Staycation 2012

WOW!  We just wrapped up a fabulous staycation with Sarah and Co.  What a FUN week we had!  We did SO many amazing things.  Our kids are so lucky.


We went to Dinosaur Ridge in Morrison, CO and had our very own private tour guide -- a real paleontologist (whose wife is from Wyoming, Michigan) -- who taught us a lot about fossils, history, dinosaur bones, etc.  We saw actual dinosaur footprints and dinosaur bones, and learned some interesting facts about Colorado's history in relation to the Jurassic age.

Dino footprints!

Kids checking out the dinosaur bone fossils

 

 We went to Red Rocks amphitheater...climbed to the top of the amphitheater, climbed rocks, jumped off rocks, and made silly faces.

We drove up Lookout Mountain and took a short hike.

We went to Eldorado Springs and swam in a natural spring pool (no chlorine -- water is from a natural spring source in the mountains).  President Dwight Eisenhower and his wife honeymooned here back in the day so this place is "famous" but very old. The water was very cool -- a welcome relief since temps have been in the 100's every day.  The pool water recycles itself every 48 hours and flows back into the creek while new water from the mountain flows in.

That's ME going down the ancient 100-year old metal slide.

We went to the Pearl Street pedestrian mall in Boulder.  We watched street performers and cooled off in the pop-jet fountain.

We went to Mid-Air Adventures to beat the heat and had tons of fun on the zip lines and rock climbing wall.

 

We went to movie night at the park.

Movie night in the park

We went to The Bay water park.

 

 

We went to Colorado Springs and stopped by the Garden of the Gods for a brief visit.  

We went to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.  We were actually in Colorado Springs when the Waldo Canyon wildfire broke out.  We were so close that we could actually see the orange flames shooting off the top of the mountain.  We wanted to drive up Pike's Peak, but the road was closed due to the fire as they began evacuating local residents.  It's surreal to think how close to the fire we were.  We stopped for ice cream in Manitou Springs...and a few hours later, the entire town of Manitou Springs was evacuated due to the spreading wildfire.  Here's the smoke from our car window (if you look closely, you can see a helicopter flying into the smoke, preparing to drop fire retardant):

We had planned to go to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park the next day...but another wildfire started and closed the entrance to the park.  Instead, we visited Mother Cabrini Shrine in Golden and climbed the 373 steps up the stairway of prayer to the huge statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  We saw a big snake in the bushes on the way up the mountain.  (I don't have a picture of the snake but Sarah does!)

At the top of the mountain

The big Jesus statue

We had lunch in Golden.

 We went to Splash water park in Golden. 

Apparently, the kids like to pose as ninjas!

We went to Water World (they claim to be America's biggest water park - it's like the Cedar Point of water parks), we swam in our neighborhood pool, we went to Elisabeth's softball game (they got crushed - ouch), and we also saw the movie Brave in the theater.  No pictures from any of those adventures!

And...we played kickball in the park EVERY night.  Go unicorns!! 

Unicorns!

They started out as the Coyotes but then changed their name to something else. 

Unicorn cheer!

Kickball:  GO UNICORNS!

Such determined athletes! 

We had SO much fun!   Thank you so much for visiting us!!  We're so lucky to have friends like you!