The Garden in the Mountains

Finishing up our spring break trip...

While Aaron stayed at Aunt Sarena's house, Kaleb missed him. He would say, "I miss Ron. When will he be back?" (Kaleb calls him Ron for short...aaRON. Get it?) It is good to know he misses him. Sometimes I think they get a little too much of each other. :)

We reunited with Aunt Sarena, Daniel, and Aaron just before lunch and drove to Garden of the gods park. It is one of our favorite places in the Springs. We had a picnic lunch there and spent much of the day exploring. We all did lots of climbing. Braylen and I took lots of pictures. Derek held Danny a lot. Aaron liked finding small places to hide. Kaleb took Aunt Sarena with him on a climb. It was lots of fun for all of us.

It looks like our lunch consisted of 1 can of Pringles per person. Ha! :)

Notice the stroller on a path not made for strollers? :)
We took turns lifting it up the "steps."

This picture captures Aaron's personality.
At times he is so persistent he almost convinces me he can move mountains!

Braylen the photographer.
"Look, Uncle Eric, your old camera is in good hands!" :)

Aaron's favorite "cave" of the day

Kaleb with a very faint Pikes Peak in the background

A family picture + Danny :)

Not sure why they weren't in the other picture with Kaleb, but oh well!

We spent quite a bit of time watching two people climb one of the rocks with climbing gear. And when I say rocks, I mean very tall-mountain-like-rocks. The boys were fascinated. At some point during this trip Kaleb declared, "I was made for Colorado." This brings me to some funnies from Kaleb on this trip.

Kaleb spent half of our trip to Colorado riding in his aunt's car. (We followed her the whole way there.) She is really good at making conversation. Even with a kid like Kaleb who is content to be quiet with his thoughts. Here are some of their conversations in the car...

"Aunt Sarena, sometimes I get these urges...you know, urges to steer with my hands and work pedals with my feet...do you ever get urges like that?"

Sarena: Kaleb, do you know what mountain that is? Uncle Dave and I have hiked up it!
Kaleb: Yep! Mount Everest!
(It should have been Pikes Peak!)

Sarena: Kaleb, are you having a good time?
Kaleb: I'm having the time of my life!!!

They also kept track of license plates together, and continued to do that while we were in CO Springs. If you ever want to see lots of different state plates, CO Springs is the place to be. It's like one huge melting pot of America.

Now for a funny from Braylen. Yes, Braylen! He saw this sign near our hotel and asked, "What's D-I-P stand for?" Umm, it means there's a dip in the road. Ha! :)

After a fun-filled day in the park, we grilled hamburgers at Sarena and Dave's house for supper. Braylen spent the night this time, while the rest of us stayed at the hotel one last night. This trip passed quickly for us, but I feel like we did a lot without rushing around a lot. That is the best way to have fun on vacation, in my opinion.

We were blessed with beautiful weather, a healthy family, generous hosts, a great hotel, and lots of special memories. :) Another spring break to be thankful for!