Garden of the Gods

Mom and Dad came for a visit over Thanksgiving.  We could not have asked for better weather.  It was gorgeous and much to Mom's delight, the temperatures were in the 60s.  We headed to Garden of the Gods.

The boys were loving scrambling all over the rocks. 

You can't really tell from this picture why it is so aptly named, but this is called Balancing Rock.



Judith at Balancing Rock.

Me and Judith. 

One of about 15 attempts at a good family picture.  This is the best one.  Yeah.  It didn't go well...



Jonas was loving this.  Ezra however, started crying when I tried to flip him like that.



In the visitors center.  Judith and her pet buffalo.

Royal Gorge

Our first sight seeing trip in Colorado was to Royal Gorge.  Just about an hour away from our house is this vast espanse that is spanned by a single lane suspension bridge. 

This would be a great picture if I didn't have crazy, wind hair.  So windy!

The suspension bridge. 

Judith and Mike.

The gorge from the bridge.  You can see the teeny tiny river waaaaay down there at the bottom. 

Mike and Jonas checking out the bridge that hangs out over the abyss. Nothin' but air below them. Yikes.

We took a super steep tram to the bottom of the gorge.  This is the bridge (from left to right) from the bottom of the gorge.  We drove our car over that!

At the bottom of the gorge near the river.

There was a petting zoo and some other animals across the bridge.  This is a rare white buffalo.

Judith.

Halloween 2011

We arrived in Colorado Springs on October 22nd, so we were able to get settled a bit and scope out some prime trick-or-treating areas.

We attended the Trunk-or-Treat at a local church.  The kids had a blast, but it was soooo cold.  They only did a few trunks before most of their costumes were obscurred by their much needed coats.

Jonas was Buzz Lightyear.  "To infinity and BEYOND!"

My crazy kiddos are still not too into the pumpkin carving.  It's too "yucky".  Although Ezra did want to pick out what face to put on the pumpkin.

Where would Buzz be with out his best friend Woody?  "Reach for the sky..."

Attempting to remove the "yuck".

I thought "Dolly" from Toy Story 3 would be a cute addition to the duo.  She was cute, but many people didn't recognize who she was.  She just looked like a baby with blue hair because of her coat.  Guess I should have gone with "Jessie".

Mike's contribution to the pumpkin carving.  Even he won't use his bare hands to dig the seeds out.  At least we know where the kids get their aversion.

 Ezra's scary Halloween face.

Trick or treating.  Judith already has chocolate on her face.  A girl after my own heart.

Pumpkin Fest

Our last German outing was to a Pumpkin Fest.  We went 2 years ago and the boys had a blast in the corn maze and playing on the hay bales.

Here's Jonas, Ezra and Judith in front of the giant pumpkins.

Ezra and Jonas.

Jonas, Ezra, and Judith picking out some pumpkins.

Jonas on the hay bales.

Ezra, Judith, and Jonas.

Jonas and Judith.

This game was called, "Bury our sister".  (She was laughing.)

Still lots of pretty flowers in September.

Judith in the hay.

Mike and the boys going into the "Labyrinth" (corn maze).

Judith loved wallowing in the hay.

Ezra and Jonas enjoying a "waffle" (that was really more of a funnel cake) and some tasty pumpkin cake.  

Copenhagen, Denmark

In Copenhagen, we walked to the nearest train station and went downtown.  Then we jumped on a hop on/hop off bus tour.

This was the beautiful entrance to Tivoli Gardens.  It is the second oldest amusement park in the world and the most visited in Europe (behind Disneyland Paris).  We didn't go in.   

 

This is the Little Mermaid of the Copenhagen harbor.  For whatever reason, it is a MAJOR tourist attraction.  We saw it early in the day, but after we had visited most of the other sites, we came back and sat near her on the water while we enjoyed some sugar coated, roasted almonds.  It was nice. 

If I remember correctly the king built these apartments for his naval officers.  There are rows and rows of them. 

You'll the bicycles in the picture.  Thirty six percent of the city's residents commute to work by bicycle.

We saw the changing of the guard at Amalienborg Palace.

This is the Marble Church.  It has the largest dome in Scandinavia and the 4th largest in Europe.  We didn't go in.

More changing of the guard.

Nyhavn.  The canal was dug and the buildings erected during the 1600s.  Hans Christian Anderson of "The Little Mermaid" and "The Ugly Duckling" (and others) fame lived at 18 Nyhavn (the green house?) for some years.



The church at the Kastellet (the Citadel).  We didn't go in, and I couldn't find much info on it.  It was part of the Citadel complex near the prison.  It was built in 1704.

The Gefion Fountain.  Fancied as Copenhagen's Trevi Fountain (not even close in my humble opinion).    It was built in 1908 for the Carlsberg beer brewery's 50th anniversary. 

The Kastellet.  It is one of the best preserved fortifications in Northern Europe.  It's mostly a park and museum now, but it is still owned by the Danish military as an active base.  I think this might be the Osterport.

Rosenborg Castle, built from 1606-1627. It was built as a summer residence, but is now in the middle of the city. It would have been cool to see the crown jewels but we didn't go in.

And THAT is the end of our marvelous Baltic Sea cruise.  What an awesome adventure!  I feel so blessed to have been able to see and experience these places.  Thanks to my husband who works hard so we are able to afford these luxuries!