Vacation

We went to a family reunion in Colorado to start out our vacation and then we had time to ourselves. This was the first time that we took a trip just us and it was a lot of fun, it was hard for it to end.

On the way to Colorado we stopped in New Mexico and visited a volcano, it was a lot of fun Brayden was worried about it erupting even after we told him lots of times it was extint. We drove the rest of the way that day and made it to Manitou Springs, while there we visited a little with everybody but not really enough. We went to see Helen Hunt Falls, Garden of the Gods, Olympic Training Center, Manitou Cliff Dwellings, and Seven Falls. The kids really enjoyed getting to climb and seeing all of the different things they had not seen before. This was there first time to see mountains (at least that they could remember) and it was at about the first hill we started to hear are those mountains? It was a ton of fun getting to see them enjoying everything!

When the reunion ended we drove up to Denver with Mom, Dad, Greyson, and Zach. We saw Coors Field since the boys really wanted to see it, not that exciting for us since we live close to one, but it was nice to see Greyson and Zach so happy!!! Then we started to drive up to Rocky Mountain National Park, it was so cool getting up there but it took forever. We ended up having to stay in a hotel up there and do the park the next day. We started out early and walked up Adam Falls first which was the best waterfall that we saw. The bigger boys went to climb a little bit extra while mom and I took the girls and Brayden to the top of the falls. We let them play in the stream up there and it was so funny to watch their faces when they realized how cold it was. After that we drove through the park, we found snow and let them get out and play in it for a little bit. It was not really in a great spot to play but we wanted to say they had played in snow in JULY! We drove the whole road and were over 2 miles above sea level, we ate lunch with them and then stopped and got their Jr Ranger badges and then they had to leave. So they started to drive home and we headed back to Manitou Springs for just our time.

By the time we made it there it was too late to put up the tent so we stayed in a hotel that night. The next morning we went out to the camp site and set everything up. Then we went into Garden of the Gods again and actually got to do more hiking and found the easier paths down in the middle so we could push Kaylee. The next day we did the Air Force Academy, a really old fashioned arcade with penny games, and then camped again. After that it was time to head home which was really sad but we had a great time!!! We have decided we have to do more things just us since it really made the whole trip better :)

While the boys were gone in Illinois, the girls and I got a lot of hang out time. We did a bunch of art stuff and went swimming tons. I did not get pictures of much, but we made some butterfly banks one day and I got a few pictures. I wanted to put these up since butterflies are Kaylee's favorite thing. I can only get her to wear things that have butterflies on them, we are now up to four shirts that we can rotate :) They are both getting so big! It is so fun watching them learn so much new stuff, but hard at the same time that my babies are already 2 and 3 (might be time for another baby)!

To get ready for the big night we did a few science projects from Brayden's book. We did soda geysers and we made some homemade ice cream. The soda geysers everyone loved and wanted to help out so they could get messy. However the ice cream the kids did not think that it looked like fun to shake them, so the adults got stuck making each of them. We had a good time just hanging out at home through the day not making it a huge deal and not being in this horrible heat all day!!





We went to the fireworks with Charlene, Aaron, their friend Bradley, Lorena, Jesus, and kids, Erica, and Helder! It was so much fun being together and hanging out. I got glow sticks for the kids again ahead of time and had swords for the boys and butterfly wands for the girls. They love getting them and I love always having that little tradition for the fireworks. I had bough some suckers ahead of time for them since it was Sunday so I knew we would not be buying anything there. It was so cute while we were waiting they were sitting and having their suckers and Kaylee kept licking her wand thinking it was her sucker. She was so cute doing it her face was priceless.



Brock is getting so big and really just sat off to the side with Sebastian, it is starting already where he is thinking he is too good for us:) It is not going to be much longer and hanging out with the family is not going to be cool anymore! Brayden and Kenzie loved the fireworks, they continued on the Cluver tradition of yelling out which ones were theirs. Brayden liked the rainbow ones and the ones that looked like spaceships. Kenzie liked anything that was purple and pink of course!!! Kaylee was probably the most fun this year since she actually wanted to see them, but they started going off and she just kept saying no, no, no, stop, stop, stop. I looked at her and she didn't looked worried so I was not sure what to think, so I told her that they were suppose to be doing it and then it was right away, pretty, pretty, pretty. It cracked me up!!!