Family Vacation

Our first official family vacation has come to an end. We had a really wonderful time. There were so many times that I was thinking, "I'm having so much fun. My husband and kiddos are awesome!" We really enjoyed getting to reconnect with our friends that we met at our missionary training. It was a little crazy at times with four adults and six children in a house with no air-conditioning while having record Colorado high temperatures, but everyone was a trooper. It was awesome to have such gracious hosts.


This is a family pic the evening we left, right before we all piled into the car. We drove all night to get there, which worked pretty well for our young ones! We arrived early Sunday morning and spent the day resting and hanging out with the Williams' family. Kristi and I went grocery shopping and planned our meals for the week (because of our gluten-intolerance) and then that evening we ate out at Chili's for Father's Day.
Monday, we spent the day in Canon City. We went to the Dinosaur Depot Museum and then walked around a really neat Abbey & Monastery. That evening we went to the San Isabel National Forest and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and hiked up into the mountains to a stream. I foolishly read a sign at the bottom of the trail that said to beware of the bears and gave tips on how to not attract them. Elyse then proceeded to talk about bears all the way up and down the mountain; I was freaked out the whole time too but didn't want to express it in front of the kiddos. I just kept telling Elyse, "there aren't any bears around here this time of year," all the while jumping at every crack and nestle off in the distance.
Here are Ezra, Aidan, me, Aislinn and Zion enjoying our hot dogs.

Our family at the stream:

One interesting thing about Canon City is that there are 14 prisons within a 10 square mile radius. In fact, the federal government's only SuperMax prison is located there. We drove past it on the way back from our hike. Okay, so I know it's not a brilliant picture but did you think I was going to stop there and get out when criminals such as the Unabomber, the Shoe Bomber, Zaccharias Moussaoui and Terry Nichols are there? It was actually a very eerie feeling driving past it and knowing that men such as they were only hundreds of yards away from me.


On Tuesday we went to the Royal Gorge, the highest suspension bridge in the world.

We rode across the gorge on the aerial tram. How did I survive, all of you may ask that know my terrible fear of heights? I didn't think about it beforehand, I just did it...and then I looked straight out. Whoever said "don't look down" really knew what they were talking about. It wasn't too bad, that way!!
Wednesday we rode the cog railway to the top of Pike's Peak. What an experience!! The kids favorite thing about the whole trip was the snow at the top of the mountain!

Then we went to the Garden of the gods, dad's favorite part about the whole trip. He and the kids climbed and climbed and climbed. Here are some pics from there:



The kids shouting "TA-DA!" with Pike's Peak in the background:




And when we weren't out seeing the sights, we were having a great time at our friends' house. The kids especially took advantage of the free time and their new playmates. They played in the sprinklers and on the trampoline, and sometimes, both at the same time! Here's Aidan, Nevaeh and Elyse havin' at it:


Aidan innovated a new way to pick cherries:


We're looking forward to making a scrapbook of our vacation, putting all the pictures together and recording all of the kid's favorites about each day.