Breckenridge, CO

We made it up to Breckenridge on Saturday afternoon. It has been a pretty low key visit up here, which has been nice. That was all part of the plan of putting Colorado last on the trip, so we could just sit back and enjoy it. So far, so good!

Sunday morning we went to church up here. The church we found was non-denominational or a bible church, not sure which one, but it meets outside in the summer months. It was a neat little service, right next to the river. They had a few baptisms in the river after the service. A few people brought their dogs, Halie got a kick out of that one! I was so surprised to see the number of young people there, it was pretty encouraging from a mothers perspective. They had a lunch fellowship afterwards, so we stayed for that and met a few of the locals.

Monday we headed over to Copper Mountain to visit their Adventure Park. That is what most of the pictures below are from. The kids started out jumping on the trampolines. Halie jumped twice that day, the first time a little more cautiously than the last. By the second time she was doing back flip after back flip after back flip! Austin was reluctant to get on at first. In the first pic of him you can see the blank stare on his face, he eventually let that go and started to smile and threw quite a fit when it was time to get down.

After that we headed over to the Go-Carts. Austin was too small to ride, so Halie and I went for a spin. We didn't win, but we had fun! You can only imagine how upset little brother was that he didn't get to go....

Next we took a ride up the chair lift and enjoyed the beautiful scenery of God's incredible creation!

We saw a few deer on the way.

On the hike down we ran into a couple marmots. They looked like big ground hogs. Halie though that was pretty neat.

Here is us starting to head down the mountain on a trail after getting off the chair lift. See the nice patches of blue sky there in the pic? Well, that is how fast a storm can move in on the mountain, because about 5 minutes after I took this there was a huge lightning strike followed by a very loud thunder clap that Halie did not appreciate, and rain. We hightailed it up the mountain to the lodge to let the storm pass!

After we rode the lift back down after the storm, Dad took Halie to ride the Go-Carts again and Austin and I stayed and played on the playground.

We then played a very abbreviated game of Putt-Putt golf. Papa, I thought you taught her how to hold a club better! I have to admit, there are some things that children show a natural talent for, and Halie has quite a few, but golf does not seem to be one of them!

Austin just had fun holding a club the whole time, every once in a while he would step in and try to hit some one's ball.

Today, Tuesday, we went for an hour and 40 minute bike ride on the incredible biking trails they have here. It was beautiful! It was slightly hilly...so that made for a pretty good workout, that and the fact that there is a heck of a lot less oxygen up here! But we all enjoyed it. After some lunch and a small rest we took a ride up the gondola and hiked down the mountain from there. It was a very enjoyable hike. Halie did great, she went exploring and found a collection of leaves and picked a bouquet of wild flowers for me! We found a small river we had to cross on small log holding a guide wire. Gymnastics paid off! Halie didn't fall in!

Colorado Springs

This morning John and Sheila took us out for breakfast at a little cafe near their house. It was great and we ate the biggest pancakes I have ever seen in my entire life! Jessica and Noah are in town right now, so we got to hang out with them all day too. Austin and Noah were having fun looking for the train!

Although they are only one month apart in age, Noah dwarfs Austin! They are having a great time playing with each other. Halie feels like she has gotten another little brother though!

We went for a swim at the YMCA. The kids had a great time. This is Austin playing in one of the lockers in the changing room. Daddy and I both got to take a little time and attempt to swim laps again. It has been a while and it was obvious!

Austin and Sheila playing

Austin and Noah

Halie playing on the big water park.

Tonight after dinner the kids played with bubbles in the backyard. Halie was the expert bubble blower and Austin kept sticking his in his mouth. He wasn't listening and was getting ready to get put in timeout until I went to get him and when he tried to talk, two big bubbles came out of his mouth. He was lucky I couldn't stop laughing and he got out of his punishment! This is a pic of him driving John's Mercedes in the garage.

Halie and Sheila catching bubbles.

We had a great day today. The weather was AMAZING, so was the view of the mountains. I really think we could start to like it here ;)

Back to the US

Sunday

We got up early and headed to try to catch the early ferry leaving for Washington. The terminal was literally across the street from our hotel, so the commute was pretty easy. We were the 20th car on "standby" and #19 was the last one on the boat. Oh well, we didn't need to be on it, just thought we would give it a shot. The good news was we were the 1st car in line for the next ferry 5 hrs later! So we had the morning to walk around and enjoy the city. That afternoon we got on the boat and were headed for Washington. It was one of those days with a two year old.... He was exhausted and I hoped he would fall asleep in my lap, then I could fall asleep too. He didn't. He just wanted to be up walking around, making noise, playing with the folding chairs, etc... I was glad to see land again.

Our next destination was Vancouver, WA to stay with some friends, David and Lauren. We drove 2 hrs, ate a nice dinner at Outback Steakhouse and spent the night near Olympia. The next morning we finished the trip and arrived at their house. They have 2 little boys, almost 4 yrs old and 15 months. The kids were thrilled to have toys and kids to play with. We had a great visit with them and were able to just relax and recharge. It was much needed for all of us. I am so sad we didn't take any pictures while we were there. I think we just felt like we could relax and weren't on vacation anymore, so we didn't even think about the camera. Kayden and Halie got along as well as a 4yr old boy and 5yr old girl could and had a great time. Austin and Kael had fun chasing eachother around and babbling with one another! We really appreciated them opening up their home to us, especially after just moving in a few weeks ago.

Then, the trek to Colorado began. We were on the road for about 15 hrs the first day and about 10 hrs the second day. As we entered Denver, which is about an hour from Colorado Springs, we managed to hit 5:00 traffic. Awesome. We were exhausted, hungry, Halie managed to get altitude sickness or car sickness, and we just wanted to be there... We finally made it and were so thrilled to see the Winslows! John had made a wonderful taco dinner for us and the kids got to take a bath, which was a treat after weeks of showers!

Victoria, British Columbia

On Friday morning we set off for Victoria, Canada. Getting to Victoria required 2 ferry rides with a 2 hr drive between the two ferries. We made it to the port with about a minute to spare for the first boat ride. Literally we pulled onto the ferry and they closed up the gate behind us and we set off for Bainbridge Island, WA. It was a pretty short ride, but long enough for Austin to discover that he really does like coffee. Not only can I not sit and enjoy a cup of coffee because I have a small child sitting on my lap, that child is now trying to drink my coffee...

After getting off the first ferry, we drove for 2 hrs to Port Angeles to catch the next boat. We got there just in time again, only this time the boat wasn't leaving, we just had to save a place on it for our car, thankfully we made it! We had a couple hours to kill before the boat left, so we grabbed some pizza and let the kids run around and play. They found a small concert stage and danced around to my Ipod. It was pretty cute.

After the few hours of playing, we got onto boat #2 of the day and set off for Victoria. I was having a mid-trip crisis and Paul was sweet and took the kids for a lollipop and tour of the boat while I got a much needed quiet time. Thanks babe! The view of the mountains as we crossed the water was amazing.

We finally arrived in Victoria, made it through customs, got our stuff in the hotel and hit the town! We took a water taxi over to the fisherman's wharf to feed the wild seals, but the seals must have been getting their dinner from somewhere else, because they weren't there. Halie was a little sad about that, but nothing a little ice cream and a park wouldn't fix.

On the way back to the hotel, Halie had to get her picture taken on the giant avocado with chop sticks.

Saturday morning our first real Canadian adventure was to begin. Whale watching! We got on the whale watching boat and set off to sea. Halie got a little nervous about sinking despite the encouragement from her parents that the boat was not going to sink. She decided to put on a life jacket and wear it for the trip just in case. Whatever floats her boat......hehehehe. Well, what do you figure would happen to the boat??? It breaks and we have to troll back into the dock and take a taxi back to town. No whales this morning I guess. We reschedule for later in the day.

We take a trip to the children's farm that is down the road. The kids loved it. There were lots of animals to look at and a petting zoo with the goats. Austin threw a pretty good 2 year old fit when it was time to go. One of the little goats became pretty attached to Paul, he kept trying to eat his backpack!

A 6 foot hydrangea plant, pretty impressive.

Our navigator. I failed out of that job a long time ago.

And back to the whale watching! While we were walking around the town, a really weird fog fell over the city. We watched it fall down out of the sky and it stuck around most of the afternoon. We later learned that foggy days make for good whale watching!

We found a pretty good sized group of whales. Here are just a few of the pics we got.

The guides were flipping out because they were so excited when this one came up to the boat, I guess this doesn't happen often. Halie was really excited about it. She doesn't call them killer whales, or shamoo, she uses the correct term and calls them orcas. Well isn't she all grown up!

Some sea otters

A grey whale

After the whales we headed over to the Buchard Gardens. This is an absolutely beautiful garden, the most beautiful either of us has ever seen. The pictures don't really do it justice. It looks like something out of a fairy tale, like little fairies and gnomes should be hiding somewhere in the trees and flowers.

Paul under one of the large redwood trees.

Again, ice cream....

Daddy and Austin wrestling while we waited for the firework show.

The fireworks! This was a late night, the fireworks didn't even start until 9:45 (eastern time, 11:45 Texas time)

It was a very creative fireworks display. They had a lot of fireworks on moving tracks along the ground.

But also a lot in the sky...

We got home late, got the kids in bed and called it a day!

Seattle Day 2

Thursday

We woke up again to an overcast sky and a temperature of about 56 degrees. There have been no complaints from Paul or I about this weather, it has been amazing, especially in light of the fact that the temps in Dallas have been well over 100 degrees for a while now. Halie on the other hand is not so thrilled about the chilly morning and keeps asking "how come the sun doesn't come out here?" This morning we headed out to the zoo. This was a beautiful zoo with all "natural" habitats for the animals. We saw zebras, giraffes, lions, orangutans, bears, antelope and otters to name a few.

Halie admiring the elephant.



Halie at the sea otter exhibit. This was her favorite part. It was in a warm house!

Austin got to get out of the stroller with the otters, he enjoyed watching them and the fish through the glass.

After the zoo, we were able to take an incredible bike ride on another paved bike trail. Seattle has an incredible system set up for bikers and runners. We got on a trail just outside of downtown and rode out for 1 hr and 15 min and turned around and headed back, not having to dodge one car. Amazing. Now we did have to dodge literally a thousand other bikers and runners on the trail, but that was ok with me. The kids did great on the ride for the first 2 hrs, the last 30 minutes they started to melt down, but we all made it back in one piece! It has been nice with Paul pulling the kids, because it evens us out quite a bit as far as our pace. I get to be the faster one for a change!