A High Drive

Labor Day. 2013

We drove to Pikes Peak which is 14,114' above sea level.  The crazy thing was the difference in temperature from the bottom to the top.  It was a difference of about 20 degrees when we started in the morning.  An enticing treat at the top was donuts.  The boys were super excited to get donuts.  Once we reached the top however, they were disappointed that there weren't any with chocolate.  They only had a spice donut.  The drive up was a little scary at times because of the huge drop on a few of the sides.  We ascended at a slow pace enjoying the scenery.  We spent a bit of time up top.  It became more chilly.  The cog railway came up and that really peaked Parker's interest.  It's really cool to see a train come up the mountain.  We had to stay until it left so Parker could watch it leave.  

 I really thought it was awesome to be as high as the clouds.  Seriously we were level with where they were floating.

 When we were outside it started to hail and really get cold.  So we headed back down the mountain to do some hiking and eat lunch.

 The rain in this picture is so cool.

 We did a small walk around a reservoir because it was getting a little late in the day.  We found a dead fish and we had fun skipping rocks into the water.

 Three pelicans came flying in for a nice swim across the reservoir.  Really fun to see them swoop in and land on the water right in front of us.  I think over all our Labor day was good fun as a family.  I hope we try to take more days to do fun things together.

Balloons Over Labor Day.

Saturday of Labor Day weekend.  We woke the kids early in the morning, only a few minutes before they would have normally woken.  We made some pancakes and put drinks in old water bottles.  We headed down to the Olympic Park where at least a hundred hot air balloons were getting ready to launch.  The boys took their favorite animals with them (Rory and Tracker), but they had to watch from the back seat of the car while we were gone.  The balloons were so cool.  Willie and I hadn't been to a good hot air balloon festival since we lived in Boise(with out kids).  I think this will become one of our traditions.  I love the early morning.  We ran into a friend of Parker's from school, Logan.  They took a family photo for us.  Once the hot air balloons took off they would go to the small lake and do a splash and dash.  We ended up parking over where we could see most of all the action.  The boys really loved the fish, and sun hot air balloons.  The sun was smiling on one side and on the other it had on sunglasses.  

All the kids enjoyed the pancakes and watching the balloons.  It really was a super fun activity.  My favorite balloons were the rainbow colored ones.  I have a good picture of one from right below.  It had rained during the day but we decided to see how the balloon glow went.  There were only a few balloons that participated and it wasn't as cool as I've heard they are.  I was a bit disappointed.  I did talk to someone who said it was just a bad year that usually more balloons participate.  We enjoyed what we saw and then we left.  The morning launch will be on our list for next year.  Thanks Colorado Balloon Classic.     

School Carnival in the Spring