Day 4 - Our Last Full Day in Colorado

On Thursday we split up a little bit. In the morning my mom and I stayed back with Tyler while he napped and everyone else hiked. Then in the afternoon Jeff, Jacob and Carl did some more hiking, while the rest of us went to Old Colorado City for some shopping and ice cream.

Eight years ago, when I was still in college, we came here and Carl got to come with. We went for a hike with Jeff and his girlfriend on that trip and we carved our names into the side of a rock wall up in the mountains. We really never thought we'd find it again, but Jeff and Carl found it on their hike. So later that night Carl and I went back to see it and take another picture. And this time we got to add Tyler's name!

 2004

2012 - Happily married now with a sweet little son. :-)



Adding Tyler's Initials!

I hope some day we can go back and add even more little initials.

 Also, I found a cool slide.

 And this hole. I wanted to sit with my feet dangling in it, but Carl wouldn't let me. It's a long way down.

He let me play in it last time though.

Day 3 - The Royal Gorge

On the third day of our trip we drove about an hour and a half to The Royal Gorge. It is an absolutely beautiful place. There is a bridge that is a quarter of a mile long and goes high over the Arkansas River. We also went on the Incline Railway that goes down into the gorge from the top to bottom, and and the Aerial Tram that takes you across the gorge while hanging from a cable. Tyler got to take his first Carousel ride. And at the petting zoo, he got to ride a burro! Oh, and we also went on a really cheesey train ride at the end. :-)

A view of the bridge from down below



Whitewater rafters down below

The Incline Rail coming back down to get us



The Aerial Tram

In typical Tyler fashion, he enjoyed his tram ride with a little added thrill

Tyler almost missed his burro ride because he fell asleep. Lucky for him, we're all loud and he woke up just in time.



 When we got back to The Glen, we were greeted with a herd of big horned sheep, blocking the road. So we got out and watched them. And followed them. And took pictures with them.

Just a Thursday Night at the Hagen's

I'm taking a break (and going out of order again) from writing about our vacation, because this was just fun and I have to put it on here.

When I was a teacher, my favorite projects were always the messy ones. I think the messier it is, the more fun they're having. So most of my art projects were pretty messy. But also very fun!

So I was pretty excited about all the fun art projects I would do with Tyler. To be honest I haven't done as many as I thought I would. But now he's at the age where he can really have fun with them. I've been wanting to do this for a long time and I finally thought of it at a good time tonight. So off to messy land we went.

I filled up an old ice cube tray with different color paints, found some paint brushes and cut up a sponger, stripped Tyler down to just a diaper, took the shower curtain and anything else he could reach out of the bathroom and we got started.

Success! Tyler loved this! And I loved that it was in the bathtub so he could just have fun. We will definitely be doing this again.

If you have ever need any rainy day ideas, I have lots! Clearly I cannot garauntee they will be mess-free though. :-)

Day 2 - So Many Fun Things

On the Tuesday of our trip we started off with a hike up Queen's Canyon, to the waterful. Most people went on to the punch bowls (which are awesome) but my dad and I went back with Tyler since it would have been a little hard and probably unsafe to bring him up there. This is a hike we always love. It's so beautiful. You can see the beauty of God's creation in every single direction you look. Amazing. Tyler did a pretty good job on his first hiking trip. Although he didn't love being in the backpack carrier.

Some random kid kindly informed us during this family picture that it's illegal to throw a baby in the water for more than 15 seconds. Who knew? I'm so glad he told us.

After everyone got back we headed to The Pantry for lunch. We had to go there so that Jacob could master the giant pancake. We went there the last time we had a family vacation there and the pancake kicked his butt. He didn't do a whole lot better this time. Here's a picture of his first attempt at The Motherload. I didn't get a picture this time, but it would have looked about the same.

Later that same day we went to The Garden of the Gods. It's right next to Glen Eyrie and the rocks are really cool.

Fire Update: The fires are still right by Glen Eyrie and The Garden of the Gods. It has jumped Queen's Canyon (the one we were hiking it) and has not only gotten into Eagle Lake, but it is almost completely surrounding it. I know people who live at Eagle Lake and the fire is right up to their home. The camp has lost one small building. They have 75 firefighters there right now and are dumping water on it. I'm not sure if there is any new news at Glen Eyrie, but right next to it, The Flying W Ranch burned to the ground tonight, along with many homes. This is very scary and completely devastating. The fire is only 5% contained at this point and is not expected to be fully contained until July 16. It's hard to believe that we were just there, standing in places that are now surrounded by wild fires and in danger of burning down.