On the same day even! As we were prepping to leave Colorado we took one last trip to the hotel pool. Then jumped in the car for the drive back to the airport. On the way there we drove through some snow! How crazy is that? We hit it all: desert, snow, swimming, mountains, rocks and sand. It was a great trip with two of my favorite people ever! Here are some of our swim and snow pictures!
Day four of our trip took us on an adventure in Moab, Utah where we spent the day hiking through Arches National Park. However, this wasn’t before we almost ran out of gas because exits were 65 miles apart! It got interesting for a minute, but luckily a little gas station on the side of the road saved the day! Arches National Park was absolutely gorgeous. Beautiful red rocks towering above you on all sides, arches everywhere. Too hard to explain, and just like Rocky Mountain National Park, pictures don’t do it justice! We spent most of the day in the park, grabbed some Mexican on the way out and headed back to Grand Junction for the evening. When we got to the hotel we swam for a bit. Mikayla was even more fun in the pool this go round than she was this summer! We topped the night off with some Hagaan Daz Triple Dark Chocolate Ice Cream. It was so creamy it literally melted in your mouth!
Hanging at the visitors center for a bit before we headed out.
It is amazing to me that there are structures like this in the world.
Trying to keep Mikayla entertained on the way down with a little "If You’re Happy and You Know It".
Balanced Rock in the middle, seriously how does it not fall?
The Three Gossips
On Friday, we got up and enjoyed a breakfast in the hotel. Then when for another round of swimming, packed up and headed to Denver. Mikayla was a champ in the car, sleeping or entertaining herself for most of the way! When we got to the airport we found out that Mikayla would indeed be a "lap baby" because the flight was completely booked. Things got a little interesting! She did great for the first 1.5-2 hours. It was the last thirty minutes that were tricky. The flight was supposed to leave at 7 (her bedtime), ended up leaving at 8, which put us getting to Nashville around 11:30 or so. Mikayla has never been one to be rocked to sleep, so trying to get her to sleep on the plane was a bust! About thirty minutes before landing she started a screaming fit and there was nothing we could do to calm her. She was just overly tired and needed to crash. Luckily, the other people flying were gracious and tried to share in entertaining her. Finally, as we touched down she crashed in my arms. We made it home about 1:30 and crashed ourselves. It was a great trip, but now we need like a week to recover. Anyone else ever feel like that after returning from vacation?
Yesterday we got up early, in hopes of missing the rain/snow in the forecast, to hike and hang out in Rocky Mountain National Park. Our first hike was to three different lakes in the park and then we ended up driving Trail Ridge Road to get more of a feel of the Rocky Mountains. The hike was a little cold and foggy, but luckily it never rained or snowed for that matter. Then during the drive the clouds came and went so we actually got some decent views. We ended the day at a terrible Mexican restaurant, that only allotted one basket of chips per table. If you know me at all, you know I require at least two baskets! On the way to Grand Junction, CO we stopped for a quick ice cream treat. For seats they had saddles to sit on. It was a quaint little spot. Here are some pictures from day three. If you want to see more, check out Ben’s Facebook photos.
Check out that view! You could see for…feet!
Mikayla admiring the fog…I mean "wa-wa".
Bear Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park
The pictures don’t even do it justice.
That’s right folks, we are from Kentucky and we let our daughter run around bare foot in National Parks.
Food has been a little tricky on this trip so Mikayla decided to fend for herself!
Despite getting up early, going to bed late and not getting great naps, Mikayla still woke up at 6:30 this morning. What in the world was she thinking? When our alarm went off at 8:30 (wishful thinking 😉 ) we had already, showered, packed and eaten breakfast! Our first stop today was to the Butterfly Pavilion. We weren’t sure what to expect, but it turned out to be pretty cool. It was basically a bug and spider museum. They had all kinds of rare insects, spiders, tarantulas and a ton of butterflies. We enjoyed looking at them all (well except maybe the spiders for me) and learning a bit. We even saw a butterfly hatching from a chrysalis and Ben got to hold a tarantula.
After we left there we had a yummy Thai lunch and then drove on to Fort Collins, CO. Mikayla actually fell asleep in the car so we ended up sitting in the parking lot of REI and taking turns going in and shopping while she napped. Then we concluded the evening with a couple of Brewery tastings and dinner with a friend from BG. It was a nice relaxing day. Here are some shots of the Butterfly Pavilion.
Petting Hissing Cockroaches
Petting a starfish
Up close and personal with some butterflies.
She loved the butterflies, especially when they got close to her or flew around her head!
Our trek began early Monday morning when our alarms went off at 3:20am. We slowly got up, dressed, packed some last minute items, got Mikayla up and loaded the car. She stayed asleep until we hit the road and then was wide awake! This was not looking good for her first plane ride, since technically she would be a "lap baby" and not have her own seat unless there were empty ones on the plane. Turns out we were really lucky and there ended up being one extra seat on the plane. This meant we were able to take her car seat on the plane (a definite recommendation for anyone traveling with toddlers or younger) and strap her in like she was in the car. I was prepared for a long three hours of entertaining, but Mikayla was amazing! She was kept looking out the window and saying plane and smiling really big! We didn’t have to hardly use any of the "ammo" we brought with us. The only tricky part was changing a poopy diaper in the airplane bathroom!
She managed to stay awake until the pilot said it was time for us to start descending and she managed to fall into a deep sleep…go figure! We opted to keep her in the car seat since she was asleep and carry that around the airport. It only looked a little ridiculous I am sure! We went straight from the airport to The Children’s Museum of Denver. It was a nice museum and they had a great area designed for birth-4 year olds. It is hard to compare to our trip to Indianapolis Children’s Museum because size wise there is no comparison, it is much smaller. But still very nice and despite being a little tired (parents, not Mikayla) we had a blast.
The rest of our day consisted of napping, eating at a Mongolian Grill for dinner, an ice cream treat and walking around downtown Denver. Side note – I have decided to make it my goal to eat at a local ice cream joint at least once a day!! Here are some shots from the museum, I didn’t get any on the plane or during the evening.
Bubble Station – I think Daddy had as much fun as Mikayla. I think we went to this exhibit like three times before we left!
She liked painting until she got paint on her hands!
Dress up – Royalty!
Building with Daddy
Dressed up as an ant (they had dress up stuff at each station area)
In the ant tunnel with Daddy.
Conductor Kickert
The Vet’s office – Checking on the animals in the kennels.
Taking care of the sick kitty.
The remainder of the pictures are from the birth-4 year old area. Very well put together!
Inside the home area. It was all wooden furniture, dishes, washer, bunk beds, etc. She loved being in here and pretending like she was eating and drinking!
On the fire truck – this was the last place we went and in case you can’t tell the 4am wake up call is catching up to her! She was beyond ready for a nap!
