Lord knows, Mama tried...

It seems that I am always trying to get a trip going somewhere. I am also not a fan of traveling during peak seasons, since you have to deal with the crowds, but the trade off is your never going to know what kind of weather you are going to get. The kids had a few days off, and we have had several weeks of warm, dry weather so I was thinking, hoping we would have good weather to get over the Glenwood Springs. They have natural Hot Springs, and hike that is well known to a place called Hanging Lake. So of course, the week we are planning on going, we have snow in the forecast..... again I was wearing sandals last week. Joel and I keep watching and decide to go for it.... Get busy living. So Friday morning we load up around 9 AM, despite the CDOT website saying that I70 is closed. Hoping it will open up any minute, and watching for hours when it does not. Not to waste our time, we hit a few stores and get Lunch. So we wait until 1PM for the highway to open. We make our way up and finally hit our destination around 4. Glad to have made it to Glenwood Springs, sad to see that it is also snowing in Glenwood Springs. We let the kids swim at the hotel pool and then grab some dinner. We plan to get up in the morning and hike and then go to the Hot Springs...... well it is still snowing in the morning. Joel and I could have made the hike, but it was too tall an order for the kids. So to have something to do, we head to a town about an hour away,  Fruita.  They have a few things that we thought the kids would like, first a Dinosaur Museum.

Who does not want to ride in this Rig

 Cooper and a Dino

   

 Lauren with a Brachiosaurus looking over her

                                      

Cooper with a Leg of a Brachiosaurus

 Daddy and Lauren loving the Stegosaurus

The museum was good, and the kids enjoyed it. Afterward we headed across the street to a Nature Center, kind of like a small zoo. The people working there were really nice and we were able to really check out some cool, albeit small animals. Mostly fish, and reptiles, even one fish that would spit water into the air to knock down bugs too eat.  So after our trip farther west, we headed back to Glenwood Springs, hoping to try the Hot Springs, but when we got back to town it was still snowing. So back to the Hotel Pool and dinner.  Gloriously the next morning it was dry. We headed over to the Glenwood Caverns Adventure park. The weather was not great, but good enough for us to enjoy, and to chase away some of the crowds. We were able to walk up and do just about whatever we wanted when we wanted. Which turned out to be the Alpine Coaster. It is just like it sounds, a small cart on a track, and it was SO MUCH FUN!! We must have gone down it 25 times, and smiled each time.  Joel even tracked how fast he went, 30 mph, only after Cooper told him I was faster :).

Cooper and Dad after a fun run

 Lauren does not look very happy, but she squealed the whole way down, and would say again as soon as we hit the bottom 

In one of the two caves we toured - I can not believe that we all are looking at the camera and smiling..... that NEVER happens

 The Calcite would glow under black lights.. it was really cool

 The Park was on top of one of the mountains surrounding the town, so we had to ride a Gondola up 

Lauren - My Fearless Child - when on the Zipline - it pulled you up to about 100 ft and then dropped you back down. A little leary at first, and they said FUN! as soon as she was back down

Cooper sadly would not do it, until he had gone down on the coaster and we convinced him it was not as scary at the that. He also declared it an awesome ride. We headed home, and thankfully all the snow had left the front range, we were able to get home within a few hours. Since we went there to go to the hot springs and never made it, we will have to make another trip to Glenwood Springs soon, that and I think I can go faster then 30 on the alpine coaster.  Let's just hope that we have less snow next time, but you never know-  snowed on us last summer in Jackson. But I will tell you I am very glad that we were able to go.  

Easter Eggs are the best

I know I have said this several times, but we are really blessed to live in Colorado. I hope we can continue to love and enjoy this wonderful place. Our friends John and Amy generously invited us up for  dinner on Easter Sunday, so we headed up to Nederland a little early to go to the Easter Egg hunt at the Ski Resort Eldora. We had a glorious day. Nice and sunny, as you can see below only jackets needed. The resort had place piles of snow and stuffed them full of Easter eggs. The kids had a great time.

Cooper and Lauren showing off their eggs

                             

Lauren with the Easter Bunny

 Mom and Lauren enjoying the day

After the hunt we headed over the the carousel they have in Nederland. If you can please check it out. Cooper said at first he did not want a ride, but as soon as we hit the door, he was ready to ride, not once, but three times.

Lauren on a Mermaid

Once we had enjoyed spinning around and around, we headed over to John and Amy's.  They live in a beautiful area, that John had hidden tons on eggs around their house. They were so great to even include special eggs for each of the kids... Cooper got a car, and Lauren a My Little Pony. Amy and John are the best!!! We had a great time, on a amazing Colorado day. So blessed to let the little ones play while we could sit and enjoy the day. We thank you so much John and Amy!!!

Kids getting ready to start the search - John and Amy's Little one (Maddie) next to Lauren on the stairs

 Cooper showing off his haul

 How cool is this backyard

 So happy with our search

 Cooper climbing the rocks

To top off the day, we had a great meal, and a pretty cake to eat. Feeling very blessed, and grateful for great friends and a beautiful day.

Birthday Girl!!!

WOW, I have really dropped the ball on posting this year..... I am blaming getting back to school. I am not sure if that is the real reason,  and I have really struggled to even take pictures these last few months, so posting a blog is not even on the radar.

                                That being said we must note Lauren's 4th birthday. 

Lauren turned 4 last month and we had to make sure she had a great day. Meaning donuts for breakfast, and presents! She did have school, so we could not get too much partying in on the day, but we did make sure to go to Monkey Business with Sarah and the girls that Friday.  A great day had by all. We are so proud of all her progress and she is already ready to turn 5. We have been telling her things she can do (that Cooper is doing) when she turns 5, so that day cannot come too soon for her. Personally we can slow things down. We are about to finish Cooper's kindergarten and her first year of Pre school. 

                                              Opening presents - we love our cute clothes!

                                                                      What is next!!!

Here is a short video of her waking up and running thru the streamers Joel and I put up the night before. I am sure she will be glad this video exists in about 10 years. I see this as part of my parenting, to make sure I have these jems to bring out at the correct time :)