Road trip with mom wrap up.

The last day of our vacation went by really fast and It was a-lot of non planned lets see how much we can do in one day fun. I asked the kids what looked like something they really wanted to do and they all decided Estes Park was the big winner. I think it could have had something to do with the fact that I told them they have really amazing candy factories..They make fudge in every flavor and they make killer taffy..Oh and they must have 3 ice cream shops on very block. I think those facts made them say...
yes to Estes Park

It took us about an hour and 15 minutes to get there but the drive is just beautiful. I stopped by this church and we all started to go inside when I noticed there was some kind of service going on so did not go inside..It looks pretty cool hu.

They got ice cream and hoodies. They actually had these same hoodies when they were little. I thought they had to have them.

So we went to Stanley Hotel . Just in case you don't know but you probably do is the Stanley Hotel is where the Shinning was filmed. Its supposed to be haunted and after spending a couple hours walking around the hotel with my kids and tagging along the hotel tour I totally believe it is. It feels creepy but fancy. There are so many stories of ghost sightings at this place.

Do you remember this hallway from the movie ? Totally creepy in a cool way.

Here are the kids checking out the sun dial. There was so much to look at...After leaving we drove to Sombreros Ranches.. They have horse back riding for all ages. 

Bella loves loves horse back riding. This was Bandit the horse she got to ride. This was her favorite part of the trip she was so happy.

I think she will remember this forever. 

Christopher hung out with me until she got back from her riding adventure . I took a nap in the car and he read. On our way home we stopped by this huge river bed. We all ran up and down the river like a bunch of kids.. I felt perfect. Like I was right where I supposed to be. I love being out doors and I loved running up and down the river bed I love my kids and I had all that together. It felt like eating a chocolate pent butter ice cream sundae Everything about being here and in this spot felt perfect.
I don't know if I have said this enough but I love Colorado. Life just feels slower and I felt grounded. 

Thank you for joining me on my little family road trip. This vacation filled my heart and now I am good to go for a while. As my friend Kolleen would say I am filled up. Now back to the regularly scheduled program. ( that was me being funny )

Day 5

Day 5 came and went and It was the best of them all. We are all ready to move here in our heads.. Colorado is such a magical  place.. I have so many cool pictures and stories to share with you about yesterday. The scary hotel and the horses.. I did have a one of those moments that I felt like this everything was perfect. My kids and I found ourselves running up and down a river bed. It was lovely. I felt full content and very happy. I am really grateful that I was able to enjoy this trip with my kids. I know it wont be the last. It was just to much fun and way to good but not perfect. I will return soon with more stories for now I have an 18 hour drive ahead of me so have a safe Saturday...
Happy Travels
G

Day Four

Day four..
Isabella spends the nights painting on paper bags. Here she painted the house our our old house. 
We definitely got of to late start but we are vacation so I just have to remind myself that its OK not to be out the door with three kids by 8am. We had breakfast in our room and then went for a really nice hike. We sat at the park and just talked and I think my favorite part of our trip is becoming listening to my kids talk to each other. They are all getting along. Paola and Christopher joke and then they explain to Isa what they are talking about. Its entertaining.

Our first stop for Lunch was Mountain Sun. We played the game Apple witch is easy to play with kids and it goes fast so I recommend it for sure. The kids had burgers and they are so yummy. I had a steak salad and they have this wonderful berry tea that I is also really good. Mountain Sun is a brewery but we skipped the beer .

Here we are .. 

 Here we are..

We went to our friends house to have dinner last night .Tammy made this amazing dinner for us .. I met Tammy when I first moved her 2001. Tammy and I hit it off right away and she has 4 kids and I liked hanging out with her and her family. I have not seen her in about 4 years so I was excited to sit and chat with her. Our kids hit it off again and when it was time to go all I heard was can we please stay here longer..love that. We will be leaving tomorrow :( but the great thing is I know we will be back soon.

Day 3 ..in Boulder Co

Today was spent looking around the sweet town of Boulder.It truly is beautiful here and the weather is warm. Sorry about all the pictures but I love looking back...

I love the Boulder book store..A couple places you need to visit if you come to Boulder are the Book Store at the Pearl street mall..You have to go to Lucille's for breakfast on 14th street and get the beignets you won't be sorry.. the Rio for dinner and if you love Macaroni and Cheese The Foundry. Today we are going to this funky tea house I will share pictures. The place that makes me happy is the book store paper store..Its just yummy.

Our traveling tradition is a new book on every trip..

Beautiful Store ..

Love the store Free Religion and there decorations.

Ben and Jerry's phish Ice Cream..

When you read this I should be hiking this mountain..

Here we are..I feel really blessed to be able to have trips like this with my kids. I hope to be 70 and hopefully being able to still take trips with them. I can not think of anything better...
Have a wonderful day.

Day two and we have arrived

I am feeling a little bit like a Rock Star in this picture. So far so good. I still like my kids they still like me and everyone is happy.  The fancy hotel (not) we stayed at was great. The beds where super comfy and it was clean all good things. I tried to get us of to an early start and I was a little successful. 

Early on we made to Utah and I really do love Utah. My first Art Retreat was in Utah and I was so impressed at how sweet all the woman treated each other and me. I also ran the St. George Marathon my fastest ever. The people just went out of there way to make that race so special. I will never forget how much fun my kids had.. The race was amazing the land is just so colorful and beautiful. I just fell in love with this state.

The kids got pretty hungry and they all wanted Panda Express.. So we stopped and had lunch there..Bella loved her fortune cookie. Look mama its really coming true.

you know what they say the best fortunes come from Panda Express..along with 300 grams of sodium.

Here we are..
Christopher is 11
Bella is 10
Paola 18
mom 40

Its a little weird when your daughter is as tall as you..  I have to say that I was happy surprised when Paola decided to join us. I really was not sure she would want to be with us this long but she did and she is here. You know when your 18 your friends are very important and I truly remember being 18 so I was happy she chose to hang 5 days w her mom and her little brother and sister. She also brought all her music so between the both of us we sang our hearts out.. 

Even though you drive for hours I still am just amazed at how beautiful they sky is and the land is. The color is so blue and I just love the feeling of driving with my babes talking and laughing looking out the window and feeling the fresh air in my hair. ( I think thats a song)

I was happy to be able to say we are almost there..It took me about 22 hours after stopping many times for many things. 

We made it to Boulder Colorado. I am letting them sleep in until 10 am. Then we are of to hike the mountains..

Road Trip Day 1

Here we are me and little crew right before we set of on the road. Notice everyones excitement and happiness.. JK Everyone was happy to be going to colorado. We all have great memories of Colorado. Christopher was born there and thats where I discovered running and hiking and my love for the outdoors. 

One of my favorite things about this road trip is spending lots of uninterrupted time with my kiddos. I am learning about there friends in school and there favorite colors ..They change every month. 

Our first lunch stop was Big Boy. I used to go to Bob's Big boy when I was little . I think this is the closest thing to that here. The food was good just not healthy at all. Oh well sometimes we have to sacrifice and have fried food.

After driving for about 6 hours I stopped and had my first coffee. I have to tell you something about myself I am not proud of but its true. I kinda drive like an old lady. I am super safe and I do not speed. Thank God my kids do not drive yet because they cant tell there mom is 40 but secretly drives like she is 70. So Starbucks helps me pretend I am like Mario Andrade behind the wheel.

My kids loved looking at all the lights in Vegas. We drove through the strip and stopped about an two hours north of there..It was a successful day 1. No fighting no arguing and get this I did not buy any junk food to have in the car no sodas either. ( except for our stop at Big Boys) I think thats pretty good since in the past my car would be full of chips by now. So day 1 is gone and we are on to see new things..Have a good Tuesday..