Colorado Vaca 2014 - Day 5

4:45 AM wake up from little Monica!  Luckily I was able to con Sophia into going back to sleep,  and Monica and I went right back to sleep on the couch!

Sophia came abounding out all smiles at 6:45. Perfect!  Everyone woke up rested and refreshed!  It makes a WORLD of difference when Monica gets enough sleep - she is such a happy kid!  After cartoons and a quick breakfast we were on the road to our last hike of the vacation! 

This was the first time it has really felt like Colorado weather.  Chilly and zero humidity!   We drove 1/4 mile from our condo to a dirt road that led to Vasquez Creek. Maybe a mile more to a trail that we set out on by foot... Of course we stopped to look at the water and snow 10 times per Monica's request before we actually hit the trail. Today was supposed to rain all day so we were racing the weather. But the hike was tons of fun with many species of mushrooms to find along the way.  Monica can now say "ush oom" and Sophia still refuses to tinkle outside. Baby steps on both fronts.

We even ventured off trail for a bit on the way home! We are getting good at Mountain life. ... Anyway, mom and dad needed coffee so we stopped by our little cafe wher we bought way too much fudge a couple days before and purchased delicious coffee. The girls split a Hot Chocolate and in proper Monica form spilled it constantly! We then walked through the super cute town to the park and skate park again. Seeing the dark clouds spill over the mountains towards us was a beautiful site. However our daughters disliked the fact that the clouds made us leave the park because of the rain they brought! So we walked back to our cafe. Picked up some delicious breakfast standby food and brought it back to our condo for a brunch picnic on the living room floor by the fire place, listening to the rain pour down outside by our own patio door.

We quickly put Monica and Mommy down for naps and let Sophia watch the last cable cartoons she will see in a long while (yay for Little Einsteins!) ... After nap time we drove to the Winter Park Rec Center and spent the next 3 hours in a kid pool with fountains, a lazy river, and zero depth entry for the girls! In the words of Sophia "it was AWESOME!" Randomly, the rec center was having a book sale so on the way out we picked up a Calvin and Hobbes comic book for 1 buck!

We cleaned up and drove straight to the Chinese restaurant in town center. Both our phones were unfortunately dead,  so we lack photos for the rest of the evening.   This was one of the more funny, pleasant meals we have had at a restaurant all week!  I packed new crafty things for the girls as they waited (Thank you Lord for the target dollar section having tons of Doc Mcstuffin stuff! ).  Between the crab rangoon, almond chicken, noodles and Daddys zombie cocktail... fun was had by all.

Some highlights from dinner: Sophia: "Dad, can I look in your drink?" Then she quickly grabs Daddy's straw and drinks out of the the zombie before he can blink.  (If you were wondering, yes the cocktail came in a skull shaped mug.)

Monica LOVES cashews.

Sophia was playing doc mcstuffins before the apps arrived and asked if daddys was sick. He said yes I have a case of the grumbly tumblies. "OK" Sophia said "I will give you a check up for your trumbly bumbilies"

When the crab rangoon arrived, Sophia refused to eat them. We forced a bite on her and she screamed "OH I LOVE THIS STUFF! I HAVEN'T TASTED IT IN A LONG LONG WHILE!

We pleasantly went the 3 minutes home in clear,  chilly weather. We had a fun sighting of a mama and baby fox in the condo area!  Sophia said they are her friends.  We had a hilarious bedtime and then we started the sad packing process.  Check out is at 10 AM tomorrow.  It will be hard to leave the mountains!

Colorado Vaca 2014 - Day 4

Well I spoke too soon about the girls sleeping so well.  Monica was going crazy last night so mommy was up with her from 12 to 4 AM.  Not sure what was going on! I ended up pulling out the pull out couch (go figure!) And we slept out in the living room.  Sophia came bounding out with bundles of joy at 6:22.

So after cartoons and breakfast,  we hit the road at 8 AM.  After a necessary stop at the one drive through coffee place (where Shaw is now known as "the finger guy") we traveled to Lake Granby which is about 30 minutes from Winter Park.

So unexpected!  We did not anticipate having a "beach day" while on the mountains,  but we did!  We trudged through a weird rock/sand/ tall things that are a cross between a cat tail and a cactus (that apparently shaw had fond memories of growing up with and using as spears?) to a peninsula into the lake. Monica was again able to throw rocks into the water to her little hearts content, and the sand was very surprisingly fine.  Sophia is now an avid rock climber which is terrifying,  but very fun around these parts.  Shaw taught us all how to build a moat by the water, with a sand castle in the middle.  The Monica monster was not super patient and enjoyed kicking in the walls when unsupervised.  Shaw was upset that I was carrying my diaper/snack/baby wipe bag,  yet how convenient it was when the girls requested snacks and were covered in sand over a mile away from the van! :)  Totally worth the 1-2 extra pounds.  Sophia tried to tinkle outside,  but she remains my very clean child who refuses to tinkle anywhere except a bathroom (read: no porta potties or nature experiences).  I was wondering why it was such an easy trek down to the lake, when it dawned on me that returning to the van was not only deceptively uphill,  but it was also requiring each adult carrying a tiny or not so tiny child the whole way!  We were beat!  We listened to the 10 minute audio CD of the story of Cinderella 4 times on the ride home.  I was dropped off with the girls to clean up and start lunch for the littles, while shaw ran to subway for two half sandwiches for us.  To my surprise,  Monica was awake the whole ride home which was unexpected due to our 4 hour non slumber party we had the night before. 

Post lunch was blessed nap time! Monica and I napped for an hour and a half then snacks and POOL TIME!  The Lodge has a laundry facility,  so I was able to throw in a load of laundry before we got in the pool,  and it was finished by the time we were all wrinkly.  I did not factor in to my packing equitation the wearing of 2+ outfits a day for most of my family,  so we were all running short on clean clothes!  Plus it is much warmer here than expected!  It was nice to have everything necessary at my fingertips!

We then hustled back to the condo to get ready for our evening entertainment.  We knew this evening was to be rainy (it rained quite a bit while we were swimming which is a fun sight from the walls of windows up the mountain!) So we saved our inside plans just for tonight. There is a combo movie theater/bowling alley/bar/pizza place in town called The Foundry.   I've been wanting to go bowling with the girls for a long time so this was the perfect opportunity!  The place was great - big leather couches at the alley,  kid ramps and bumpers that automatically come up when it's the kids' turn. You pay by the hour and do as much bowling as you want which is fun.  Monica however was  unimpressed and incredibly cranky through the whole adventure.  Poor thing was over stimulated,  hungry and tired.   The rest of us had a lovely time!  It's always funny to have a waitress who doesn't know alcohol. They had a limited bar, but nice!  I was ordering Shaw's Macallan 12 year neat, and she said no one's every ordered it and that she assumed we wanted ice? The pizza was decent,  cheese wrapped pepperoni was delicious and the girls loved drinking water from big girl cups poured from our own pitcher.

After I soundly beat everyone at bowling (granted Shaw was bowling as a lefty!  :) ) we played an interesting version of ski ball with the girls.  It was only interesting because it was my daughters playing it in their own weird way.  Neither of them could throw the balls up far enough for then to not come flying back at them,  so it was Monica chucking balls everywhere and Sophia going around the machine and chucking them into the holes around the barrier.  Pretty funny!

We made a special trip to safeway for children's benadryl (don't judge me!) And rocket balloons.  The rocket balloons were a sucker purchase made by shaw because Sophia was sad.  We returned home,  set off the rockets outside the condo,  then forced some peanut butter sandwiches into the girls so they wouldn't be hungry. 

A quick bedtime,  then relaxing and early early early bedtime for us!  Tomorrow is our last full day!  Prayers for a quiet night please!  :)