Last week we went on a trip with Dave's family to Glenwood Springs, Colorado. I was totally up for a kick-back week in a nice cabin with all the ammenities. We were all expecting to do just that but what we got was something totally different- two hunting cabins, two very very rustic hunting cabins. We pulled up very late Wednesday night and drove a couple miles up into the mountains. It was pitch black. Apparently this place is run by a generator and Dave's brother had already turned it off the for the night. So, here we pull up with our three kids and all our junk to a pitch black cabin and this is what we find when we walk in...
Seriously, there is nothing like a 30+ year old bare/guaranteed peed on and who knows what else mattress to just send shivers up and down my spine. Don't even get me started on the furniture. So anyway, we fumble around with a flashlight, manage to get our stuff in, kids in bed, and off to sleep. And just in case you are thinking that it's not that bad, let me reiterate, IT WAS THAT BAD! Here's a picture of the bathroom just to help get my point across- I'll explain the pillows later...
The next day we were pretty much looking for any activity to get us the heck out of our cabins for as long as possible. We spent the day at the Hot Springs Pool. It was a lot of fun. There were a bunch of different pools, all of varying degrees in temperature, water slides, sun, food- the whole works. We had a great time.
Dave and Sara enjoying their popsicles
Because every girl loves a picture of herself on the internet in her swim suit, I took the liberty of posting this picture of me and Nikki at the kiddie pool. (Hi Nikki!)
While on our trip I learned that Dave is a darn near professional diver. It was awesome! Here he is flying through the air. Funny the things you learn 7 years into your marriage...
Sara and Amy shooting out of the water slide
Taylor at the kiddie pool- love the pvc fountain!
Sara with Nate and Tom
For those of you who still aren't convinced about the gross-ness of our cabin, here's a picture of the uneven, sliver-infested floor.
I have never been so happy that Olivia is walking. Poor little Zoey is still a crawler!
The next day we went out on the atv's, rode bikes, and had a great time.
Dave drove Taylor and Sara around- they loved it! Sara kept saying "I want to go on the motorcycle again!"
We put Livvy on the 4-wheeler for a picture- she was so excited that Dave took her for a little spin. She loved it! I do believe she's a natural.
We had a chuckwagon dinner that night. Some of us went on a hayride (there was no hay involved so I don't really know why they call it that) and some of us rode horses to the dinner. Here's us on the hayride:
Taylor and Emma
After the chuckwagon dinner, Taylor and Sara were able to ride on the horses for a few minutes before they rode them back to the barn.
Taylor rode with Dave
Sara rode with Aunt Amy
I'm not so much into animals. In fact, having a pet rock would be a bit on the extreme side of pet owning for me. This is Dave's favorite picture from the trip- me in my own worst nightmare- caught between a dog and a horse. I think I'm going to have an allergy attack just looking at this picture.
During the night I was startled awake by a train of people pounding down the hall screaming and laughing. I shot out of bed thinking that some huge animal was attacking us in the cabin. Turns out Mike heard growling outside. He was freaked out- woke up Amy and Scott. They all heard scratching in our ceiling and went down to the bathroom to check it out. It's pitch black because the generator is off. They go down there, turn the flashlight on and are looking around. They shine the light on a hole in the ceiling and a rodent face popped out. It scared the crap out of them- hence the train of people pounding down the hall. By this time a bunch of us are awake and totally creeped out. Mike decided we had to somehow cover the holes so the rodent couldn't attack us in the night. Problem is, the place was covered in holes in the bathroom area because of some plumbling debacle the owner's had earlier in the year. The cabin had this shelf full of pillows (totally disgusting, I know) so Mike grabbed some pillows and started shoving them in any hole we could find. Logically we all knew that the pillows would not stop any blood thirsty rodents BUT somehow it made things better. So if you think back to the bathroom picture I posted at the beginning, you will understand why there are disgusting pillows sticking out of the walls.
This is the hole the rodent popped out of with a pillow shoved in it.
This was not the only animal invasion we had. Poor Jeff and Lori were in the bedroom in the other cabin (the kitchen cabin) and they battled it out with a squirrel every single night. Finally the last night we were there we (meaning Jeff and Mike) caught the rodent in a major face off. It was crazy! Problem is, we let the little bugger outside in the trap we caught him in and he escaped in the night and came right back in. Grrr....
Moving right along...
Saturday we went on a hike to Hanging Lake. It was probably the prettiest hike I have ever done. It was very steep but oh so lovely.
Taylor loves nothing more than to just be "one of the boys". Here is is with Nate and Tom.
Sara "hiked" on daddy's shoulder's almost the whole time. Taylor was so funny. He started telling us, "I'm out of energy" as the hike kept going and going and going. He made it to the top all by himself (assisted, of course, by his hiking stick). What an awesome hiker!
This was our destination! It was so beautiful. The water was a turquoise color.
Swimming was not aloud in the water but there was a fallen tree in the little lake that we walked out on. It was really cool to be able to look down into the water. It was all mossy.
Dave and Natalie
The kids really wanted to go out on the log too. Sara was totally freaked out but she made it! Syd, Emma, and Marissa came out too.
There was another waterfall above the first one called Spout Rock. We hiked up there and played for a while. The water was freezing.
Mike, Nate, and Dave sat there working up the courage to run under the waterfall. It was freezing and the water was pounding really hard.
Sydney, Sara and Marissa
That about sums up our trip! We did lots of gamin', finished a puzzle, plowed through a bucket of licorice, chased one too many rodents, got soggy wet from the rain, grumbled about our cabins, laughed at the kids, ate way too many cheetos, endured those wretched awful bathrooms, and had ourselves an awesome time. I guess we learned that regardless of our circumstances, it's always fun with family!
I love this picture of Nate and Taylor on the hammock. Such cute boys!
Thanks for lookin'!
