Dax and I decided months ago we wanted to make a trip to Colorado this summer. We both love it there and thought that Rilan would love seeing REAL mountains vs. the tiny hills he thinks are mountains when we go back home.
We left on Saturday the 16th and went by my parent's house to see them for a few hours then headed to Dax's parent's house to spend the night before waking up super early to start the drive. We got up at 3 a.m. so we could be on the road by 4 a.m. The kids did so well on the way there. Zoey slept a large part of the time in the car and Rilan loved seeing so many new things.
We were about 2-2.5 hours into our drive and I had to make a 911 call due to some idiot driving on the wrong side of the road near Amarillo. Lucky he/she wasn't on our side of the road but Dax and I were on pins and needles because we were terrified we were about to see a head on crash.
We had planned on stopping at Capulin, NM to see the volcano there but decided to go ahead and keep driving since Zoey was napping. We did stop in Colorado Springs because both kids were awake and getting antsy to get out of the car. We were trying to decided between Pikes Peak or Seven Falls and Seven Falls won! It was beautiful!
There are 7 different waterfalls that flow into one big waterfall. There are stairs you can take up to the top, 224 steps to be exact, but we decided to take the easy route with the kids and go up the elevator to the lookout point.
One thing that Rilan LOVED was there were a ton of chipmunks roaming around that you could hand feed. We got food but Rilan couldn't be still enough for them to eat out of his hand so he settled for putting the food on the ground and let them eat that way. It was still neat to get that close to them.
Rilan wanted to take a silly photo, so this is a good as it got! ha!!
From there we headed to our hotel to get settled in and freshen up a bit. Dax wanted to take us downtown and let Rilan see where he lived while attending the Art Institute of Colorado. Then we headed over to the 16th Street Mall area and ate at the Hard Rock Cafe.
The next morning we got up and got ready to hit the Denver Zoo, Rilan and I were both excited to see a polar bear. We did get to see one, and it was really neat watching him or her, swim around.
Daddy and Zo looking at fish.
Rilan and the giant turtle. I seriously have never seen a turtle that big!!
She though she was something else getting to walk around!
Rilan did NOT want his photo taken. I hope this stage passes soon! :)
After a few melt downs from each child at the zoo we decided to skip quite a bit and head back to the hotel for naps! After a little rest we went to the pool and swam for a while and Zoey actually got in and LOVED it. This was a huge step because she normally screams the whole time when we try to put her in the pool at home.
Once we were done swimming we went back upstairs and got ready again so we could head to lookout mountain. It was so beautiful and I think we got some really cute photos of us with the kids, too bad we didn't get one of the 4 of us.
Day 3 was a day of just hanging out. Rilan and Dax spent a lot of the day swimming and then we got ready, ate a late lunch and headed to meet
Jenn. I am not sure what I though it would be like, but it honestly felt like we had known them for years. Rilan and Zoey loved playing with Devyn, Hudson, Reagan and Ashlynn.
This is the only photo I got, the kids were playing and we were chatting so I forgot to get out my camera until the very end. Oh well! Yes, the are playing on a tablet of some sort and a phone! haha!!
I love how Zoey and Reagan look so much alike in this photo, they remind me a lot of each other. Two sweet girls, full of sass!
Jenn made an awesome chicken and pasta dish, rolls, and fruit salad for us to eat. I could have ate a ton but I am still trying really hard to loose weight. :) We just sat and talked for hours! Jon and Jenn, thank you so much for welcoming us into your home. We hope to see y'all again soon!
That wraps up the the first 3 days, the last 3 will come tomorrow! We had a blast and hated to leave! I hope we can call Colorado home one day!
