Vacation, all I've ever wanted

What's better than sitting through a slide show of someone's vacation photos? Reading someone's blog filled with vacation photos!!!

We (my family, my parents, my sister, my niece and nephew) left on Saturday and stayed the first night in Hays, Kansas. We got in around seven, went to IHOP, and checked into our hotel. The woman hard-core tried to pressure us into staying in a smoking room- her argument was that the person who stayed there the night before didn't smoke. Riiiiight. Like the presence of a non-smoker automatically erases all the funky smoke smells from a smoking room. Avoid the Super 8 in Hays, Kansas.

At some point in the night there was a storm, when we checked our phone after we woke up their were frantic texts from my mom about 80 mph winds and golf-ball sized hail, but we slept through it. And we didn't die, hooray! Then we got back on the road, through the extremely boring part of Kansas and Colorado (although we did see a billboard of Jesus holding a piece of wheat, that was pretty awesome). It also led me to google 'Can you get an abortion in Kansas?' so now I am probably on some kind of NSA list. And the google search left me even more confused. Basically- don't move to Kansas. They already hate you.

And then our week of fun began!

Sunday-We checked in and hung around our cottage. I don't think it is actually a cottage, but we called it a cottage as to not confuse it with a hotel, our house, or our cabin in Ohio.

Our home for the week! It is not really a motel, I'm not sure why they call themselves a motel.                                                        But I don't care, I love them anyway.

There's a creek! With clear water!

And a swingset! And that's our 'motel' in the background. See my confusion?

Snacks on the swing

We had a couch bed. We thought it would be a good idea to put both kids on the bed for the night. We were very wrong.

Monday-

We found out that the squirrels have absolutely no fear of people. And we saw a one-eyed squirrel and an albino squirrel. It was basically a squirrel sanctuary.

We went for a train ride in Cripple Creek. Cripple Creek is absolutely gorgeous.

They really wanted these donkeys. These donkeys have provided hours worth of entertainment, seriously. I'll miss this age.

Penny was prepared for the train whistle.

Asssssssssssssspeeeeeeeeeeeeen.

A train with a view!

An active Gold Mine. They get a million dollars worth of gold a day out of it, for realz.

Penny was REALLY hungry.

Still ready for that whistle.

Dirty feet!

Harrison LOVED playing in the sand, I bought some 'construction equipment' and he could play for hours. Thank you Jesus for long attention spans.

I caught them being cute.

 We went to Garden of the Gods, which is in walking distance (Jamie went on a run through there two mornings) from our cottage. It's a very cool place, and Harry LOVED climbing. I'll let you guess how Penny felt about it.

The balanced rock.

Jamie must have read that article that was going around Facebook about how mom's are never in the picture, because he kept insisting that I be in them even though I honestly don't care. Penny did not read the article.

I want to live in one of these houses someday. My next husband will have to be some kind of Colorado ranching tycoon.

The non-climbers.

This bitch. This was her second go round of doing ridiculous yoga poses (she also did a back bend) and have some old dude take pictures of her for minutes while there is a long line of people waiting to get a picture. Is wanting to kill her a normal reaction?

The fish!

Tuesday-

Deer! The deer were also not afraid of people. These ran across the parking lot and scared the bejeezus out of us before getting in the creek, where they promptly peed. How dare them.

We took a Cog Rail train ride up Pike's Peak- something I used to do every summer as a kid. It was a lot of fun for the kids, and well worth the $2,000 that it cost.

Harrison eats a hot dog like it's corn on the cob- across the top. It is weird. He'll never win a hot dog eating contest. =(

The top of Pike's Peak was 29 degrees that day so we had to dress accordingly.

Penny was basically over having her picture taken at this point.

My sister and her kids.

Elephant rocks. The tour guide lady said the only other place these are found is in Missouri. Missouri rules!

Our seats were right in front of the drivers seat. On the way up the driver was on the other side...

The cog. Fascinating stuff right here!

This train was going down, while we were going up. Very exciting.

Pikes Peak is so badass that trees are scared to grow on it.

Snow. It's really snow big deal.

Our tour guide had to get out and pull something to switch tracks. I hope she makes more than minimum wage.

My 99 cent donut that I waited in line for and then I shit you not seconds after this picture was taken, some douchebag bumped into me and knocked it on the ground. If you really know me, you will know if I ate it anyway. (And if you really, really know me, you will know if I split it into four pieces and fed the floornut to my family.)

It was a little windy that day. And freezing.

Headed down the mountain. Hello driver!

My niece and nephew instantly fell asleep. I think my sister must have drugged them or something.

Later that day we went back to Garden of the Gods.

These deer are crazy brave.

I know what you're asking yourself right now, 'Has Rachel never seen a deer before? What is with all these deer pictures?' And the answer is yes, and deer are cool because they do awesome shit like jumping fences right in front of you.

Rock climbers! And you can't see it, but there was a deer up there holding the rope for her.

Wednesday- Wednesday we shopped in downtown Manitou, which is like the Loop on steroids. I didn't bring my camera, I am so sorry to disappoint you all. We played around the cottage for a few hours, then that night we went to Cheyenne Canyon to do more climbing.

Gracie liked to use the swingset as an obstacle course. Future American Ninja Warrior?

Everyone but Penny really liked playing in the creek. The water was freezing. So everyone but Penny and me really liked playing in the creek.

Walking on rocks with no shoes on- the city girl has gone country!

She wasn't hurt.

It was a 1/3rd of a mile walk up to the top of the waterfall (which I know is not long, but it seemed long). And I never broke a sweat because there is zero humidity and the temperature was perfect. Have I mentioned that I love Colorado?

We gotta get H a Doc McStuffins nightgown.

Thursday- We visited the local amusement park, the North Pole (we can't seem to get away from Christmas themed places). It was awesome. We were pretty much there from open to close, there were no lines (most of the time the kids could just stay on the ride over and over again), my parents watched them at lunch so Jamie and I could go to a local winery for a little date, and they had $3 funnel cake. What's not to love? And they closed at 5 because the bears start coming down from the mountain after that and they want to clear everyone out before the soulless killing machines make an appearance. How cool is that???

The gondolas were terrifying.

Moon cars!

Fact- It is impossible to get these four to take a good picture together.

The cottage also has grills and picnic tables you can use. Fancy.

And squirrels that will eat out of your hand! So gross, yet so cool.

Friday- Our last day. =( We packed up to go and went to the park down the walking trail to feed the ducks and get some energy out before the loooooong car ride.

Reggie turned into a vampire during the trip. Be afraid, be very afraid.

And then our vacation was over. We drove to Salina, Kansas and stayed the night, and did the rest on Saturday. The kids were ah-may-zing in the car (I don't know what I did to deserve two good road trippers, but I"m very grateful). We were all sad to be home and can't wait to go back! Til we meet again Colorado!

Trip number one- 2011

Trip number two- 2014. For trip number three's picture we're going to make Reggie stand in the bush.