Winter Sports Day!

Well we are back home now after about a 14 hour car ride and got home last night really late! I wanted to blog about a few more things we did in Colorado because I was lazy and didn't get a chance to do it before we left.
On Friday we heard that Keystone had enough snow to have tubing so we jumped at the chance to do that! We had such a great time and got about a half hour of tubing in before it started pouring down rain. Honestly, it was quite miserable and we were seriously wet and cold by the time we got to the Gondola (ski lift that Abby and Reese loved) but getting to tube in the snow made up for all the misery:)
I got a great video of me going down the hill-I hope you don't get too dizzy watching it!

We then went ice skating because Abby wanted to go really bad. She and I had a blast skating around but poor Reese wasn't so into it. The only way we could get him to go around the rink was to have him try to push Greg down the whole time which he thought was really funny!

On Wednesday we went for a half day white water rafting trip but we took pictures with a water proof camera so as soon as I get those developed I will post them on here--I hope they turn out!

Here are some pictures of our "winter" adventures---I am glad we had the opportunity to be in nice cool weather because it is so stinking hot and humid here in Texas it is ridiculous! Gotta love the Texas heat:) When we got home late last night I was singing "home again home again" and Reese chimes in singing "hot again hot again" Too funny! We are gonna miss the beautiful Colorado weather for sure!!!!


About to go down the hill together

Yes that's real snow.....crazy! (notice Greg in shorts-that's a Texas boy for ya:)




We got a little wet running to the lift! Ok, REALLY wet/cold---it was pouring!!!! In fact, we were so wet we bought some new clothes at a store at the bottom of the lift!


Walking in the skates was alot easier than skating on the ice!:) ~Reese is still happy in this picture


Abby was having a blast


Reese pushing Greg---while doing this he did great but as soon as he thought about what he was "really" doing he fell! ~this did not make him happy one little bit!


Abby and me



Video of me tubing at Keystone

Breckenridge Fun Park!

It was a long, fun day today! We decided to get a day pass at the Peak 8 Fun Park and there was SO much to do it was crazy! With the day pass you get to go on any of the activities as much as you want from 9am-5pm and wow did we do ALOT! They had the alpine slides, bungee trampoline, panning for jewels and fossils, a Human Maze and rock climbing wall. The kids mostly did the trampoline and the alpine slide but they did enjoy all the other things too! Abby LOVED mining for jewels and fossils. She has been looking at them all night and is separating them out to give some of them to each of her cousins! She and Reese have worked out that Reese will give some of his to Tobey and Landry and she will give some to Charlie, Trevin and Eden (not sure Eden will be able to appreciate the value of a fossil but it's the thought that counts right?--she's only about 6 months old:)
Anyways-- I can't believe we made it all day and man, are we tired but it was well worth it! Tomorrow we head out on the trails and go ice skating (not at the same time). We are planning to drive up pretty far into the mountains and go for a hike and see what we can find....hopefully we'll "find" our way home right? We'll see....:)




Greg and Abby climbing together

We took the lift to the very top and hiked around in the snow--it was cold and wet but the kids loved it! ~I tried to love it even though I was covered in snow:) Thanks guys!

Panning for fossils and jewels

Crazy spinning contraption--Abby decided she was NOT into it--Greg gave it a go but I sat out due to the fact that I would yak all over the place:) No thank you!

Me flipping---it was so tiring but SO worth it!

Reese was a natural--he climbed to the very top every time and rang the bell!

Reese liked to do back-flips! It was awesome! ~ they kept calling him a 4 year old boy wonder:)

Abby was into getting as high as possible--she was over 20 feet in the air! Amazing!

Abby and I on the Alpine slide---we were into the speed! Racing Daddy and Reese was our favorite:)

Reese and Daddy were speed racers...they were hard to beat:)

Cool picture

This is a cool picture of the kids on a tire swing...

A few Colorado highlights!

Wow!!! We have been here 4 days and I don't even know how I can sum up all we have done! Debbie and Jerry headed home to Texas today--we were sad to see them leave but hope they have a safe trip home! We have a million pictures already....ughhh!
Greg, the kids and I drove into Breckenridge this afternoon from Colorado Springs and our condo is right at the Base of Peak 8 and it's INCREDIBLE! Greg really outdid himself this time---thanks honey! We love it so much I even took a video of the place for you guys to see! If you are ever up here in Breck you have to check out Crystal Peak Lodge--it's a perfect location! We still have 5 days to go and I can't believe all we have planned to do--I'm tired even thinking about it:)
Ok so I have decided the best way to share this vacation with you is to pick some of the best pictures (sorry there are ALOT:) we have taken so far and explain as I go....here we go! Hang in there you won't be sorry;) Sadly, there is no order to these pictures...after almost 4 years of being a blogger I still haven't figured out to put the pictures in order without too much trouble!!
Oh well....whatever--enjoy anyways!

Flying W Ranch and our yummy chuck wagon dinner! If you are ever up in Colorado Springs you have to go! It's really a fun experience!

Before dinner

Beautiful Abby!

Reese right as he walked into the Cave of the Winds--he was pumped!

The kids and I before going into the the Cave-told you it was windy:) Nice pic huh? ha!

Let 'er out!
Kids using Daddy and Poppa as bulls at the Rodeo Hall of Fame--they had a blast!

My Rodeo Clowns!

Flying W Ranch Band--after dinner they put on a great show!

At Rodeo Hall of Fame and here we were just messing around--I was being attacked by 3 mean bulls--those rodeo clowns are nuts!

We went to the Flying W Ranch for a chuck wagon dinner and country music show. This is Abby sitting in one of the Tee-Pee's they had on display--I guess they had these because of the whole cowboy versus Indian thing? Not sure but we had fun with it anyways:)

Garden of the Gods-we went back again to climb around some more---this is the one of the rock structures called Balancing Rock--it was really cool! We are strong!!!! :)

Cave of the Winds- we went on a tour through the cave and the kids were VERY excited! Reese kept telling me not to be scared~ I think he was really trying to talk himself into it;)

Olympic Training Center
This is my attempt at being an Olympic athlete--not too shabby:) I look just like the statue right??? HA!

Abby loved these statutes....:)

Abby got the gold! So adorable....look how little she looks??

At the training center they had all these statue things for each sport and the kids got a kick out of acting out each sport as we saw them....here Daddy and Reese are racing! Not sure who won...probably Reese:)

Poppa, Maw Maw and Abby being silly! Sadly right as I took this picture Abby hit her head on the statue behind her...she was NOT happy! Poor girl!

The family going for the gold--hehe!

Greg thought it would be funny to take this picture to celebrate us getting a Toyota--do you remember these commercials??
"Who could ask for anything more?? Toyota!!!"

Greg and Reese playing peek-a-boo on the mountain!

Reese high in the sky!

Poppa and Reese climbed ahead of us and beat us to the top! Way to go guys! Made for a great picture!

Garden of the Gods--our favorite place so far! We love to climb:)

Colorado Trip Day 1 and 2

Well we have been waiting 6 months and finally our Colorado vacation is here! We left yesterday and split the drive between two days which made it a ton easier on all of us:)
We had a lot of fun driving up through Texas and New Mexico and we were "blessed" to have been able to eat 2 times in small town diners...Greg was thrilled and I was well stretched (he loves a good ole chicken fried steak:)
Now to my defense I didn't complain once but Greg said he could tell I was a bit out of my element--Ha! Just a little, but I've learned being married to Greg that I have to be ALOT more flexible and open-minded--thanks Greg! Honestly, I am thankful he pushes me to try new things or else I would never grow and become a better version of me!
Anyways for the first part of our trip Maw Maw and Poppa met us in Colorado Springs. They had already been up here this past week for their own vacation so it worked perfectly to see them a couple days on the last part of their trip!
We decided to meet them at The Garden of the Gods around 3 pm for a little hiking and man were our kids happy to get out of the car after two days of driving! They both said they were reay to climb a mountain and a mountain we did climb!
We had a great time climbing the rocks and the weather was perfect! I am so happy to be out of the Texas heat for awhile---59 degrees is fine with me;)
Well I got a ton of pictures so enjoy! I will be posting as much as possible so keep checking in and please don't get too jealous:)
**** I also wanted to thank those of you holding down the fort at home...what would we do without you guys feeding Abby's fish and taking care of the house?:) Thanks alot!

Are we there yet???

Family driving pic--not bad huh?

Everyone taking in the beauty!
As we were driving in to the Gardens Abby says, "Why do they call it Garden of the Gods when there's only ONE God?" Love that she already knows that simple truth and that she really believes it!


Abby taking a little break....her own little God-made nook:)

Abby and Reese humoring me....they got really annoyed after about 50 pictures:) Sorry kids but it was so beautiful and every place they sat looked like a perfect photo op!

Greg and I climbed up into this little crack in the wall...we were pretty high and it was making Abby very nervous!

Everyone being very quiet looking for a deer....shhh!

Greg posing!