Estes Park (YMCA), Colorado

We took a couple of days to go up to a place called Estes Park.

It was incredible and absolutely beautiful.  It was also very cold.

When we got there to check in the woman at the counter asked

us where we were from and we said Hawaii.  Then she looked

at our cabin name and said, "what a coincidence.  You are in

the cabin called ALOHA."  It was quite a coincidence. 

We really enjoyed our stay in ALOHA cabin too.  It was really

nice.  The place was the YMCA and they had all kinds of

things for us to do, so we got started right away.

There were elk and deer all around the campgrounds just

laying there and they were not even afraid of people.  It

was pretty cool to just walk up and get a close up picture.

The girls were just old enough to ride on their own horse

on a trail ride.  They were so excited to get to actually

lead the horse on their own.  They were naturals too.

They had a blast and the trail ride was such a success

they decided next year they were going to help Auntie Ann

out with her horses since mommy is so mean she won't

 buy them one of their own.  Kayla talked about her horse

Buttercup for days after the ride.

At the YMCA there were all kinds of free things you could

do with the kids.  We took them mini-golfing and signed them

up for some classes that they really enjoyed.  One of the

classes was survival and the other was animal tracking.

I think they had a good time and the best part was that Mom

and Auntie Kelly got an hour nap while they were gone.

We didn't do half of the things that were offered but some

of the other activities we enjoyed were the park and the pool.

They had other things like arts and crafts and game nights too.

When my brother and his wife came up we went down to the

town and went out to dinner.  We walked around and just

enjoyed the shops and sites in the little mountain town.  It was

cold and although you can't tell in the pictures, we are freezing!

Doug, Char and I went on a zip line the next morning.  It

was a platform about 30 feet up and you just jump off and

head for the ground.  The landing was the worst though. 

It was an uphill landing and very difficult to get yourself up

without dragging your rear or going face first.  I managed

to make a great landing the first time down, but then I

couldn't get myself turned around the second time and

ended up dragging my feet and lost a shoe.  I had dirt

all the way down my pants when I got back to the cabin.

We took the girls on a hike around the park, or at least

we tried to take them.  They were not really into walking

and enjoying nature.  They wanted to be back on the horse.

We walked about 1/2 mile and then had to head back down

the hill.  They were hot and tired and thirsty and.....

Even with all the complaining going on, it was still pretty.

After the hike the girls wanted to go fishing.  It was their first

experience fishing.  Natural again!

Haley caught on quick and was able to cast her line

all the way across the pond.  She was having a blast

just casting and reeling back in.  She didn't even care

that she caught anything.  The twins on the other hand were

more obsessed with catching something.  They walked all

the way around the pond trying to get the perfect spot to

catch something and after about two hours or so came to

the conclusion that there weren't any fish in the pond!

I was so proud of my little anglers.  They did awesome!

The last day at Estes Park we took a drive around

Rocky Mountain National Forest.  It was incredible.

It was so beautiful and I got a lot of amazing pictures.

We stopped a couple of places just to walk around and

enjoy the beauty of the Rocky Mountains.

We intended to just take an hour drive and ended up

taking the wrong turn in the park and went all the way

to the peak of the mountains.  It was over 12,000 feet

high and alpine territory.  We saw marmots and played

in the snow.  It was such a great drive.

Keeley wanted to document her presence at the peak by

taking a picture with her DSi.  So cute!

Our trip was the best.  We could have stayed up there

a couple more days and really had a blast.  We were

not ready to head home yet.  Visit Estes Park if you are

ever in Colorado!