A week away

 Vacation finally came last week! We did it a little later than usual this year and so we were ready. With the camper, we decided to brave the 10 hour drive to Colorado Springs. What a beautiful place!! I'll share about the trip through pictures below (warning....tons of pics below!)

 Some friends of ours told us that when they go on road trips they bring in a saucer for their little guy while eating out. Mike was a bit hesitant and for once a bit embarrassed, but after B in the car for 8 hours I didn't care what others thought (for once for me also). Here we sat/played and ate at Applebee's, everyone was happy! Thanks Adam and Emily :)

 We all had a blast making our dinners. Mexican foil packs for this night, our favorite! Yum, yum!

 We had the most perfect campsite! Privacy and the mountains, what more could you ask for?

 An afternoon was spent at Garden of the God's or we called it God's Garden. B fell asleep in the car on the way there so we parked in the shade and waited for him to wake up for an hour and a half! Mike and I had so much fun waiting together. It may have been one of my highlights. We met some really neat people who passed us, got the opportunity to pray with a young college girl on her way to California, and shared some really great laughs together.

 What a great place this was!

 Another day we rode the train up to the summit of Pike's Peak. It was fun to keep our summer clothes in the suitcases and pull out the winter things :)

 The B Man had so much fun during the hour and such ride up he fell asleep. Can you blame him though? He had a very full belly (we were nervous his ears would bug him with the elevation so we kept feeding him puff after puff followed by tons of water) and was very warm (we may have bundled him up too much) it's the perfect combination!

 The crazy thing is that this kid never sleeps on us, but he was out. We loaded him in my front carrier, placed another blanket on him and allowed him the sleep the sweet boy needed.

 The "special" thing is to buy donuts on top. So B woke up as we were getting ready to eat them ;)

 His daddy was a very proud daddy on this day just knowing that his son was on top of a fourteener! Oh the future Mike has set out in his mind for the two of them :)

 One of my favorite pictures! The bond these two share is just incredible already.

 This is a highlight of Mike's. You are looking at a black bear on the side of the road! Mike spotted it, slammed on the breaks, spun the car around, barely parked it before running out leaving me and B behind (he wasn't thinking!) There was a couple picnicking near where we parked and so Mike went over and alerted them. They lived in the area and motioned for me to come over to them saying we were safe. For about the next 30 minutes we watched as the bear ate berries and took a nap about 30 feet from us! So cool!

 Seven Falls was our next adventure, these stairs about did me in!

 We forgot the shade thing that goes over Mike's pack and also the sunscreen (there is SOOO much to remember as a parent) so the umbrella looks a little girly...but it did the trick :)

 My cousin lives in Denver and she came down for dinner. So great to see her!

 My aunt,uncle and cousins from Wisconsin flew into Colorado Springs the last 2 days we were there. We had a blast exploring with them.

 We drove to Pike National Forest with them for a picnic and a bit of hiking. Besides watching the sunset on our private beach in Kauai last summer, this is one of the two most beautiful places Mike and I have EVER seen! Our eye's were all over the place as we were just lost starting at God's wonderful creation!

 We sat in a meadow! Yes, a meadow!! I couldn't get over we were hanging out in a meadow! It's places like these that I wonder how in the world anyone could deny God's existence. Thanks you Lord for the gift of your creation!

The park we stayed at, Cheyenne Mountain State Park. What a great place it was!. The week was great. Yes, it was definitely a transition and sometimes a bit trying vacationing with an 8 month old. The Lord continues to reveal areas of selfishness Mike and I are holding onto during this transition into parenthood, but how fun to be able to vacation as a family and continuing building onto the foundation we have begun.