Weekend in Estes Park

Someone anonymously blessed Mark and me with a badly needed weekend away -- ALONE -- to Estes Park this weekend. A friend watched the kids, and we were off ...

We stayed in the River's Edge Retreat, a room (studio apartment) on the Fall River managed by the McGregor Mountain Lodge. It was so nice -- kitchenette, fireplace, patio, sounds of river ... and unfortunately, sounds of partiers on the other side of the river ...

On Saturday we went into the Rocky Mountain National Forest, did some very easy hiking and some driving. We stayed on the eastern side of the forest. Next time we'll take the long route and go to Grand Lake.




View within Rocky Mountain National Forest.

 

Alluvial Falls

Mark and Jodie at Alluvial Falls

Hallett Peak and Flattop Mountain

Foot prints on forming ice on Sprague Lake

Wooden bridge at Sprague Lake

Reflections

Broken ice

Gnarly stump ... I love the texture of gnarled wood

View of Otis Peak, Hallett Peak, Flattop Mountain and Notchtop Mountain from across Sprague Lake.

There were several folks flyfishing in Sprague Lake
and the creek leading to it.
I think the fish here is a spawning male steelhead trout.

After spending some time in the forest, we went into Estes Park, walked around some of the shops, then drove around the Stanley Hotel. As we came around the backside, we saw a gang of three bull elk. Woohoo!

Then we saw another bull elk outside a restaurant where we were going to eat dinner.

These things are HUGE! Elk are the second-largest land mammal in the U.S. -- second only to moose.



View of Fall River from our room.


On Sunday we went back into RMNF. We thought about heading to Grand Lake, but figured that was going to be an all-day trek, so we went back to some of the places we missed the day before.



Shot of Longs Peak, which is the highest peak in RMNF,
and one of 53 "fourteeners" in Colorado.




And then the storm started rolling in.
We were glad we didn't do the Grand Lake trek when we saw that.



Then we saw a gang of elk cows.



We we went out on Saturday, a ranger told us that the trails around Bear Lake were icy, so when we got to that point, and saw all the people gearing up with serious hiking equipment, we didn't try it. But when we got back to our lodge that night, we found out that the lake is only a few hundred feet from the parking lot, so we went back -- in time for the storm to come in. High winds and flurries.



On the way out of Estes Park, we stopped back by the Stanley. By this time, the town had the storm, so I didn't take many pictures. As yes, we watched "The Shining" Saturday night. Neither of us had seen the whole movie.

We left about noon for the three-hour trip home. We went through Boulder on the way up, and Loveland on the way home. As we were heading down the 25 toward home, we could see the sun shining on the mountains (drats) as the storm followed us into Denver. It was high 60s when we got back into the Springs.

Cool storm clouds as we travelled down the 25.

Thank you so very much to all of you who made this weekend possible for Mark and me!!!!

Harvest Gathering

Zoe, Brenna, Charis, Alexis and Esther at the Harvest Gathering at our church on October 31.

On Halloween night, some friends met us at church for our Harvest Gathering. The girls played on several inflatable things (bungee track, bounce house, maze, giant slide), played carnival games and more. We spent about two hours there and did only about half of the things available. It was a great evening!

Zoe was dressed as Cinderella, Charis as Jessie from Toy Story and Esther as Elizabeth Swann as the pirate princess from the third movie (my sister passed down a couple pirate costumes her girls used, and the smaller one fit Estee this year).


Charis on the bungee track.




Esther on the bungee track.
Zoe didn't want to do it.




All the girls in one of the bounce houses.



Zoe on the inflatable fire engine slide.

Pre-Harvest Festivities



On Friday, Esther was awarded for excellence in PE for third grade
for first quarter at her school. Way to go, Estee! 



Charis' class having their fall party.
Zoe's class didn't do a party.

Charis



Then it was back to Esther's school for her
fall party. Esther is with her good friend Erin.





Esther's teacher, Ms. Vincent



On Saturday we went to Trunk or Treat at Charis' and Zoe's school.
Many of the cars were very creatively decorated.

The girls stand with a stormtrooper.
Loved the costume!

Mr. Ski, the school's VP, led hay rides.

Charis and Daddy on the hay ride.

Esther and Zoe on the hay ride.

This was one of my favorite car decoration/cosutme combinations:
Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog!

Pumpkin Carving

We were invited to a pumpkin-carving party during the weekend. This was Esther and Zoe's first experience with anything "Halloween."*

* As a family, we have chosen to not focus on Halloween, per se. We do let the girls carve pumpkins and dress up (nothing scary). We'll attend Harvest Festival at church and let the girls trick-or-treat at a couple of our neighbors.

We had the girls gut their pumpkins at home to save some time at the party. We brought our own tools, but I didn't bring any stencils because I wanted the girls to come up with something on their own. But Esther chose to use a stencil a friend had a the party. The kids carved their pumpkins, we all had dinner, then one of the dads who wasn't there for the carving judged the pumpkins.

It was a great evening and we really enjoyed getting together with friends.

Charis doesn't like the slime





D and S

K with Lael

C

Zoe

Amy with L and W

C, S and Zoe. These three are so cute together.

W

Y

Charis carving her pumpkin

S and his pumpkin head

Zoe working hard on her design

Esther working on her Cinderella design

Esther's Cinderella

Zoe's face






Charis' happy pumpkin



What a great group!