Fall Break in the Rockies

I really do love that the school district we live in has a two-week fall break.  It is so nice to have a break after the first quarter!  We were lucky enough to spend the first week of fall break up in the Winter Park area of Colorado.  When we booked our week at the resort, we received a week free, so we booked another room for PC's parents and brother.  It was pretty cold up there but really pretty.  We did a lot of hiking and relaxing in the hot tub.
One of our first hikes was to go up to this little gazebo we could see on the top of the hill.  It was straight up, but not very long.  PC and the kids ran up it.  Baby Girl was trying to go to sleep so I stayed with her in the car.  She would have nothing of it, so I put her in the pack and we went up.  She fell asleep as we walked down. She slept a lot in that pack on these hikes.

 This was the other side of the hill that housed the gazebo.  We got Papa out there with us that day. We did not go too far. Baby Girl had just woken up from a nap and I ended up on a rock to nurse her. She was ok after that, but the kids were tired.

 

 One of our favorite hikes was up to Adam's Falls.  This is part of the Rocky Mountain National Park.  It was an easy hike, but so very peaceful and beautiful!

 We saw a deer on that hike and a couple squirrels. This squirrel kept going right in front of us.  He wasn't afraid at all.  Goofy and Bucko thought it was the coolest thing and kept telling me to take more pictures of him!

Another day, we hiked the first part of the Devils Thumb trail.  We didn't make it to the top, as it got very steep after the first mile and a half.  And the trail was covered in snow!  It was so beautiful and we saw several mule deer on the drive up to the trail.  We had read that it was a good spot for moose, so we were really hoping to see some.  They must have all been hunkering down out of the cold, because there were none in sight.  The first mile follows this little creek.  It was all really beautiful.

 This was the day before we left.  We hiked up another hill we could see from our resort.  We loved how the sun shone of the fallen aspen leaves and made the road golden.  It was beautiful.

One evening, Nana and Papa treated us all to bowling.  It was a fun little place and we all had a blast.  We loved the atmosphere and the low, leather couches to sit on while you waited your turn.  Fun times!

We did get snow a couple days.  I love the picture of Minnie trying to catch the snow.  We spent a lot of time in our little condo relaxing, coloring pictures, and playing games.  Nana and I split up the dinner schedule so we only had to cook every other day.  We would eat at the condo of whoever had cooked.  It worked out really well.  Baby Girl really took off on her crawling abilities this week as well.  She loved mastering that little step! Tink turned 12 the day we left, so we baked cookies the night before to celebrate and had her "blow out" the battery operated candles we had brought along.  It was a nice holiday, but always nice to come home too.