Colorado Journal

Here's the journal from our trip…

We left Friday night around 7:45, five minutes later Bella had to potty. So we all went potty again. We headed to Flagstaff and then went through Albuquerque. Gabby got up at 4:30 and Bella got up around 5. We all watched the sunrise together outside of Raton, New Mexico. We stopped outside of Colorado Springs as a final potty stop. We thought it would be a good idea to let the girls run some energy off. On the last lap Gabby face planted on the cement and busted her lip open. There was quite a bit of blood so we rinsed her mouth out and she sucked on some ice. We got back on the road and headed to the cabin after a stop at Starbucks.

Bonnie, Eric, Miriam and Shawn got there about an hour after us and Auntie made wonderful Pesto burgers and grilled corn. We sat outside and enjoyed the view. The girls had filled up all the animal feeders earlier in the day, so we were joined by squirrels, chipmunks and hummingbirds. Joel found the axe and chopped some wood. The girls played on the bench swing but ended up with splinters since they had shorts on. Lessoned learned.

SUNDAY - Our friends Joe and Robyn Marmo drove down from Denver to meet the girls. The last time we saw them was Joel and Joe's law school graduation and Bella was 3 months old. We went searching for some trails in Florissant and after driving around for awhile we headed into town for some burgers and beer at the Ute Inn. We walked around town and headed into the cowboy shop. Joel humored us and tried on boots and a holster. We went back to the cabin and took the girls on a walk. They enjoyed picking flowers and searching for every color of the rainbow. The girls made pizzas with Granna for dinner. Joel made a camp fire and we roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. Gabby loved the chocolate and Bella loved the marshmallows. The fire was hot so the girls kept covering their eyes and face when holding the skewers over the logs. When I burnt mine, Bella yelled "you have chocolate on yours mommy" when she saw the black part. We headed back up to the cabin to star gaze. We all laid on beach chairs bundled up. Shawn set up the telescopes to see the craters on the moon. We were soon welcomed by a raccoon in the tree. Once we came in the raccoon came down to eat with the "mip-muncks" as Gabby called them. Gabby was very upset that she couldn't bring the raccoon in and sleep with it. Her prayer did change from "thank you God for the clouds" to "Thank you God for the raccoon" that night.

Since there was a water shortage in the cabin the girls quickly learned "don't flush, need to save the water."

MONDAY - We headed to the stocked lake, Barbie poles and Papa T's tackle box in hand. After being there a few hours with no luck, we had a picnic. We were soon greeted by a bat who decided to nap behind Granna. The girls had fun playing with the worms and the crawfish that Shawn caught. With no luck I headed to the other side of the lake. The owner helped me re-hook the Barbie poll and we cast it out with the hope to finally catch one. Meanwhile everyone packed up and headed to the car. Once the girls were loaded in the car the poll started to dip and I had one on the line. I yelled for Joel and Bella came running with her sippy cup. She grabbed the net and helped catch the fish. Gabby wasn't quite sure what was going on and grabbed my leg to watch. She kept saying "look mommy, you caught a fish". The owner got the hook out and Gabby stated "mommy the fish is crying", we put him in the bucket and Bella named it CoCo. Joel gutted it and we took it home for dinner, Bella enjoyed eating CoCo and Gabby was not a fan. The girls made brownies with Granna and then we headed out to watch the sunset. We hung out on the porch after dinner and heard a pack of wolves howling while the girls were downstairs taking a bath and putting on sparkley lotion from Granna. We also found out that the neighbors had seen a bear in a tree near their house the night before. Joel and I went downstairs with the girls to read to them. Bella's prayer was so cute. She said, "Thank you God for the coyotes, even though I was in the bath and put on sparkely lotion and missed them, thank you."

TUESDAY - We got up and went to the Garden of the Gods. The girls loved the gift shop at the visitor center and ended up with a wolf and black bear from Granna. We walked around one of the main paths and Bella was able to crawl through a "cave" (two rocks that were close together). We walked a little farther and Bella climbed a little rock…she was so excited. We saw a pair of rock climbers scaling one of the mountains. We also stopped by Balance Rock and climbed around for a bit. We headed to Rudy's BBQ for lunch. The girls enjoyed their "pig sandwiches" and corn on the cob. We headed home and the girls napped in the car. They colored with daddy and did puzzles with mommy. It started to rain so we didn't cook the hot dogs in the fire pit. When the sun peaked through Gabby thought it would be a good idea to put peanuts in the feeder. She found them behind the curtain where Bella had hid them from her. While she filled it up she kept saying "no no birdies, these are for the mip-muncks." Bella sat on the porch and created a story using a picture album she found in the house about a bear that had been seen at the cabin earlier this spring. Her story went a little like this…"There were two bears and then lived in the tree. They came down and walked around on the ground. And then someone dumped all the trash out and the bears left." After that the girls went downstairs and climbed a tree while Daddy cooked the hot dogs. At dinner daddy introduced Gabby to a new word when he told Gabby to eat her "wiener". Gabby also ate so much watermelon she tooted the rest of the night. After dinner the girls and I made homemade ice cream in the ice cream ball. It took a little longer than the 15 minutes the box said but it turned out delicious. Then Gabby wanted to play chase…so they chased daddy around the upstairs and then Auntie and then Granna (well for part of a lap). Granna read them stories and put them to bed. Eric, Bonnie, Joel and I then played a few rounds of scruteneyes during the lightening storm.

WEDNESDAY - We got up early and headed down to Colorado Springs to ride the Railroad to the top of Pikes Peak. The girls made a friend from England named Rosey. She was Bella's age and will turn 4 in December. They were so excited to ride the choo choo. We got up to the top in a little more than an hour and when it was time to walk around at the top Gabby crashed on daddy's shoulder. They both found necklaces at the shop and Granna bought them matching moose. On the way back down Bella compared her moose to Rosey's mountain lion and wolf, whom she named Bella and Gabriella. So Bella returned the favor and named her moose Rosey. Gabby and Joel slept most of the way down. We stopped at sonic on the way back and then we all napped. Auntie and Shawn went out and picked up pizza for dinner while we set up the princess tent downstairs. The girls had a great time playing in it and telling scary monster stories with Pappa. After the girls went to bed in their tent for the night the adults played more games.

THURSDAY - After blueberry pancakes that daddy made we headed to the fossil beds. The girls looked at the fossils at the visitor shop and then when on a trail to look at the petrified wood. They both became Junior Rangers and got badges…thanks to daddy filling in the answers. We took a long nap and then got ready for the Hoe down at the Flying W Ranch. The girls put on their cowgirl outfits that Pappa and Granna bought them and we headed into to Colorado Springs. It was raining but let up enough to enjoy all the shops and different buildings around the ranch. They saw a big chestnut horse name Tetonka get new shoes on, and there was a little paint pony named Daringer next to him. Gabby would have stayed there the whole time and kept asking to go back. Daddy bought them cowgirls hats to go with their outfits. We walked around and they were able to go into a tee pee and an old jail. They also went into Navajo house and Bella and Gabby made up songs and danced around. We ate a chuck wagon meal and Bella ate almost her entire plate…Gabby was a little pickier but told daddy she wanted cow not chicken. After dinner the band sang some country songs. Joel and I were under the impression that the "show" was a western gun show, so daddy had tried to prepared them for loud noises and gun shots. However, it was just a cowboy band and no gun show. Both girls love dancing around to the music, but Bella kept asking where the guns were. They sang a squirrel song about one that went berserk and one of the men dressed up as a squirrel and Gabby was so excited. She kept yelling at Joel and Granna that there was a giant squirrel on the stage. The girls passed out on the way home.

FRIDAY - We headed to Cripple Creek to walk around an old mining town and pan for gold. Little did we know Cripple Creek had turned into a huge Casino town with about 8 different casinos. We stopped by the visitor's center and ended up driving further to Victor. There at the town's museum they had a little panning station set up. We went through the museum and looked at all the things the town had collected over the years. They had a great old fashioned doctor's office set up with an old x-ray and ecg machine, instruments, tables, medicines, etc. They had a play room and a press room with old typewriters. Then we headed out to hit it rich. The girls loved picking out the pretty rocks and iron pyrite (fool's gold). Bella did a great job digging for rocks and Gabby ended up drenched from dipping her pan in the water. After daddy ended up with the only real gold flakes for the day we headed back to Cripple Creek for some lunch. We found an Irish pub and got some fish and chips. Even though we were all stuffed we walked up the road to the fountain shop for some ice cream. We headed back to the cabin and packed up. We headed home and got in about 7am. Gabby was funny throughout the trip she would know who's turn it was to pick out the movie. She'd say "Bella it's my turn, but you're turn is next, so after we watch Pocahontas you get to pick." She'd also be on the lookout for animals. She'd say "Belle, Belle there are cows, mooo (then we'd say horses), oh horses Belle on your side, neigh."

We had so much fun, but the girls were glad to be back in their beds...Bella took a 4 hour nap this afternoon...now I'm headed to bed.