem with that was Nora couldn't reach the windows due to her 5 point harness carseat....and being she's only 2, she found other ways to use the markers! :)

Friday we stopped for lunch at King Kong near Omaha (or Lincoln). The kids had fun playing on the Gorilla's after we ate!

I spent a little time in the backseat as well! Not as much as last year--but Nora would have preferred I sit in back the entire drive out!

Bishop with his Star Wars sticker!

We made it to Kearney around 3pm with plans to take advantage of the fun waterpark they have. After we checked in we realized the waterpark was closed due to maintenance and would open up at 5pm. It was hard to contain all the energy from the kids, so we found a park nearby to burn off some energy!

She LOVES the swing!

The kids had a great time in the waterpark and Bishop absolutely loved it! He was big and brave enough to go down the big slides by himself (with his lifejacket on) and I had a great time following him and trying to catch him! :)  Nora was a bit more cautious, but she enjoyed herself!

Bishop at the bottom of the big slide

The kiddie Slide

Nora sitting on a splash fountain! :)

Nora particularly didn't like water being splashed in her face and after going down the little slides she'd cough and almost gag. She seemed to enjoy it a little bit, but the end wasn't very fun for her. Needless to say she woke up in the middle of the night with a barking cough. I was concerned it was Croup or Secondary Drowning and I started freaking myself out with thoughts of that. So....we took her to the urgent care in town on Saturday morning just to make sure she didn't get worse, etc. I thought it could be from sleeping in the A/C from the hotel rooms and that's exactly what it was. The Dr diagnosed her with "viral croup", but her cough improved and she was acting completely normal and enjoyed the rest of the trip! It wouldn't be a trip to CO without a stop at the urgent care!

Watching the fish as we waited for the Dr

 I brought pipe cleaners and beads for the kids to play with on the ride and they loved them, especially Bishop! They created animals, bracelets, necklaces and strung beads for quite awhile! I'll definitely make sure to bring that activity on other long road trips! They were spoiled with presents from mom and dad, nana and papa and Auntie Shelly and Uncle Ryan! They had lots to do to keep them occupied, which helped a ton! Thanks Nana, Papa and Auntie Shelly and Uncle Ryan for all the presents!

 We made it to Estes Park around 3ish on Saturday and we celebrated with orange pop on our balcony! As you can tell, the kids were quite excited to be out of the car, see the Mountains and drink orange pop!!

We have a few traditions while in Estes and one is to eat at Nicky's the day/night we arrive. We stopped there and the patio was pretty busy and the kids were pretty excited--and our server wasn't quite in the mood for it, so we left and went to a pizza place instead. It wasn't worth the stress of worrying about the kids being in the way for the night!

Sunday we set out to enjoy the Mountains! We set out to Bear Lake Trailhead, but the parking lot was full. Bishop gets car sick and is very sensitive to motion--so driving in the Mountains was tough for him at times. I hadn't thought of it early enough on Sunday and he was in pretty rough shape that morning. This picture was taken at a pull-off so that he could get his bearings and in case he got sick. Thankfully, he didn't get sick!

RMNP

 We ended up parking at Sprague Lake and took a walk around the lake. There is a nice path that goes around the lake and as we were walking we saw a bird (think it was an Osprey or Golden Eagle) fishing for some lunch. We saw him catch a fish and fly away with it--it was pretty neat!

From the parking lot we walked 0.2 miles to catch a shuttle to the Bear Lake Trailhead. The bus was packed and it was hot--there wasn't a lot of air circulation....and Bishop wasn't doing well at all!  The bus driver offered him a barf bag and we took it--I was so nervous he was going to get sick. Thankfully, he didn't.

Our plan was to hike to Emerald Lake. Bishop's stomach ache continued during the hike and we weren't sure how far we'd make it. It was VERY slow going the beginning of the hike. There are 2 Lakes on the way to Emerald Lake. The first is Nymph Lake--Bishop's stomach was really bothering him and he had to go to the bathroom (number 2)! I tried to take him a couple of times with no success--Luke was able to take him with success! After Bishop went to the bathroom he felt much better and we were able to continue to Dream (and then Emerald) Lake.

Hiking with my girl!

 This is Bishop and I at Nymph Lake!

Oh, look! A "Chickmunk"!

Dream Lake

 We FINALLY made it to Emerald Lake! It took us awhile, but it was well worth the hike! We weren't accustomed  to the altitude and I think that played a part for all of us. Emerald Lake is absolutely beautiful!  We stopped for lunch, took a break and then made our way back down.

Emerald Lake

The Froehle's at Emerald Lake

We decided to take a break from hiking on Monday. We found a fishing pond and decided it'd be fun to try to catch some fish. We saw some trout in the streams on our hike to Emerald Lake and Bishop was so excited to see them. The pond was really neat--you can rent/borrow fishing poles and bait and you just have to pay for what you catch ($1/inch) and you get to keep the fish!

Bishop was quite successful fishing--he caught 2 fish!! He was ecstatic!

 

Excited to watch the man clean the fish

Bishop and his 2 fish!

2 beautiful Rainbow Trout

We watched the man kill and then clean the fish. He used a paddle and hit the fish on the head to kill it. It wasn't necessarily the easiest to watch and it provoked many questions from Nora for the rest of the week. Out of nowhere she would say "Why the man go like THIS....(and she would make the hitting motion?" She repeated that line a hundred times. 

After fishing we stopped at our place (we stayed at the Fawn Valley Inn) for lunch. We had a bite to eat and then went to the Alluvial Fan to hike around the rocks. The Alluvial Fan was hit pretty hard by the floods last fall and the road to one of the parking lots was completely washed away (as was the bridge to cross the stream). It is usually packed, but there weren't that many people there this year. Bishop just loves hiking/climbing on rocks, so he loved it!

He found a chair cut out of a rock that was his perfect size!

 

 The kids were so excited to help with the fish that night. They helped clean the potatoes and prepare the fish for Luke to grill! It was a delicious meal (although they enjoyed their hotdogs)! :)

We stayed in a one bedroom condo, so we only had 1 King bed (and a pull out couch)--so the sleeping arrangements were the kids slept in their sleeping bags (on camping pads) on the floor. The first few nights were a little tough getting them to sleep. Nora slept right next to the bed on my side and after 2 nights of rolling under the bed and getting stuck (and being very scared) we decided to move them both to the end of the bed and we separated them with a bench. That worked much better! Thankfully we had a king bed for the first 5 nights--then we had to switch rooms and we had a queen. There were some nights in the beginning of the week where all 4 of us were in bed together!

Taking a walk around the property before bed!

Tuesday morning we scheduled Horse Back Riding at a stable in AllensPark, CO. Luke and Bishop rode last year and we went to a stable in the RMNP. This year Nora was old enough to go and we decided to try this new stable. We signed up to ride at 9am for one hour and then we were going to go have breakfast at our favorite place in Allenspark. Allenspark is a VERY small little town. There is one cafe and it's the Mountain Meadow Cafe. We've eaten there every year we've been up there, including the first year we went, when we got engaged (2007).  Unfortunately, the cafe is closed on Tuesdays, so we weren't able to go this year.

Bishop and Luke rode on their horse/Andy and Nora and I got Gem. I was a bit nervous riding with Nora and I think Gem sensed that, as he wasn't the most cooperative horse before we took off for our ride. Once we got going, he was just fine...he stayed in line and was a good horse! Nora absolutely loved it! She talked the whole time and continues to talk about going back and going on a horsey ride! Bishop was pretty quiet. He said his stomach hurt--so it's hard to tell if it was nerves or something else going on. He warmed up a bit and enjoyed the ride. It was pretty cool that morning--temps were in the 40s-50s, so we wore long pants and coats.

Bishop, Luke and Andy

The Froehle's on their horseback adventure

Bishop and Nora with Andy and Gem

The ranch we went to had other animals--chickens, llamas and a couple friendly dogs. The kids had fun with all of the animals--they have a particular attraction to dogs!

Bishop getting kisses from one of the dogs! :)

 After our ride the kids got to feed the horses a treat--carrots and apples! For some reason they weren't comfortable giving the horses apples, but they enjoyed feeding them carrots!

 After we found out the Cafe was closed on Tuesdays we drove up to Roosevelt National Park. We have gone on a couple beautiful hikes up there and we didn't make it out there last year, so since we were half way there already we decided to check it out. Unfortunately, it was REALLY cold and windy (45 degrees at the entrance to the park) and the ranger told us the parking lots were closed and the trails were covered in 5' of snow.....so we turned around and headed back to Estes Park. It was a frustrating morning, but we stopped at the park when we got back to town and then went fishing again!

The Froehle's downtown Estes Park

Bishop was SO excited to go fishing again--and he had pretty good luck! On his first cast he caught another fish! For 2 out of the 3 fish he caught he did most of the work! He reeled it in--until he was too excited to even hold on to the fishing pole and then Luke helped scoop the fish out of the water with the net! We fished for a little while longer and then decided one was good for today!

Nora fishing on her own!

My fisherman!

Making sure the fish is still ok!

Bishop's 3rd Rainbow Trout of the trip

 There is a Fun City Park with bumper cars, mini golf, a slide and other fun things for kids. The kids weren't big enough/old enough for the other activities, but they were able to go down the big slide! It was a blast! It was tough on Luke's back and I think Nora was a little scared (based on people's reactions of her facial expressions when she was going down). Nora and Luke went down 2 times together and I went down another couple of times with Bishop.

Ready to slide!!!!!!

 Wednesday we set out for another hike! We hiked up to Mills Lake and Bishop did awesome! We brought along an extra backpack (thanks to my sister and brother in law), but we never brought it along on our hikes. He ended up hiking 6 miles this day and he was quite the trooper!! It was a tough hike and there were times I wasn't sure if he'd make it.....but he rallied and did awesome!

Alberta Falls on the way to Mills Lake

Nora enjoyed hiking and did awesome!

Bishop helping Nora out with a small owie

Taking care of his little sister

We made it to Mills Lake and had lunch. It was an absolutely breathtaking lake! People told us they had seen a Moose and her babies by Mills Lake earlier in the week, so we were on the lookout--but we didn't see any.  Nora had to go to the bathroom on this hike (#2), so both kids to go experience pooping in the mountains! Whatever works, I guess....and when you gotta go, you gotta go!

The Froehle's at Mills Lake

Mills Lake

This is the face of a very tired hiker-he was ready to be done!

The parking lot to Mills Lake is pretty small and we didn't get to the park in time to get a spot in the lot, so we went to the Bear Lake Trailhead lot and took a shuttle to the trailhead to Mills Lake. On the hike down we hiked an extra 0.2 miles so we could end up at our car. Bishop ran out of energy and Luke carried him to the car-otherwise he hiked the entire way all by himself!

Exhausted after the hike to Mills Lake

Thursday morning we decided to drive up to the Pass. For the 2nd year in a row Bishop has not enjoyed this "adventure" at all!! We wanted to hike around a bit at the top, but Bishop wasn't interested and we didn't want to fight it anymore, so we took off for the pool!  We saw a lot of Elk along the way, which was fun!

There are a few Elk behind us in the picture--far away!

Nora taking pictures of the Elk with her "Frozen" Camera!

We think this may be Sky Pond, which we've hiked to before

We swam everyday at our place. There's a really nice, heated pool and the kids had a blast swimming! Bishop was doing awesome--he made it across the entire pool all by himself a couple of times!  Nora had a blast jumping in and after every time she would say "I want to do that again"!

 We swam in the afternoon on Thursday because we had plans to go to Boulder to meet Courtney for dinner that night. Our plan was to go to Boulder and hike at Chautauqua Park before meeting Courtney. It was much hotter in Boulder and the hike is pretty steep and not very well covered with trees. The kids weren't interested in hiking so we played at a park and then headed down to Pearl Street.

Hanging out with Spiderman on Pearl Street!

There was a street performer who juggled fire, so we stopped to watch him and the kids got a kick out of him (we did too-he was funny)!

Courtney was Bishop's teacher when he was 2 years old. She moved to Denver in October and we've missed her ever since! She drove up to meet us in Boulder after work on Thursday night and we appreciated her making the trip so much! She is the best and it was SO great seeing her and catching up!!  They have a very special relationship and Courtney had a lot of patience with Bishop when he was 2 years old! ;)  It was a later night for the kids so they fell asleep on the way home--it was so worth the drive to Boulder to see her--we miss her already!

Happy 4th of July!  We started out the day by going to one of the Ranger Stations for a puppet show. Bishop became an official Junior Ranger (and Nora was an honorary Jr. Ranger)! They both got booklets to fill out what they had seen, heard and done while in RMNP. They watched a puppet show on the roles of animals in the eco-system and then Bishop took a pledge and got his badge!

The Puppet Show

Being sworn in as Junior Ranger

 We had a low key day--the kids took naps, went swimming and then we headed down for the Fireworks! The Stanley Hotel had a fun day planned with a jumpy house, ferris wheel and other events. We thought we'd park at the Stanley, walk into town for dinner, go back to play at the Stanley and then stay to watch the fireworks. Unfortunately, it was the one day on our trip that it rained--and it poured! Thankfully we were eating when it rained and we dodged the worst of the rain. We walked back to our car and camped out/played in the car for a bit before heading up to the Stanley. The activities were all shut down due to the rain, but there were some other kids playing in a ballroom, so we hung out there for a bit and then settled in to watch the Fireworks!

Having fun with the camera

Our new photographer!

Running around before dinner

 This was the first year we've stayed up to watch the Fireworks with the kids! The fireworks started at 9:30 so it was a late night for the kids again, but they had fun running around and playing!

The Shining!

Ready for the fireworks!

The week went fast and we all had a great time! We had our ups and downs.....but all in all it was a very fun year! It was fun to do some different things (horse back riding, fishing, the slide) and it was nice to get out and hike some too!

We left Estes Park at 9:45amCST on Saturday morning and made great time--arriving in Owatonna at 11:30pm! The kids did awesome! We hardly stopped at all and when we did we ran in, got our food and got right back on the road to eat it. We made it to Owatonna and decided it was best to stay there for the night. We were all exhausted and it was nice to be able to relax a bit on Sunday morning before heading home. I love the mountains so much--they are peaceful, majestic and so beautiful! I'm so happy to share these experiences and make these memories with our family!