Great Sand Dunes Natl. Park and Zapata Falls

Just 2 1/2 hours away from Colorado Springs is Great Sand Dunes National Park.  These are the largest sand dunes in North America.  It was a beautiful day with the high just barely reaching 80.

 

  Unfortunately it was a bit windy.  Our sensory sensitive little boy couldn't bear the feel of the wind blowing sand against his legs.  Judith had a hard time too since she was lowest to the ground.  Even Mike and I felt the sting with particularly big gusts of wind (15-25 mph according to the weather channel website).  

 It made for a shorter hike though the dunes than we had hoped, but we decided that if we had seen one pile of sand, we'd seen them all.  Jonas and Mike ended up venturing a little further than the rest of us, but they too, soon turned back.  

 We were able to spend lots of time at the creek though.  The sand wasn't blowing much across the water so we were safe for play.  Mike and Jonas worked hard on a dam and re-routing streams of water.  

When I pan to the right, look for the little girl in the distance wearing purple shorts and a green top throwing mud.  That's Judith.  She was a good rock hunter for Mike and Jonas' dam as well.  :)

 Just outside the park was Zapata Falls.  We drove 3 miles down a gravel road, hiked 1/2 a mile to the river, and then rock climbed/waded back into the chasm (as far as we dared) to get a glimpse of the 25ft falls.  The water was FREEZING as it was from the snow melt off just above us so we didn't make it all the way back in there, but it was still pretty cool.

 Mike attempted to take Jonas a little further back, but the water was just too cold for the boy, and then Mike one of his shoes in the current so after that, it was over for them too. 

It was a fun day trip!  Trying to get 'em all in before we leave!  :(

South Dakota

A "quick" weekend trip turned out to be a little more than we bargained for with A LOT more driving than we anticipated.  We arrived at our hotel very late on Friday night/Saturday morning (1am).  Judith woke up at 7am, so the rest of us had little choice but to greet the day with her.  We had breakfast, went to the awesome indoor pool (with slide!), and headed to Mount Rushmore.

This was a cool interactive thing in the museum at Mt. Rushmore.  You could push the handle down and blow up a section of the faces just like the workers did when they were creating them. 

 Part of the path in front of the faces was closed due to snow, but we were able to go directly under them and then back up to the viewing deck. 

 Jonas took this picture of Mike and me.

 Jonas pulled his arms into his shirt to be "just a head" like the statues. 

 We had a picnic at Horse Thief Lake. 

 Then, we ventured on to the Crazy Horse Memorial.  Although not completed, the whole operation was pretty impressive.

 

After Crazy Horse, we drove through Custer State Park.  We saw some deer and got to feed some wild donkeys.  

 We also saw lots of buffalo and calves.  The lady at the park entrance said that 3 calves were born the day before we arrived.

 It also happened to be my birthday and I enjoyed a lovey birthday dinner at Olive Garden with my dear friend Elizabeth and her husband Kevin, friends from our time in Italy.

 After a night of much needed rest, we checked out of the hotel and drove through Badlands National Park. 

 It was incredibly windy and we were trying not to lose a kid over the cliffs.

 We saw some mountain goats scaling the canyon walls.

It was a lot of driving in just a couple of days, but the kids (and Mike) loved Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse.  We always love a road trip and a visit with friends!!

Jonas Plays Baseball

Jonas is playing baseball with Colorado Springs Little League.  He is loving every game.  Here, he was trying on his uniform for the first time.

This is from opening day.  His team was giving the big boys high fives. 

He got to play catcher in the first game.  It was more than a little chilly.  He had on a long sleeved shirt under his jersey, but two shirts just wasn't cutting it.  We had to get Ezra's fleece hoody from the car so he's got a little extra padding. 

 Jonas also loves to go see our local team, the Sky Sox.

 

Go Jonas!  (Pay no attention to the crazy, screaming lady.  (It's me.  It's so hard to root and film at the same time!)

Judith's 3rd birthday

Our baby girl turned 3! 

 (back in April...I'm a little behind on the blog...)

Judith requested a princess party for her birthday.  

 

 We didn't really have guests, but Ezra and his friend Bryonna had a playdate that morning.  We had invited Bryonna to stay for cake when her mom brought them back to our house.  They were so sweet to bring a gift for Judith.

 I used the castle that Judith got for Christmas as table decoration.  That's allowed, right?

 Opening some gifts:

 Another picture of the birthday girl with her friends.  I babysit Sawyer, so she was invited too.  :)

 Judith did a great job blowing out her candle.

 THREE!

 Judith and her favorite baby!

Happy Birthday to our pretty princess!