Colorado Springs - Day 2

We had a great day exploring some of the sights.  Chris doesn't have to work until tomorrow, so he was able to hang out with us.

Our first stop was the U.S. Olympic Training Center.  We are not big sports fans, but we are definitely Olympics fans and enjoy watching summer and winter Olympics alike.  We took a tour of the facilities, led by Michael Prout, a gold medalist swimmer from the 2004 Athens Paralympic games.  It was an awesome place to see, my highlight of the day.

A great way to start the day....we spotted a Dutch Bros!!!

Michael Phelps's wingspan is 6'7"!

World record long jump, incredible!

With our guide, an Olympic gold medalist, Michael Prout.

Our next stop was the home office of Focus on the Family.  We have visited there twice before, but with each visit we've added a child.  :)  We took a tour and the kids got to see where Adventures in Odyssey is taped, and we got a special "back stage" tour of the Foley studio where they do all the sound effects.  There is a 3-story slide that was a fun treat, too.

Our last stop was the Air Force Academy.  We've been seeing planes and jets fly over any time we're out and about.  We braved a cold hike to the beautiful chapel and also did a quick tour inside the visitor center.

With snow predicted for tomorrow, we may lay low and hang out at the hotel and play games and such.  The kids are enjoying quite a bit of TV time with numerous channels that they don't normally have the privilege of at home.  Vacations are for fun and treats!

Colorado Springs - Day 1

When Chris said that he had to travel to Colorado Springs for work, the rest of us quickly decided that we needed to tag along.  We've visited here a couple of times before and it's been a favorite of ours. 

After about twelve hours in the van yesterday we arrived to much higher altitude and cooler temperatures.  We love being in the mountains!

This morning we met up with long time friends of my family, the Mings, and worshiped together at their church.  It was a great service, and we appreciated the fact that they acknowledged that this is Orphan Sunday.  There are 152 million orphans in the world.  God's heart is for the orphan.  If just a tiny percent of proclaimed Christians adopted one child, there would be no orphans, no need for orphanages or foster care, problem solved.  (Oh my, this deserves it's own post!)

After church we enjoyed lunch with our friends (I'll get pictures with them later in the week).  Then we tried to head up to Pikes Peak, but with snow yesterday the road isn't open all the way to the top.  We're going to try later in the week and hope for more of it to be cleared.  Instead we headed over to Garden of the Gods.  It is such a spectacular place.  Many locals were there jogging, rock climbing, and enjoying walks.  It would be amazing to live here and have such a place to go to for recreation any time you wanted!  The kids were racing from place to place to climb and hide in nooks and crannies.  The sun was setting on us, but the light on the formations was gorgeous.  We'll be back again this week for sure!

Our view from our hotel window of Pikes Peak:

We'll have to try for a better picture out of the sun later!

The famous kissing camels:

We have a great suite with rooms for the kids, a kitchen and plenty of space!

P.S.  I realize I have way more pictures of Ami, but she's about the only one that will stop and pose for me anymore!  I'll work on that this week.  :)

Another Road Trip

Gotta get through Kansas in order to get to the beautiful mountains of Colorado!

Fall is Fabulous!

With warm breezes blowing and leaves tumbling down it's hard not to be drawn out to the yard for a bit of time on the swing set!

Pumpkin Carving

Our kids don't trick-or-treat, but we do enjoy carving our pumpkins each year.  Long about the third child or so, we gave up on all sharing one pumpkin and trying to agree on what to carve.  So it's a bit of a production to get five large pumpkins carved.  We had lots of pumpkin guts and I believe there was more to be found that stuck to my socks this morning when I went out to the kitchen.  Fun times!

 

Michaela's:  jack-o-lantern, Ami's:  kitty, Johanna's:  happy face, Elijah's:  house with door and windows, Benjamin's:  jack-o-lantern