Colorado Vacation - Day 7

This morning we woke up early to head back to Garden of the Gods to see if we could get there to take some pictures before the park was flooded with people.  Our pictures turned out awesome because we had the place to ourselves.  Then we headed up to Helen Hunt falls.  It was an amazing trip up the mountain to see it and we really enjoyed the views.  Even Ledger loved the waterfall!  We spent the afternoon swimming and hanging out with the family.  Overall, today was a fantastic day.  Relaxing and enjoyable.

Colorado Vacation - Day 5 & 6

Since I've been working with a borrowed laptop, my blogging has been sub-standard.  I apologize!  We have been busy running around the Colorado Springs area.  Thursday, we had a morning outing to Manitou Springs.  We walked around the old downtown area and window-shopped.  We posed for our annual "Old Tyme" photo with Jaime and I dressed as Southern Belles and Chris, Chris, and Ledger dressed as northern soldiers.  It was actually a pretty good picture. :)  We also took some family pictures on the old town stairs.  They didn't turn out quite as well as I would have liked.  But here they are:

We also had a girls-only shopping afternoon with Pam, Jaime, Kim and myself.  Pam bought us all new Vera Bradley purses -- I really like my new one! (Thanks, Pam!).  On Friday, we went to Garden of the Gods this morning to take a few pictures.  It was pretty crowded and Ledger was ready for his morning nap, so we cut it short.  We spent the afternoon at the Citadel mall and managed to escape with most of our money in tact.  This evening, we drove around town with the windows down and enjoyed the 75 degree weather.  That's right -- SEVENTY FIVE DEGREES!! :)  We're going to try to enjoy our next few days and just sorta relax a little bit before we make the trek home.

Colorado Vacation -- Day 4

Today started off a little rough -- my laptop slipped off my lap while I was trying to balance baby and computer and it CRACKED MY SCREEN!!  I am so mad!  So I am blogging from Chris' laptop and trying to load pictures onto his computer, but it's slow and I can't upload to picasaweb from here.  Please bear with me!

Today we hit the incredible Cheyenne Mountain Zoo here in Colorado Springs.  Despite a few minor setbacks (like I completely forgot our stroller - so we rented- and I forgot sunscreen - so we borrowed from cousin Kim) we had a really cool day.  I was most looking forward to getting to feed the giraffes and to let Ledger see it too.  Unfortunately, he didn't love the giraffes.  In fact, they kinda scared him.  Oh well, we'll try again next time we're here. :)  He did like spending time with cousin Connor and being passed from person to person to see all of the exhibits.  At the end of our day, we too the "Sky Ride" which is basically a ski lift that takes you over the whole zoo to a viewing platform that overlooks the Colorado Springs area.  I was a little nervous to take Ledger up there, but he fell asleep halfway up, which made it quite a bit easier!  :)  He really has been such a good boy this week!

Colorado Vacation -- Day 3

This morning we woke up early to hit the complimentary hotel breakfast and to try to be at the pool when it opened at 9 a.m. to avoid some of the crowd.  It was totally worth it!  We had the pool all to ourselves for about half an hour.  Daddy loved the slide and took Ledger down it a few times.  Ledger was not very enthused about the slide, as you can see by his facial expression in the picture.  BUT, he loved the hot tub.  Don't worry, it wasn't that hot.  It was really awesome to be sitting in the hot tube with the mountains and Pike's Peak looming in the distance.

We spent the afternoon shopping around town until we could check into our cabins this afternoon.  Our cabin is really awesome.  I will post pictures of it later this week.  The best part is that our bedroom has a sliding glass door that opens to a secluded back patio with a view of a little bubbling creek.  So we sleep with the glass door open so we can hear the water sounds all night long.  It's so much better than a sound machine! :)  We ate dinner at "The Mason Jar" and then shopped for a few groceries to keep in the cabin.  Ledger passed out in the car on the way back to the cabin -- he's had a very long day.  We mistakenly set up his pack-n-play in the living room and put him to bed.  Whoops!  This basically means that Chris and I are confined to our bedroom for the night.  Tomorrow night we will do things a little differently!  Oh well, I could use a little relaxation and reading time tonight! :)  Tomorrow we are going to hit the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, so be prepared for LOTS of pictures!

Colorado Vacation -- Day 1 and 2

So here we are in beautiful Colorado.  We left home at 8 a.m. yesterday and made the trek across western Kansas.  Our trip was slow with lots of frequent stops, but we made it with (virtually) no major back seat melt-downs.  Actually, Ledger traveled VERY well.  We finally turned his car seat around so that he could face forward for the trip and we could take care of him without so much hassle.

We finally arrived at the Hindman's house in Longmont, CO around 4 p.m.  It was really fun to see RaShelle, Mike, Chase, and Brady.  Ledger's cousins have gotten SO big!!  We played baseball in the yard for a while and then went out to eat together as a family.  By the time dinner was finished, we were all exhausted and went back to the hotel and crashed.  Literally.  I was asleep by 9pm (in my defense, it was 10pm Kansas time).  I don't know why I didn't take any pictures of our families together.  Chalk it up to being exhausted from a long day of driving.

Today we woke up early and headed into Denver to eat at Casa Bonita -- Chris' favorite restaurant! :)  We had a great time.  Ledger was a little over-stimulated, but overall it was good food and such a fun, unique environment.  He really loved the waterfall.

 

Afterwards, we went to the Denver Downtown Aquarium.  Although we were pushing it with Ledger's usual nap time, he did GREAT and enjoyed seeing everything they had to offer.  I think his favorite thing to watch was the ducks.  Daddy's favorite thing was the sharks, of course.  Mommy liked watching the scuba divers feed the fish.  Uncle V liked ALL of the fish and promised that he will take Ledger fishing soon! :)  Here are some of our favorite pictures:

Tomorrow we will check into our cabin (yay!) and I will try to continue to update the blog as we go!  We are having a great time!