Is Colorado Here Yet?

It has been over a week since we got home from Colorado. Well, here is an update on us and the trip.

V was asking, it seemed, every hour, "Is Colorado here yet mommy? When is it coming?" She was so anxious for it to come. She didn't realize that we had to drive 9 hours to get there. Then as soon as we were in the mountain, not quite at the condo yet, she threw a huge tantrum and wanted to "walk on the mountain". our condo was in the mountains, Winter Park, but when we got there she didn't understand that she was walking on the mountain. She wanted to hike, even though she had no idea what hiking was at the time. When I asked her if she wanted to hike she thought I said bike. Of course she was all for that!

She loved every minute of the trip. Five cousins to play with and being outside all day almost every day was heaven for her. She did not want to come back to Nebraska. Well, actually, I didn't either. That first rest stop in Nebraska I climbed out of the car and turn to Roland and asked him if we could turn around. It was so hot, humid, flat, icky! We are back, and just in time for this lovely heat advisory! Ugggghhh!

These are picture of a couple hikes we took. One was to Adam Falls and the other was called Chainsaw Trail. They were both easy, but beautiful hikes. It was so sad to see how many trees the Asian Beetles of have killed. Some areas people had already clear out the dead trees and it was so sad. There are so few green Lodge Pole Pines left. Thankfully the forest service has been taking care of the problem in Rocky Mountain National Forest. It is so much greener up there.
We went canoeing on Grand Lake (I think that was the name of it). It was a lot of work after many years of no experience. It was hard making it through the wakes of the speed boats. We enjoyed it though. V kept trying to reach in the water. She is so little she looked like she was going to fall out. R and I decided it was a good marriage communication lesson. :)

We really enjoyed our limited time in Rocky Mountain National Forest. It started to rain, not just rain, but thunder and lightening. When you are that close to the sky, you don't mess around. We saw a few things and hiked to 12,0005 feet, but then decided to drive into Estes Park and do some shopping. It was a nice time, but we sure wanted to be in the mountains more. On the way back through the clouds were so low you couldn't see much of the mountains. This is the trail that takes you to the point of 12,005 feet. It is a tough trail than it looks. V made it all the way up. She is a tough girl!

This is another hike we took. It is called Coyote Valley. It is right inside the park entrance. It is beautiful and the easiest hike ever!

This was V's favorite thing to do on the hikes with water. It was very hard to pull her away when it was time to move on.




We of course found some really fun parks to play at too. Not too many picture of those though. This is a cute one of V's cousins L and P. They are sitting in a little band stand at the park in Grand Lake.



Friday was a blast! We spent the day at the resort area in Winter Park. They have a 1/2 mile Alpine Slide. V couldn't get enough speed. R and I would crank the sled as fast as it would go, but it still wasn't fast enough for her. In the picture of them coming down the slide V is showing how much she loves it with her hands above her head. So cute!



While we were waiting on V's cousins on the climbing wall we looked at all the gorgeous flowers and took some pictures. Isn't she a doll?

R and V went through the human maze together. It looked like a lot of fun. I know I would have gone crazy. I don't like being somewhere I can get out of for too long. The kids had a blast, and the daddy's. :)



V had fun on her first mini golfing. She only made it 9 holes though. Then we went and played on the playground while everyone else finished the game.