Colorado Vacation

Our "big" vacation this year was a trip out to Colorado. We flew into Denver and then rented a car to drive down to Colorado Springs for the week. Lots of memories. The weather was great and the time together as a family was a lot of fun.

After arriving in Colorado Springs, we hiked around Garden of the Gods. What amazing rock formations. (Later in the week Mike took a Segway tour through the park.)

For our first full-day we went to Seven Falls. We arrived early and had most of the place to ourselves. There was an elevator that took us up through the granite to the top.That morning when the kids got dressed we had a little surprise for them. Baby #4 is due in February! All were excited. Brooke claimed to want another brother and Clayton a sister - we'll see.Who knew that chipmunks liked fish food so much? The kids discovered they were eating the remnants, so they decided to hold still and see if they could feed them. I think this was their highlight of the day!Panning for gold.
Waiting for the Cog Train to take us to the top of Pike's Peak. As the photo shows, Clayton wasted no time in antagonizing his brother . Gorgeous views on the way up!


At the TOP.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped through Garden of the Gods again. Lincoln was much happier to be held than to be set on large rocks for photo opps.

Brooke's having a moment.

Pretty sure Clayton caused her reaction - just a guess given his sly look!

This was my climber. He did learn to make sure he could find a good way down after he did a belly slide down these rocks. Oops!

Brooke was into "dramatic poses" most of the week...oh boy. We arrived a bit early for the Cave of the Winds tour. Who knew that a few parking stoppers and a bit of rain water could provide such entertainment. (I'm glad it did.)

Sifting sand for gems at the caves.

Flying W Ranch

There was a lot to do and see before our chuckwagon dinner and good 'ole cowboy entertainment.

Both kids enjoyed learning to rope cattle.

(The video footage we got will be great future entertainment.)

Lincoln likes donkeys from a slight distance.

NOT up close!Royal Gorge

We're waiting at the bottom of the train to take our ride back up to the top.Brooke talked Daddy into being hoisted up between these two poles only to pull a rip cord and go flying via a few cables out over the gorge. Did I mention Mike hates heights?? Somebody loves his little girl very much!
I think that silly sippy cup is in every family photo of the week...ugh.

And what is vacation without chocolate?! We had to stop at the Original Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. The kids chose chocolate dipped twinkies.

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.

I guess giraffes are less scary than donkeys.

And what's vacation without a little hotel fun!On our way back to the airport we stopped at Focus on the Family.

What a great play area they have for the kids!

CP Camping 2011

Our annual camping trip with our small group, Change-Pointe, from church was a lot of fun, as always! The kids did great for both nights in the tent. (Daddy did great for two nights in the tent too since he now has a fancy cot to sleep on.) It was great weather, good food and fabulous company.

In this basket is a very "loved" frog. They built him a home (i.e. buried him in sand and rocks) and took turns holding him....poor frog!

Mel & Andy Boeck always do a great job with breakfast. This picture of Mel is one of my favorites from the weekend. She was so sweet to let the girls "help" crack the eggs. Her expression conveyed her appreciation of young helpers....it was a bit messy.

Elise and Brooke hanging out on the beach.

LW Dairy Tour

Again, part of the "2011 Snowman List" - the kids wanted to tour the dairy that delivers our milk, LW Dairy in Ashippun. It was a fun experience learning about how the milk comes from the farm, seeing the coolers, learning about the bottling procedures, etc. I have a newfound appreciation for the amount of love that this family puts into creating a high quality product. No wonder we can tell such a difference between the taste of their milk and grocery store milk.

Bug Line

We've been working for a few weeks now on our Bug Line goal from January's snowman list. The bug line is a 13 mile trail that runs from Menomonee Falls out to Merton. We didn't do it all at once...the patience of 3 small kiddos (and their father) isn't great enough to master that yet...but we got it done in 2-3 mile segments. Here's pictures at each mile marker to show the progress.

We had a great time finishing this goal with our friends, the Seiler's - bummer there wasn't a MILE 13 sign at the end...just a fun park!

Delafield's Cushing Park

While Brooke was at golf we discovered this awesome new park - Cushing Park - in Delafield. It's designed as this huge castle. I love it because there are no "drop-offs" for Lincoln and there is only one entrance/exit, so he can play safely through the park.

And of course the best way to truly qualify a park as GREAT....

TWO sleeping boys on the way home.

Father's Day

Cake and Bake, a local bakery, offered a great deal for the kids to make Father's Day cakes. It was $5 per cake and allowed my kitchen not to be covered in all the remnants that cake decorating can provide. They were delicious and very creative.

Then we spent part of the day at Grandma Denyse and Grandpa Mark's house with Grandma Nancy, Grandpa Ken, Aunt Alicia, Uncle Chris and Uncle Kenny. It was Chris' first Father's Day. We're still getting use to our new titles too.
Uncle MikeAunt Elizabeth

Lincoln had a blast playing with Grandma's screen door. Probably because so many people were laughing at him, he was encouraged to continue on.

We're so thankful to have such loving and dedicated father's in our life that we can celebrate.

Old World Wisconsin

Old World Wisconsin has been on the snowman list for two years now. Last year, they were hit by a tornado early in the season so we needed to wait until this year. I had never been there and wasn't really sure what to expect or how entertained the kids would be. I figured we'd arrive around 10 and stay until just past lunch. At 4 p.m. we headed home with things left unexplored. It was a great day - beautiful weather, great behavior, fun learning experiences and great friends, the Thombs, to explore with. The tram driver let the kids pick where they wanted to go first. Molly and Brooke both declared we should head to the old schoolhouse. Go figure that they'd pick that on the first few days of summer vacation. They sat in the desks and then had a spelling bee.

Lincoln didn't have much preference as to which building we visited - he LOVED peeking through all the fences and exclaiming HOT! at every woodburning stove.

At the old church they took turns playing on the pipe organ. Some other favorites of the day were doing laundry on an old washboard and playing games that children would have made for themselves. It was a great experience to walk back in time and learn how our ancestors' life would have looked.