Pike's Peak, Colorado

More vacation pics....
We drove up to the top of Pike's Peak in Colorado Springs. It is 14,110 feet high. At the bottom of the mountain it was sunny and nice. As we drove it got colder and foggy. By the time we got to the top we could not see 5 feet in front of ourselves because the fog was so thick and it was very cold! You can see from the pictures that we had to bundle up. We were the last car that was allowed to go all the way to the top because a storm came and no more cars were allowed up because of lightning. So we were not allowed to stay very long. We walked around a little and went into the little gift shop. I was bummed that we did not have a view from the top but it was still fun to go all the way up. I must say though....I felt pretty light headed from lack of oxygen.

The Jacuzzi Lives!

My Jacuzzi Lives! It has been a saga but it finally works! First, it sat at my parents house for a year and 1/2. You may have seen the pics already when Jason and I brought the Jacuzzi home to Montana on the back of his dad's pickup (scary). Then I dropped it right off at a local Jacuzzi shop because it leaked. I was foolish and had not winterized it so some of the pipes had to be replaced. Then Jason and his dad decided to do the concrete slab for it. It was during some of the hottest days in Bozeman so digging out the grass, building the molds, spreading out the cement (which, by the way, we had delivered in a big cement truck but Jason and his dad had to haul wheelbarrow loads of it to the back of the house). Then we hadn't ordered enough cement to finish the walkway. So...Jason mixed bags of cement in a wheelbarrow and laid it. Then....my wonderful husband dug out nice garden spots alongside the walkway and planted beautiful flowers to make it look nice. Then he bought some neat solar lights to finish off the area. We at first used an extension cord to plug the Jacuzzi in to the wall. P.S....never do that. One night we are sitting in the Jacuzzi and we hear sparking sounds and we look down to see sparks flying out of the extension cord. We hopped out of the Jacuzzi as fast as we could. It is funny to look back on but it was scary at the time. So....I had to have an electrician come out to install an outlet outside so the Jacuzzi could be plugged into the wall directly. Anyway.....it turned out to be a huge project to get the Jacuzzi up and running. I promised my husband that the Jacuzzi would stay with the house if we ever sell it. :) But I have to say....I LOVE my Jacuzzi!

Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs

More vacation pics....
Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs was an amazing place with awesome natural rock formations. Heather loved climbing all the rocks.

I love this picture of a rock climber that I took....

Here is my handsome hubby. As you can see the sky is very gray. It poured rain on us while we were there and we all got soaked but still enjoyed ourselves and refused to leave.



The "balancing rock"....

I took this amazing picture while I was trying to get out of the rain....

We stopped in at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs...

The Cadet Chapel was beautiful....

Inside the Cadet Chapel....

We were able to walk around the grounds and see many airplane sculptures...

The grounds of the academy where only the cadets are allowed to go....

Dinosaur Ridge

More vacation pics....
We made a couple of stops on the way to Denver. First we stopped at the Flaming Gorge in Utah....


Heather was very excited to stop in Dinosaur, Colorado. Dinosaurs became kind of a trip theme after that....


Jason made an unknown stop at Dinosaur Ridge right outside of Denver. We took a tour of dinosaur footprints. It was cool!

Our tour guide. His hand is on an impression of a dinosaur footprint.

Katie has her hand in a dinosaur footprint....

Vail, Colorado

I am FINALLY getting up some pics from our family vacation this August. I have been having technical difficulties so have to cut the trip up into days or locations so that I am not putting so many pictures on one post.
First part of our vacation was to Vail, Colorado. Jason lived in Vail for awhile and wanted to show us around.
Heather and Katie wanted "matching" shirts in Vail. It took us awhile and many stores to find some that were the right colors and matching but we finally did.....


Here is the house that Jason lived in. See the big tree in front of the truck? When Jason moved in here....he was taller than that tree!


Vail is absolutely beautiful....

The COOLEST old tree I have ever seen....

Self portrait....

They cut the trees in half to make benches.

Vail downtown....

In one of the many shops.....

We took a Gondola ride to the top of Vail Mountain.....it was breathtaking at the top...8,210 feet high.

On the Gondola riding up the mountain....

It was rather warm that day so the girls (and all the other kids there) went for a dip in the fountain....