Colorado Springs: Garden of the Gods

Our first big outing in Colorado Springs was a morning with picnic packed at Garden of the Gods.  Just a short drive from our rental house, we packed picnics and lots of water for a hot morning hike around the rock formations.  It was a fun and hot and tiring morning!

The boys were intrigued by this rattle snake warning

Eden got a shaded ride, so she was lucky!

The scenery is breathtaking - speaks for itself!

Logan had his goggle along for some bird watching.

Bennett wasn't sure he wanted to keep going...tired legs and hot/sweaty aren't the best combo.

There were fun signs along the way to help us spot some wildlife.

We frequently found some little patches of shade and a rock to rest on.

The history of the Garden of the Gods is really amazing - gifted to the state of CO by an individual on the terms that it would be free for people to explore.

An early lunch again...

And then the kids were fueled up enough to climb!

Eden wasn't to be left out:

and John either...

The trails were so nice and wide and smooth

We just kept going, walking and finding more trails and climbing and bouldering

The boys were really adventurous!  Eden and I stayed close behind...

She wasn't too adventurous (which was fine with me!)

We even got a family photo!

After a long hot hike, we drive through Manitou Springs and thought it looked like a fun spot.  We we first grabbed a yummy ice cream (Eden was asleep!)

We walked the streets a little and then it didn't take long before the kids noticed the "penny arcade".  They had some spending money, so they insisted on trying out a few games and rides.

Eden woke up just in time to try a couple games, too.

Mt Rushmore!

We packed up and we were off for our big adventure to Colorado!  Our first stop was Hill City South Dakota where we stayed just a few minutes from Mt Rushmore.  We planned to stay the night and tour the landmark in the morning before hitting the road again for the remaining 7 hours to Colorado Springs.  We woke up to a really hot day.  In fact, by the time we parked at Mt Rushmore, the thermometer was reading 102.  We unloaded and headed in....

We loved looking at all the flags and finding Wisconsin and Minnesota.

We got to the viewing deck and it was HOT HOT HOT.  Blazing sun and lots of car travel made for some not-so-happy Eiselts.  They will remain nameless.  I had plans to walk the kids through the memorial filling out the Junior Ranger worksheet (which was more like a PhD in Mt Rushmore science), getting a perfect family photo in front of the memorial, and coming away with happy memories of our first national monument visit.  Well...things didn't really go as planned, but it was still a good day.  We ended up with a couple partial family photos:

And then we gave the kids some snacks in hopes of boosting the blood sugar so we could continue with our tour....

We took a look through the big binoculars (about $5 for 30 seconds) and then the hot sun got to us again.  It was 11am and John and I decided we better figure something out.  So, the restaurant had just opened and we took the kids for an early (and $70!) lunch.  

Lunch really did help our moods so then we went ahead and checked out a few exhibits downstairs.

The kids' favorite was this exhibit where they could make the dynamite explode!

We snapped a few more photos before heading out...

Bennett pointing to Mt Rushomre :)

All in all it was a great morning!  It was perfect because based on this tour, I adjusted my expectations for the rest of our trip...realizing we have not reached the age where tours, museums and historical landmarks are going to hold our attention for long.  We were off for the next leg of our journey!

*prices in this post may be inflated due to PTSD

Colorado: On The Road!

We left at 4AM!  On the road with sleeping kiddos and though Minnesota before it was even light out!  This is our first big road trip and we are excited and nervous!  First stop: Mt Rushmore!

We have been reading some Flat Stanley books, so each of the kids brought their own Stanleys along.

It was nice to have an extra seat in the van so I could hang out by Eden to keep her occupied when needed.

Potty breaks and a stop at Cabela's to walk around and explore.

It was a little HOT!

Lots of good snoozing...

And out first stop when we arrived in Colorado Springs was a park!  

Let's PLAY!

We made it!  Survived the first big road trip!

T-ball 2014

Logan played t-ball this summer again for about 6 weeks.  We missed a few weeks due to travel, but he had a good time.  He is really ready for coach-pitch or whatever the next step is, but with his late summer birthday, he had this one last season of t-ball.  We enjoyed being on a team with some friends from school.