Flying W Ranch Chuckwagon Supper

Tim's brother Rob suggested we go to the Flying W Ranch and see their show.  We got to see an Old West town and enjoy a chuck wagon supper complete with tin plates and cups.  After supper the Flying W Wranglers entertained us with singing and comedy.  We all had a great time.  At one point during the show Glade asked what the cowboys were doing.  I told him they were singing.  Glade said "Cowboys don't sing, they ride horses." 

These are some pictures from the ranch.

Glade and Addison in jail!

We hiked up a little trail to an overlook.  Here we are taking a rest from all the steps.

Look at that face!

Some of the views in the area...this one I took from the car driving to our cabin.  I think this is the Garden of the Gods, but we didn't go there.

This is taken at the overlook at the ranch.

We got to see some Indians perform several dances.

Here are my favorite people enjoying the show from the Flying W Wranglers.

Not the most flattering picture of me, but I'm with my baby boy and it makes all good!Addison enjoyed playing in the rocks instead of watching the show!

This is a mystery photo that appeared on our camera.  I thought it looked pretty cool, but have no idea what it is.

More views from the overlook, I tried to put them all together, but blogger was being funny with the pictures.

The wranglers sang a song about a possum, I am working on finding a recording of it.  It was very funny!

Focus on the Family

What do you do when you are 3 years old and waiting for the grown ups to get ready to leave?

You play in the rocks in the driveway!

Lots of people told us to go to the Focus on the Family's welcome center.  They have a play area for kids.  So we decided to head there on Monday of our vacation.  I don't know what I expected, but I guess with all the people telling us to go I expected great things.  So we were pretty disappointed when the play area for our kids was nothing more than a play area we would find at McD's or Chick-fil-a.  There is the huge green slide that our kids weren't big enough to go on, but that is about it.  Glade enjoyed the airplane and pushing the buttons that made sound.  They spend a lot of money painting and making it look neat, but as far as holding the kids attention...we would have done better at the fast food places!  So we didn't stay very long.  We left Focus and headed to the mall to get Glade's build a bear to the doctor for surgery.  The kids had fun playing at the mall area while mom and I searched for a purple watch.  Yes, Addison had decided she wanted a purple watch.  Do you know how hard it is to find watches for kids?    With that finished we picked up the bear and headed back to the cabin for lunch and a nap. 

Here are few pictures of the kids playing in the different areas of the welcome center.

Colorado here we come!

We left for Colorado on Friday August 13.  It was a whirl wind of laundry and packing for me that week as well as watching the Sorrells' kids.  We loaded up my parent's suburban and hit the road.  The kids did pretty good.  Mom and I had packed a lot of stuff for them to do.  We made it to Childress, TX before stopping for the night.  We checked into a  hotel with an indoor pool thinking it would be great for the kids to get to swim.  After getting our bags into our rooms we headed out to K-Bobs for dinner.  After dinner the kids, Tim and I put on our swimsuits and headed to the pool.  All ready for some great relaxing pool fun, we stepped into the pool of ICE COLD water!  It was COLD!  So we opted to hang out in the hot tub for a while.  Tim and I braved the cold water so the kids could play.  We alternated between the cold pool and the hot tub.  Then we went up to our rooms for a bath and bed to prepare for our long drive the next day.

Here are the kids and Tim on Saturday morning.  Do you think they look ready for a long drive??

The kids did pretty good on the drive there.  They did get pretty fussy at times.  We had to stop for potty breaks and wardrobe changes a few times.  We also had to stop to help Addison get her hand unstuck.  She got it stuck in one of the toys I had packed for them to play with.  It was one of those pin impression things.  You put your hand on it and turn it over and the pins (plastic things) leave the impression of your hand.  Mom has pictures on her camera.  I will have to get those from her.

We made it to Colorado at about 3 on Saturday.  Our cabin was cheaper than any others for a reason I am sure.  We found out when we walked in.  The first thing we noticed was no a/c.  Now you might be thinking "It's Colorado, you don't need a/c."  When you sleep in the sleeping loft upstairs, you need a/c.  Luckily there was a window and a box fan that plugged into the mystery extension cord that came from a hole in the wall...we don't know where it went.  All of our meals were either eaten outside or as a picnic in the living room.  There was not a true table in the cabin.  All it had was a bar height table with wooden stools.  Not the best for wiggly kids to eat at, not to mention not big enough for 6.   Needless to say, the cabin would not have passed building code in Texas.  Even with the less than luxurious accommodations we had a great time!

This is the stream that ran behind our shack cabin.  It was so relaxing to sit and listen to the sounds of water.  The kids had fun wading in it too.

Just some pictures from behind our cabin.  Pictures can't do it justice.  I have so many more.  It truly shows the beauty and majesty of our God.

Stay tuned for posts about

Focus on the Family

Flying W Ranch

The Zoo

Santa's workshop

Cripple Creek and Victor

Seven Falls

Playing at the park

We had such a great trip just spending time with our family and enjoying the cooler weather.

Girly Girl

Addison is such a girly girl.  Grammy told her she would put makeup on her and Addison made sure to remind her!

I just love this picture.  She is looking at herself in the mirror and is so happy with her makeup.

Addison went and got her own "lippers"  She did a great job covering every part of her lips.

Grammy and Pappy's take 2

More slip-n-slide fun.  This time Pappy put it in the shade but it didn't slide as good so he added some Dawn detergent to make it slippery.  It made lots of bubbles and the kids had a good time playing with the bubbles!

Glade spitting...a new habit he has developed.

A boy and his ball

He loved kicking the water.

Cute Boy

Taking a drink.  This girl was thirsty.

Pappy and Addison

BUBBLES!!!

more BUBBLES

I love this picture!

Santa Addison

Bootie Bubbles!

Playing so well together.

Washing his feet.

Precious!

Our trip to Grammy and Pappy's House

Last Tuesday the kids and I packed up and headed to Grammy and Pappy's house for a visit.  They were so excited.  It was so nice to get away and just relax a little bit.  We got to take a ride in Pappy's new truck and Grammy's new suburban.  The kids had fun playing in their yard even if it was really hot.  On Wednesday we went to a super fancy appliance store looking for mom a new stove.  While they didn't find what they were looking for, I did find a hideously ridiculous light fixture...think big disco crystal ball that changes colors from yellow to purple to turquoise...yep I saw it and it was only $48,988.00.  I think I will take one and hang it in my bedroom- as soon as I win the lottery!  Okay, back to our visit.  We then took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese.  They had a blast of course.

Thursday we played at the house.  The kids loved the slip and slide, and riding the tractor with Pappy.  Once the kids went down for their nap, Mom and I headed into town for a little shopping.

Taking out food for the deer.

Slip-n-slide fun

More to come in a bit.  Blogger is being picky!

Fourth of July

Sorry it has been so long since I posted.  I guess you could say I have been in a blogger funk.  It just seems that every time I get ready to post something comes up.  I have lots to post so check back often this week!

Our celebration began on Saturday July 3rd.  We took the kids to Shenanigans to use our coupons from Kids Bowl Free.  It's a great website that when you sign up you get coupons for your kids to bowl two games free everday.  They had a lot of fun.  My only wish was that there had been some lighter balls for our kids.  They had to use a 7 pound ball and it was a bit heavy...especially for Addison who gets her athletic ability from her mother!  She would throw the ball and it roll SO slow we thought it would stop in the middle of the lane, but then it would slowly roll back to us!  Through it all Addison won both games, probably because we had to really help her and she gave up at the very end and Glade finished her game for her.

Glade the natural.  Just like his daddy!

Addison getting some help from Dad.

Such a cutie!

Lifting the heavy ball, but she did it all by herself!

Little Miss posing for the camera!

Glade anxiously waiting his turn

Such sweet hearts!  I think they had lots of fun.

He couldn't leave without a turn on the motorcycle.  I think we have a biker dude on our hands.   He LOVES motorcycles!

After bowling we went home grabbed some lunch and packed our bags.  We were headed to Addison for their big Kaboom Town celebration.  I found a great deal on a hotel in the area so we could lounge around and watch the fireworks.  We checked in  and tried to take a nap, but the kids were too excited.  Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate with our desire to use the pool, so we played some games in the room.  Then we got ready and braved the rain and walked around the park a little bit.  We got the kids a snow cone and some food with the free vouchers we got from the hotel!  Tim and I weren't that impressed with the park and activities there.  It cost $5 a cheek to get your face painted...so we passed on that!  We headed back to the hotel to wash off the mud and get ready for the fireworks.  Tim went out and got us some food from Smashburger...I think that is the best chicken sandwich I have had in a while.  The fried pickles were yummy too!  We thought we would be able to see the fireworks from our room, but we couldn't so we ran down the stairs to watch them outside.  The best part of it all was not having to fight the traffic to get home!  We got the kids a bath and got them settled into their bed.  I have a picture on a different camera and will get that on later.  They went right to sleep and Tim and I were able to watch TV a little before going to sleep too.  Then at 3:30 we wake up to the fire alarm going off.  Of course the kids wake up confused and Addison starts to cry.  The intercom tells us there is a fire alarm in the building and to please exit quickly.  So we scramble to find clothes and shoes and head down the stairs.  We got in our car and turned a movie on for the kids.  We were able to go back in at about 4:15 or so.  In all the madness we had forgotten to grab our room key, so we went to the front desk to get a new one.  The lady at the desk said it was someone on the 4th floor who pulled it and the cameras would show who it was.  She also said we would get an adjustment on our room for the trouble.  We thought it would be a nice discount...ummm...the room was FREE!  We slept in and then went to Blue Mesa for their Sunday brunch.  I highly recommend going for that.  The food was yummy, it is kinda pricey, but worth it.  I do not recommend taking your three year olds though! 
We had a great adventure and made many memories we will remember for a long time!