Summer Vacation 2015

Every time I think, "This may be the last time."  And this time was no different, except this one really probably was the last time. The last time we will go on a "big" family vacation with just the six of us. Most likely next summer, at least one of the six won't be going.  Change is coming.  And though I may not like it, I know it will be okay.

So for this summer vacation, we went to Florissant, Colorado, which is just west of Colorado Springs.  We stayed up a mountain in this beautiful home found on vrbo.com.

When we look for a house to rent, price matters, but since we booked later than usual, we didn't have as many options.  This one cost a little more than we usually pay, but had everything else we/I wanted. I like a nice kitchen. It's fun to cook in and clean up a beautiful kitchen, for me, anyway!

It was especially helpful to have a nice, well organized kitchen because we are getting ready to remodel our own, and it gave me some ideas.

We also want plenty of comfy seating.  One house we rented was skimpy on the comfy furniture.  This one had tons of space and comfy places to sit!  This basement room was our favorite.  It was a basement, but also opened out in the front part to look like the lower level of the three stories!  It was a "rec" room, they call it.  We enjoyed it, immensely!

Another requirement is a place to eat outside.  We ate some evening meals out on the patio.  So nice!

We like outdoor things to do, but being on a mountain limits the things to do.  The homeowners did have a horseshoe place that Joe and the boys really enjoyed.  If it was our own house, we would put in a basketball goal!  But, for little ones, there was a baby swing and tire swing hanging from a tree, plus they had a few other outdoor games to play.  Our family enjoyed running and walking the roads and exploring the mountain a little.

The only thing we did as an activity was go up Pike's Peak on the Cog Railway.  This little marmot is the only animal that lives that high on the mountain.  They remind me of prairie dogs.

There was quite a bit of snow/ice on the road near the top at at the Summit this year.  And it was windy!!  Fifty-five mile per hour winds and 27 degree wind chill.

But we made it! And had their delicious donuts and hot chocolate!

On the way down the mountain, I was alone. The rest of my family hiked back down.  The youngest vows to NEVER, EVER do that again!!!  We thought he would decide to ride down, but he didn't.  Now he wishes he had, but some day (hopefully), he will look back and be proud of that HUGE accomplishment!  They were SORE for a few days!!  They didn't even want to look at the mountain the next day when we drove into town to eat! Ha ha!

This wasn't our cog. Ours was double, but I like this picture. It reminds me of "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood". :)

This was the morning we left Florissant.  We were ready to get home, ready to not climb stairs, and the boys were ready to hit golf balls out in our wide open field (can't do that on a mountain unless you want to spend a lot of money on golf balls!), but wow! What a great vacation home!  There were five bedrooms, two living areas, an office, four bathrooms, and much more.  The last night we played the hide and seek game, "Sardines".  It was so much fun and there were lots of places to hide!!!

My kids doing the obligatory picture.  They were okay with it :).

We hiked this long (not showing the whole thing) road and Joe and the boys ran it a lot.  It was 2.5 miles just down the mountain to the main road!  I can't imagine this in the winter, but would love to be there to see it some day!

Joe and the boys played golf here one day. It was a beautiful course!

Colorado sunset....
One of my favorite things about vacation was that Wednesday night Joe had each of the boys come up with a short Bible lesson.  He did one, too.  We sang, we listened to each of their lessons, we read the Bible, and then talked about what they each chose.  Interestingly, they all went together.  I think that's because the Bible is meant to go together. It DOES go together.  That evening, plus the other devotional times we shared, singing in the car on the way....those are some of my favorite memories.

The hiking group!  The two oldest boys made it down the mountain in 2 hours and 51 minutes!  They RAN because they wanted it to be over!! :)  Joe and the other two made it in a little less than six hours.  They ran a little, but mostly walked.  They were all tired, very thirsty and hungry when they came down!  I'm so proud of them!  And guess what? My husband runs the Pike's Peak Ascent and Marathon this weekend!  He's CRAZY! Ha ha!!  

I've Been Everywhere, Man!

I'm feeling like I should be singing the Johnny Cash song, "I've Been Everywhere, Man". for sure!

(Christmas Day - 2014...at Magic Kingdom in front of Cinderella's Castle)

 On Friday, December 19th, early, early in the morning, we loaded up our vehicle and began a journey to Kissimmee, Florida.  It rained for all but about 30 minutes of our trip that first day, where we spent the night in Pensacola.  The next day we thought would be an easy trip, but it turned out that EVERYONE on the entire east coast must have been traveling that day, as well!  The traffic was horrible, but we made it to our destination Saturday night....tired and ready to be out of the car.

(Cinderella's Castle from behind)

 Sunday we worshipped with the Main Gate church, which is a part of the Concord St. Church of Christ in Orlando. I've mentioned it before, but it's such a great work that I want to mention it again! The services are held in a hotel which is owned by a Christian couple. Every week, visitors to Disney World and perhaps other entertainment-type places around there, meet together for worship and class.  It's such a blessing to have worship just a few blocks from our rent home! It's a blessing to see so many Christians from all over the place come together to worship Him!  I love it!  And we're very thankful for the good work they do!

(Sorcerer's Hat icon at Disney's Hollywood Studios - Dec. 22, 2014. The hat will be removed from the park tomorrow, January 7, 2015.)

 We spent a week at the Disney World Resort, visiting the four main parks.  We took special time to get a picture in front of the icon hat at Hollywood Studios (HWS). It's coming down tomorrow :(.  It's sad to us, but many of the older days of HWS are glad to see it go.

(Breakfast at Chef Mickey's before heading towards home - December 27, 2014)

We got back home from Florida on Sunday, December 27th, after worshipping on Sunday at Opeloosa, LA, and in the Dallas area that evening. (Can't think of the congregation's name, but the singing was GREAT and so was the lesson!).  We got home at 11:45!

Monday, the 29th was a day at home. We were all excited to have that day at home!  But the unpacking and repacking for the next road trip took up a lot of that day.  The next day we headed to Denver, Colorado, where our niece was getting married on New Year's Day!

For the wedding, our oldest two boys served as parking attendants.  It was COLD, but they were glad to serve.  Wedding guests parked down the street in a school parking lot, and walked to the theater where the wedding was held.

 I love this picture, seeing so many family members working together to get the theater ready for the wedding!  We couldn't get into the theater until a few hours before the actual wedding, so it took lots of help from everyone to get it all done! (I'm not showing much of the wedding because my sister-in-law is blogging about it and leading up to the actual event! If you would like to keep up with her posts, it's at www.wawawaughs.blogspot.com. There's a link on the side of my blog, as well, if you're on a computer.)

Our youngest was in charge of handing out the wedding favors. Here he is stacking them.  They are pears!  I'll post more about that later, as well!

The drive home that New Year's Day was pretty. There was snow, heaving, blowing snow, then just pretty snow on the landscape.  We were expecting really bad roads the closer we got to home, but it turned out not to be too bad.  We arrived home at 12:45 a.m.!  And had another one day at home before the next trip!

(Beautiful iced trees somewhere between Paducah and Matador, TX.)

There were ice warnings all over our area and all around us, so we were thinking we might have some trouble getting to our next destination - Lubbock, Texas.  Thankfully in our area, it stayed a few degrees above freezing, so instead of the dreaded ice, we got the much-needed rain!  However, a few places along our route got the ice.  The roads were clear for most of the time, but eventually even the roads were slick. It wasn't too bad, just had to take it slow.

(Icicles hanging - on the Loop at Lubbock)

Taking the roads slower than usual gave me plenty of opportunities to take pictures!  Such a pretty site to see!

We stayed in Lubbock from lunch until that evening, leaving before the temps got too cold and the roads froze too much.  We got home around 9:30 p.m., and everyone went straight to bed!  

We really haven't been EVERYWHERE....but we sure feel like we have!  We're thankful to be home, for the most part, and in our own beds.

Thank you, God, for the world you've given us.  You created such beautiful things for us to see. Thank you for allowing our family to visit just a few of those places these past few weeks.  May we never forget that it was YOU would created everything. 

In Jesus' name,

Amen

Colorado Summer Vacation 2013

A few months ago, we decided to take a vacation to Colorado. Because we had gone to Disney World over Christmas, we didn't want to spend a lot of money to go some where - and we couldn't - but just wanted to get away. With my husband's job and work ethic, if he doesn't leave town, he's never on vacation. 

So, we looked online at www.vrbo.com (Vacation Rentals by Owner) and tried to find something that looked okay, slept six people, but that also was inexpensive. We wanted a log cabin-looking place, but they were all booked at short notice.  

 Finally we found this adobe house, in the middle of nowhere, for the most part.

I did have a criteria of a nice kitchen. I enjoy cooking meals during vacation. That may seems strange to some, but because we're usually really busy, we don't always have time for lots of sit-down family meals. Vacation time we make time for those meals and enjoy that time together.

It was especially nice having some of the family meals outside and this nice spot! Unfortunately it was raining the other two times we tried to do it, but we were able to have quick breakfasts out there a few more times.  And, being from a drought-stricken area of Oklahoma, I'm not going to complain about rain!!

Here are some pictures of the house.  The living room was nice, but next time we'll for sure look at the seating available. We were moving chairs and seats from upstairs just to have enough that were comfortable for lounging. We missed our big, fluffy couch and love seat from home - and the recliners!

The outside steps were really pretty. I didn't get a close up picture, but the bottom ones had marking of leaves on some of them.  The skies are especially blue in Colorado!  A friend, who happens to be from Colorado, said that it must be because they're higher....and closer to God :).

See the little deck out the second floor?  That was my very favorite place to sit.  I could sit there for hours, if I had time! There was another upper deck out the front, the back one where we could eat, and a side one with a table, but we had moved chairs to the back so didn't use it.

And one of the best things about the Colorado vacation was seeing a FULL rainbow - with a double one starting.  And look!  We could actually see the END of the rainbow!  It may not show it on the picture, but we videoed it.  So very neat!  But, there was no pot of gold at the end that we could see.

That's okay.  We didn't want the pot of gold. We were together, and that's all that matters.