Everly's New Dance Studio

Everly started a new dance studio!  It's been fabulous and our girl is learning so much!

First Day of School

Second grade and Kindergarten

With best buds Kaleb and Addie!

Two thumbs up at the end of the day!

Day two was first day of chapel! Precious!

Golfing Anyone?

After our adventure to the Royal Gorge, we made it back to Buena Vista with enough time for nine holes of golf!  The kids were so excited to play on vacation.  The little course in town was perfect for them!  They both played really well!

Golfing with mountains in the background with sweatshirts on!  How fun!

The weather was perfect for our whole vacation.  The rain decided to show up on our last night and it was perfect.  We were totally worn out from all the activities, so we went to our B&B and opened the windows and played cards.  We laughed and laughed and talked all about our favorite parts of the trip!  The perfect ending to our spontaneous trip!

The next morning we got up and said goodbye to Liars Lodge.

We hit the road on our way back to Texas.  We planned to stop on the way, but just kept trucking along.  It's so much easier just to be at home, so that's what we did.  It took 16 hours!  And, the kids were fabulous travelers, once again. And, Clark is a rock star driver!  I think I only drove two hours the entire trip!

I feel quite confident that this wasn't our last trip to Colorado.  The Woods will be back!

Royal Gorge

Another day, another adventure!  This time... the Royal Gorge.  It's a big hole in the ground, but it isn't the Grand Canyon.  Still very cool.

What's also cool... places who make things more fun for kids.  This "park" included a puzzle for the kids to figure out.  Way to keep them interested!

First we went across in the gondola.

Lots of fun rides on the other side.

Then on the way back, we walked across the bridge.  The bridge that has slats.  Which means if you happen to look down, you see all the way to the bottom.  In my old age, I've gotten so weird.  I blame it on the post-cruise vertigo I had a few years ago.  I can't handle that stuff anymore.  It makes me woozy. Which I find very annoying.  I think it amuses the kids and Clark.  I will fight through it in order to do fun stuff with my family, but it isn't easy.

We were able to find the Texas flag for some pictures!

And, before we left, the kids became official Royal Gorge Rangers!

 See, working through the puzzle pays off!  How cute.

More Colorado Adventures

The next day on our trip was so full of activity!  Checking lots of things off our list!

Oh my gosh, I'm not sure it could be any more beautiful.  Perfect weather and those amazing mountains.

We decided to go see the old ghost town of St. Elmo.  Super cute place, but who knew the real draw would be chipmunks!

Buy yourself a bag of .50 (I didn't know until just now that there isn't a "cent" sign on my computer! What's that all about?)  sunflower seeds for hours of entertainment!

These little domesticated creatures are hilarious!  Everly absolutely loved them.  Walker, not so much.  But, it was because he had on shorts and their little claws felt weird.

Finally, the boys got the girls away from the chipmunks to see the old buildings.

It was very cool to see!

And, we still hadn't caught any fish, so we stopped one more time.

Still no luck! Walker thinks it's because Daddy bought the poles and bait in Texas and Colorado fish don't like Texas stuff!  Ha!

One more stop.... to enjoy the hot springs!!!   Even with a slide!

I think they went down that thing a dozen times, each!

I've never been in a hot springs pool.  It was great.  Nothing like getting out of the hot water into very chilly air to make you feel alive!

Finally, we had dinner.  I'd say they were pretty pooped!

As the usual for this trip... we really didn't know what we were going to do when we woke up, yet it was a perfect day!

Riding the Rapids

Before we got to Colorado, we all talked about wanting to go white water rafting.  We had the option of a family float.  Just going down the river, not really paddling or any real rapids.  I was told that Walker and Everly were big enough for a more intermediate ride, so we went for that.

Ready for action!

I stupidly believed that since it was later in the summer, it would be less rough.  It is true that there is less water later in the summer.  But, that means more rocks!  The guides warned us that we would get stuck... and, they were right! I got very nervous several times.  Worried that Walker or Everly would fly out.  And, I one point, I really, really thought we were going to lose Clark.  But, we listened to the guide... did what we were told and stayed safe!  I'm actually kind of proud of us for stepping up to the more challenging trip.  It shows the kids that we can be adventurous!

Everly stayed in the middle of the boat the whole time, but Walker did get to paddle.  He did a great job and really enjoyed it.

Here are some pictures from our trip.

They both said they would love to do it again, so I would call that a success!!!

It was pretty exhausting, so we tried to be calm after the trip.  We had some lunch near the river.  The kids enjoyed skipping rocks and wading in....

And, when we got back to the cabin, we got some more river time.

We love how brave and adventurous the kids are becoming... it makes for amazing memories!