We left for Colorado Wednesday, February 24th in the afternoon. Sassy attended preschool in the morning, and Tyler put in a half day's work, while Little A and I tried to tie together some loose ends and finish packing before our departure.
We ate lunch, got on the road, and enjoyed nice weather, compatible with safe driving... just what we had hoped for! We made a stop in Hays, Ks for gas, an early dinner, and a quick stop at Walmart for some cough relief for Miss Sassy, who spent the first half of the trip miserable with a nasty cough. After dinner, it was back on the road for the traveling SPH.
We arrived in Colorado Springs pretty late, between 8:00 and 9:00, from what I can recall. Oh, and we completely forgot to take the time change into account. Needless to say, it was easy to bed for all of us once we got settled.
I was so excited to get going Thursday morning. We had arrived after dark the night before, so Sassy and I were anxious to get outside and see the mountain scenery that we had talked about for so long during our drive in. What a beautiful sight they are, those Colorado mountains. Lovely!
We started our day by driving to the United States Olympic Training Center for a tour. Instead of viewing the movie with the 2 little ones, we took some time to view the Olympic Hall of Fame. Sassy and Little A enjoyed climbing into a formerly used bobsled, and we were able to view the Olympic torch from the center of the Hall of Fame. What a unique opportunity to visit the center as the games were going on live in Vancouver- the flame was lit and they had live news feeds of various events to see.
We took a guided tour through the campus. We were able to catch a bit of men's gymnastics and wrestling practices. We also had the chance to see some of the athletes use the state-of-the-art weight room, which was really a site to see. It put most of the D1 college facilities I've had the chance to work in to shame!
Here are some highlights from our visit to the USOC:
After the USOC, we stopped for lunch at Noodles & Company. While I have seen this restaurant many times during visits to Chicago, I've never been. It was really good. A perfect place to bring the girls to. And, while I enjoyed my Chicken Pad Thai, the macaroni & cheese that the girls shared was DELICIOUS! I was a little jealous...
We had a small amount of time to kill before our next engagement, so we decided to make a quick stop at Garden of the Gods. Little A had fallen asleep in her car seat, so we really just did a quick drive through. We each took a turn getting out of the car and walking around a bit, and we did pull off at one of the marked stops to take a few pictures. It was really foggy and snowing lightly, so we decided it was definitely a place we wanted to revisit on a clearer day during our trip. Here are a few photo highlights- you can see just how big these structures are in comparison to teeny-tiny Tyler and Sassy in the bottom right corner:
After Garden of the Gods, we headed to one of the inspirations for our trip: the MckGathering with Jennifer & Israel, aka MckMama and MckDaddy! It was so fun to finally meet them, after being loyal blog followers for so long. It was inspiring to hear of them speak on the balance they maintain in their family lives. Oh, and the venue, the Focus on the Family campus, was phenomenal! What a great resource for the locals! There's a great group photo here: I am on the right in the green shirt. Unfortunately, Tyler and the girls had already headed off to Whit's End by this time. Anyway, after speaking with Jennifer for a few moments, we broke off and headed downstairs to Whit's End for some fun. Height restrictions at both ends kept Daddy, Sassy, and Little A off the twirly slide, but Mom took a turn! We played in a hollowed-out airplane, put on a puppet show, and dances in a magical fairy garden. Oh, and of course we enjoyed a delicious ice cream treat! What a great afternoon!
We ended the evening with dinner at TGI Fridays. and headed back to our hotel for some Olympics recaps and sweet, sweet slumber!
1 sweet tweets:
How come there aren't any pictures of Kirk Cameron up? =)
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