Ben leaves in the morning for Swaziland. He will be gone for almost two weeks. We area already missing him! Mikayla especially, she asked to pack today and this is what we found.
We have some fun planned (like a girls weekend to Atlanta with Catherine and Molly), but nothing is nearly as fun without daddy/husband around!
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!
We leave for Swaziland, Africa in less than a week. It is hard for me to believe! Even harder for me to believe that the last time I was out of the country was the summer before we got married and it was to…Africa. Kinda crazy!
The team I traveled to Africa with in 2004.
I love traveling and experiencing new cultures, but I hate leaving home. This trip will be especially hard because we are leaving Mikayla behind with the grandparents. I know she will be in good hands, but I sure will miss her smiling face and cute little actions. We hope to post some while we are away, but no promises. Internet can be kind of tricky in other countries.
Mikayla and I will be making a quick trip to Indianapolis with Lara and Lylah this week, so stay tuned for updates on that. We are going to the Children’s Museum. I am so excited to see how Mikayla interacts with the exhibits.