We packed up the car and took off and rolled out of the garage at 7am on Thursday, July 2nd heading to Estes Park, CO! The kids did great on the drive! We made it to Kearney, NE in the afternoon and swam in the waterpark, ate at Luke and Jake's BBQ, played at a park and ended our day watching Charlotte's Web in the hotel room! It was a great first day of our trip and the kids did great! Our "watch out" moments were first thing in the mornings when the kids (especially Bishop) didn't eat enough for breakfast. As long as everyone was well fed, we were happy! ;) The kids did earn some presents (toys, workbooks, etc), which kept them occupied on the drive!
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| Getting comfy on the drive |
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| Working on his letters....a present from Nana and Papa |
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| Coloring in her new book from Nana and Papa! |
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| Going down the big slide all on his own! |
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| Going down the big slide with daddy! |
Luke's friend, Ben, visited Luke and Jake's BBQ quite a few years ago and sent both Luke and Jake T-shirts...so we had to check it out. The food was pretty good, but now that we've been there I don't think we'll need to go back!
While we were playing at the park the kids met some new friends. Bishop followed this girl around and Nora enjoyed loved helping out with her younger sister!
On Friday morning we had breakfast, packed up and took off for CO! We stopped in Loveland, CO to see Courtney and it was so great seeing her! We had lunch with her and her boyfriend, Cory, saw the place where she lives and works (Sunrise Spiritual Ranch) and swam in their pool! We left and had about 1 1/2 hours left to get to Estes Park! Thanks for having us, Courtney! It was so great seeing you! We miss you!
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| Swimming in Courtney's pool |
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| Jumping in with Courtney! |
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| The water was COLD! |
When we arrived in EP the kids were sleeping, so we stopped at the grocery store....I got groceries while Luke stayed in the car with the sleeping kids. It worked out well--then we checked in...unpacked and settled in and made dinner.
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| The kids called this our castle! |
On Saturday morning we woke up to sunny skies and a beautiful 4th of July! We decided to hike to Gem Lake. It starts at a lower elevation than some other hikes, so we figured it'd be a good hike to acclimate to the elevation! The kids did great! They both enjoyed hiking and Nora took a few breaks in the backpack. I believe this is the 3rd time we've hiked this hike. The last time was 2 years ago with the Hennum's.
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| I love how close they are! |
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| Hiking sticks were a big hit this year! |
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| His own chair! |
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| Hiking is hard work! |
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| Paul Bunyon's Boot |
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| Gem Lake |
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| Hiking Down. Nora wasn't interested in having her picture taken. |
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| Walking to the pool! |
That evening we made dinner in our place and headed down to celebrate the 4th of July! It poured rain in the early evening so we were glad to be in our cabin. Once it cleared off we went to the Stanley Hotel as they were having a carnival. The kids jumped in the bouncy house and ran around for awhile. We walked downtown for icecream and then walked back up to watch the fireworks. Estes Park puts on a really good fireworks show. It started at 9:30pm and after about 10 minutes the kids had seen enough. We transferred them to bed when we got back and we all slept well!
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| There was a bluegrass band playing at the Stanley |
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| Dancing with her daddy! |
This was the first year we stayed in a 2 bedroom condo and we are so glad we did! We had more room in the condo and the sleeping arrangements were much better! The kids each had their own bed and the porch walked down to the river, which was nice and we weren't quite as stressed out that one of them would just run out and jump in!
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| We stayed in the lower level-it was a great set up! |
We had a great first full day in Colorado! It's nice to be back!
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