San Diego

We took a trip to San Diego in February to see Uncle Ryan, Aunt Jessica, and cousins Ally and Holden. We had a great time.

I caught this precious shot on the way to the airport.

We had to stay over in Kansas City before the trip due to a massive snowstorm. The luggage cart was a big hit for these two stir-crazy kids.

We toured an aquarium where Kyler got to touch a sea star. He has been into animals and particularly sea life so this was fun for him.

We also visited the zoo one day while we were there. We were up early (never did adjust to the different time zone) so went in search of a place to have breakfast on the water. Kyler saw these birds and was so excited. We let him feed them a couple crackers and then when we kept walking he said he wanted to see more animals. When I pointed to a pair of dogs, he seemed a little underwhelmed. It took me a while, but I finally figured out that he thought this area was the zoo.

He had a blast at the zoo. Like I said, animals are his thing right now.

We did a little exploring at a park and nature trail.

The favorite activity was beach time in pajamas. The kids would wake up and step right outside of our beach house to start playing in the sand.

One of the big highlights was the helicopters. We stayed on the Naval base so we saw and heard lots of helicopter, some flying very low right over us. It was really neat. Uncle Ryan even let Ky sit in one of the helicopters.

Colorado Trip

We just got back from a trip to Colorado. My cousin got married in Bailey so we and my parents made a mini-vacation out of it. We rented a house overlooking a lake in the mountains. We took off shortly before 2:00 on Friday afternoon and were at our house in the mountains by 11:00 that night. The kids did great in the car so we only had to stop once. When we pulled in, there were a handful of deer right in front of the house.

Our "Mountain House"

Kyler and Papa tried to catch some fish at the lake but didn't have any luck. It may have had something to do with a noisy three-year-old and them constantly feeding the ducks. They saw a wood duck and named him Woody, as well as a bunch of other ducks they called Susie 1, Susie 2, etc. Kyler started out feeding them the fish bait (night-crawlers) but then we gave him some stale crackers for duck food.

Ky didn't do so great at the wedding. It was outdoors so I don't know if he really understood why he had to be so quiet. Brett kept him busy taking pictures of the ceremony. Then he had fun playing with my cousin's kids and some of my younger cousins. One of the kids was a ring bearer who had gotten a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle action figure for cooperating. Kyler followed him around with his imaginary turtle. My mom said Colten (the ring bearer) kept giving him strange looks. By the time the dance started he was too worn out from playing to even bust a move - bummer!

Sunday we spent the afternoon in Morrison with Brett's cousin and his family. They have four boys age 5 and under so we knew Kyler would have a blast playing with them. We ate at Willy's Wings and then visited Dinosaur Ridge. They dug in a sand pit and found fossils and then we walked up the mountain to see some footprints, fossils, etc. from the prehistoric ages. After that, we went to Red Rocks Amphitheater. Kyler really wanted to walk down to the stage but his baby sister was ready to go home and take a nap so we had to say goodbye. Before heading back to the house, we decided to try a bike trail in Morrison. Myelle got her nap in the bike trailer so all was good. We even found a playground at the end of our ride with things to climb on and in. Kyler was so tired after our big day that he fell asleep on the way home before dinner and slept until the next morning.

Kyler and his cousins at Dinosaur Ridge

Ky and Mama at a stop on our bike ride in Morrison

Playing at the park in Morrison

Ky's spot to hide from the rain

Climbing a tree

King of the Mountain!

Monday morning we decided to have breakfast in the town of Bailey. Kyler rode with my parents and downed a juice box as they pulled out. We noticed they weren't behind us and thought they may have pulled off to see some wildlife. When we got to the highway and got phone reception, we found out he has thrown up. So we went back, picked him up, and got some clean clothes. He was determined to go rather than stay at the house so we took off. He slept and threw up again on our way to Bailey, then ate a huge breakfast and was a whole new kid. Our guess is that he drank that sugary drink too fast on an empty stomach before getting on some windy, bumpy mountain roads.

From Bailey, we went to Alma where we unloaded our bikes, put the kids in the bike trailer, and bicycled the 6 miles to Fairplay. It was a pretty comfortable ride except for a decent climb shortly before we got to town. Myelle was tired of riding by the time we got there, so we stopped for ice cream and then went to their park which was really nice. Kyler got to experience his first outhouse there. He was not a fan! The afternoon storms were starting to roll in from the mountain peaks so we decided it was time to bike back to Alma. This time we had a very steep climb right off the bat which made the rest of the ride a little tougher too. The kids both fell asleep early on and slept most of the ride so it was a relaxing ride for Brett and I with a great mountain view. We sat down for dinner at Fairplay and then drove back to the house in the rain and extreme fog.

The kids on the way back to Alma from Fairplay

We packed up and were out of the house by about 8:30 Tuesday morning. Kyler asked about frogs and their long tongues while we were driving. After Brett explained how they used their tongues Kyler responded with, "wow, that's awesome." Just another example of why I love the preschool age. We stopped back through Morrison for breakfast and then went to Red Rocks Amphitheater so that we could walk down to the bottom and check it out a little longer. Ky smashed a couple of pennies at their museum and was exited to see a T-Rex jaw. It was drizzling the whole time we were there but Kyler had a blast splashing in a big puddle before we stripped him down and stuck him in the car. We headed out much later than planned but the kids did pretty well in the car again on our way home. His imaginary friends, Joel and Jonah (who are real kids of Brett's former co-worker that Kyler has only met twice) were always with us in the car and we had a lot of fun listening to Kyler play, imagine, and sing on our long car rides.

After breakfast in Morrison

This mad man loved running around and climbing the stairs at Red Rocks

Even with the kids, this was a very relaxing (and enjoyable) vacation. It was nice to have some family time and do some things Kyler enjoyed. He was sad to leave the mountains and had really wanted to climb up one of them. We promised him that next summer or the summer after, we would come to the mountains and Myelle would be old enough to walk so we can go for a hike in the mountains.

Colorado Vacation

We took a short trip to Colorado over the weekend. We left Thursday afternoon and got back Monday evening.

Dad had to turn around and drive back to this sign since we missed it the first time for road construction. Hopefully Kyler will appreciate it as much as his dada thinks he will. :)

When we got to the high country Friday afternoon our first stop was at the Georgetown railroad in Silver Plume. We had been promising a train ride to Kyler the entire trip and each time we would stop he would ask if we were at the train. 

Here is a family self-portrait on the train. Okay, so who does this kid look like? 

The train ride was scenic and just the right length (about an hour round trip). Here we are going over a tall bridge.

The train whistle was a little noisy for our tired boy on the trip back up the mountain when we sat right behind the engine, but he still loved every minute.

It was great to be able to spend lots of quality family time together after all the evenings Brett has had to spend away from us working on the houses.

Sitting right behind the engine may not have been the best idea - we got covered in soot from the smokestack on the parts of the ride where there were big climbs.

We stayed in a condo in Winter Park but spent a lot of time in the Grand Lake area as well. We ventured out there Saturday in the late morning not realizing we would want more time there. We had to head back for the wedding Saturday afternoon. 

We were in a hurry to grab lunch and get back to Winter Park for the wedding but this little boy wouldn't leave his boat-watching spot on the dock at Grand Lake, even when we bribed him with the candy store.

Since we cut our time at Grand Lake short, we decided to go back on Sunday morning to take a boat tour around the lake.

Breakfast was awesome at the Bear's Den. They had the best pancakes.

 Later on Sunday afternoon we went to the ski resort at Winter Park and rode the scenic lift, let Kyler jump on the trampolines where he was suspended with bungees, and rode the alpine slide with him many times (but not enough in his opinion).

Kyler was making me a little nervous since he was not a bit afraid of the lift. He was basically hanging over the side part of the time looking down at everything. He made his dad proud.

Overall, we had a wonderful trip. I cannot tell you how great it was to have all that time with just the three of us and nothing (like work or housework or television or anything else) to distract us. It was our family "babymoon" - our last big trip as a family of three. Kyler was amazing the whole time, even on our long ride home on Monday. Our only regret was that we didn't make it a day or so longer.