A Colorado Adventure- Part 3

As amazing as Oak Creek and Steamboat were, we were equally excited to spend some time in Denver with everyone. And we would have plenty to keep us busy over the next few days including some trampoline jumping, horse riding lessons, a mountain hike, a tour of Golden, and Christmas with the family. This trip just keeps getting better and better.

Clearly Lexi and Chase got the animal-loving genes like their Mothers and Grandmother. And it's possible that those genes skipped the other side of the family! No, the girls did like the horses and warmed up to them quite quickly, but it doesn't come as easy or natural to us to love on those horses.

The cousins did a great job introducing the girls to all the animals and getting them used to them.

Luke watched the whole thing from a distance. :)

Love this picture of them...

And then they got to ride the horses! How exciting to see them do this with Connie and Charlie, the experts, leading the way...

Addie got to ride Popcorn, and she was thrilled. 

Collins got so comfortable with Chaz that she was allowed to trot a little...

which she really liked!

They even let Brian in the ring...

Their horse ring is in the coolest location- right next to a giant mountain with a view of downtown Denver in the distance. The girls really enjoyed riding the horses, and it was so nice of Connie and Charlie to give them that experience.

Brunch in Golden was delicious and what a cute main street...

Next up, a hike on South Table Mountain, which the girls did not share our excitement about. I mean how cool is it that you can go hike a mountain in your backyard anytime you want to? Unfortunately, it turned out to be a bit of a dramatic hike. It was COLD up there on that mountain so that elicited lots of complaints, then all of a sudden Collins started crying saying that her eye hurt really badly. I thought she was just having a bad attitude about the hike, but turns out she had this prickly piece of vegetation stuck in her eye! She said it felt like a needle was piercing it. Eek, sorry Collins. I should have believed that you didn't want to slow down the hike on purpose. :)

Despite the setbacks, we saw a frozen waterfall (how cool is that?), some elk (they were totally staring us down which was a little unsettling), and the view all the way to downtown Denver on our hike. Brian and I had a great time! I'm sure one day the girls will look back on it and decide it was worth hiking for hours in the freezing cold and sustaining an eye injury.

Back at the homestead, it was time for Christmas! Chef Charlie cooked us up a wonderful meal, and we exchanged gifts around Connie's enormous elevated Christmas tree. It was really fun to have a Christmas with the Williams.

Our last day there, we packed up our stinky clothes (and there were a lot of them) and got ready to go home. But before we headed back East, we had one more adventure planned. Brian had the idea to go see Red Rocks park and amphitheater. It's a cool concert venue and a park where you can hike. And it was gorgeous! Look at this different landscape...

The whole gang went on the hike, and some loved it more than others. :) Personally, I thought it was terrific because it was a beautiful day, the trail was a nice length with some challenging parts to it, and the red rocks were so neat looking. 

A steep climb into the ampitheatre...

How cool would it be to watch a concert from here?

Almost time to head to the airport, but we left just enough time for two things...an authentic Mexican lunch and a visit to the Broncos stadium! We were bummed that the stadium was closed, but Luke scored an authentic Broncos jersey so he was happy.

Connie and Charlie dropped us at the airport, and how wonderful they were to us that week. They loaned us their cars, they drove us to the airport, they fed us, they entertained us, they taught us to ride horses- the list goes on and on. I hope someday we can repay them somehow. 

Were we happy to go home after 6 days away? Yes. Did we have the adventure of a lifetime? Yes. Were we sad to leave our family, knowing we wouldn't see them again for a long time? Yes. Was the trip everything we hoped it would be? YES! 

I feel like every moment of our trip was a learning experience. Collins learned how to properly order from the beverage cart on an airplane ("Mom- you have to ask for the can not just the Gingerale- that way you get more. Oh and don't forget to ask for that yummy waffle."). Addie learned how to love giant dogs and not be afraid of them. Luke learned that he had a cousin who was really fun to play with and who also likes trash trucks. Brian learned that his new dream house is a huge ranch outside of Steamboat. And I learned that snowmobiling on a ranch at the end of Oak Creek is my new favorite activity and place.

Was I excited to be in this airport getting ready to fly across the country with my family? No...and the flight was not fun because we had lots of scary turbulence. At one point the plane actually felt like it was falling- enough to wake Luke who was asleep on my arm. Yes, he did wake up and start screaming and everyone in the quiet plane had to hear me try to calm him down and yes, I was pretty sure we were going to crash. Oh, how I said prayers of thanks when we finally landed in Raleigh.

But it was all totally worth it because, wow, we made at lot of memories that week. Our Colorado adventure proved that our kids are now old enough to handle big trips and it left us wanting more. Time to start dreaming up new adventures. Until next time, Colorado!