We're back!

We got back from BEAUTIFUL Estes Park this morning about 2am. "The rest" should be back here in a couple of hours.

We had a little dinner "thing" at Emma's school so we had to head back yesterday afternoon in order to attend that. It was worth it though. We met her teacher "Mrs. Smith" and the TA and a couple families. Dave ran into a guy from highschool and I ran into a guy that I worked with years ago at Penny's. It seems like a great group of families and we are all looking forward to the adventure.

The trip was wonderful! The weather, the mountains, the food, the cabins, and the company was perfect. Hiking is one of my favorite things to do and thanks to mom, dad, Stacy and Ted, Dave and I got to go out on our own (childless) for an actual real hike. We hiked to "Emerald Lake" which was about 3.6 mi. total. It was up hill the entire first 1.8 miles and of course an easy downhill coming back. The lakes we saw and waterfalls were truly the best and it really helped to get that "I need to go on a real hike" feeling out of my system. The picture of the stairs is what we hiked up on and since Dave is smiling, that was taken on our trip down the mountain. Whew, I have to admit it wasn't easy. :)

I have A TON of pictures so here it goes........

The kids, especially Emma loved feeding the ground squirrels. We went through 10lbs of peanuts while we were there and the little guys LOVED us.

We hiked up to the top of the Alpine Visitor's Center, which was another accomplishment with a baby strapped to your back. :) Up there we saw some elk....aka "the three amigos" and Lauren thought they were cows so she "moooood" at them.

We had yummy food and enjoyed eating outside by the mountain side.

We even went to "Fun City" where they had these awesome slides, bumper boats and go carts. Emma even was brave enough to try the trampoline/bungy thing. What a great time.!!! Poor Brian and mom got "lapped" twice by Dave and Emma on the go carts. Brian wasn't too happy with that and of course Emma rubbed it in as best as she could.

Here are just some more gorgeous pics of the mountains and our "hikes."

Oh, and I can't forget the cool swing near our cabin. Almost everyone had to take a turn on it. How fun is this.........

Here are just a couple pics of our cabins and the cute "toehead" taking a bird bath in the kitchen sink.

We even made it to Louisville to visit our good friends the Ransom's and enjoyed some great food and company.

And who can forget the long car ride home when all the fun is said and done........

Dave and I have determined that the best way to keep the kids happy during the trip home (besides the awesome DVD player) is to feed them anything and everything. (sorry minivan)