Colorado Springs with the Reeves

Let's backtrack to where we left off...Adaline was a champion and survived the drive from Utah to Colorado that ended up taking closer to 10 hours because of all the stops we had to take. But we made it! Anna got in that night, but her flight got so delayed that it was kinda past my bed time by then. Church the next day was great even though I never got to hold my baby because grandma wanted to show her off to everyone (it's hard not to, mom, I feel ya). We had some tasty ribs and got to visit with Wilson and Amy because they drove all night to get to us.

The next day, after packing and grocery shopping, we were on our way to Farish! At one point, my dad called to say that they were completely stopped just 20 minutes away from the campground because of a mudslide. Then he called maybe 30 minutes later to say they had gotten through. So when we got there, I immediately got Adaline out of her car seat so she could eat and hang out since we knew we weren't going anywhere. After maybe an hour, we started moving. Hooray! But then we stopped again, at least now we could see where the cars were stopped and we were so close. Lots of people were out of their cars and walking around the highway, there were a few reporters walking around, Wilson got his dog out...it was kind of a party. Then we started moving again! But wait, why were there suddenly so many cars driving past us on the other side of the highway? Ahh they were turning us around. We waited 2 hours just to be turned around! and if we'd been just a few cars ahead of where we were, we would have gotten to our condo an hour and a half ago! The only other ways to get where we were going required a lot of backtracking and a lot more hours. But what choice did we have? We were just about to back Castle Rock when Wilson called us saying that they'd reopened the road...so back we went and we finally got through. Wilson had told us that the drive would only be about two hours...not six. Luckily mom's chicken and dumplings taste great even if we have to wait till 9 o'clock to get them. Yummm

Tuesday: Thankfully much less eventful. We went to the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine near Cripple Creek. Do you see this elevator? It was tiny. But we had mom, dad, Harris, Anna, me, Adaline, Chloe, Noah, and Daniel all inside of it for the trip 1,000 feet underground. (The guide said that when the mine was operating, they would put 9 grown men inside of it. Yikes! No wonder they have that sign there...)


In the mine we:

• Learned about the air powered mining machinery and saw it demonstrated
• Rode an air powered train
• Saw just a glimpse of the 1,000 miles of tunnels and 500 mines that are down there
• Followed a gold vein that would yield 10 ounces to the ton (which is quite a bit considering it only needs to yield 2 ounces to the ton to be profitable)

I don't remember what we did the rest of the day, so I'm guessing we played games, played with Adaline, or watched Duck Dynasty. After looking through pictures, I remembered! Amy gave me and Chloe haircuts. Here's the picture that reminded me of this:

He called this his redneck toupée. Yes, that's Chloe's cut off hair.

Wednesday: This was supposed to be the hike day. A few people went on short walks all at different times, so we were never all home and ready, dad had to take Anna back to the airport, and I just don't know what happened, but we didn't go on a hike. (To be honest, I wasn't all that disappointed. I love hiking, but with a baby and no husband it just isn't the same.) It started raining pretty hard around the time Wilson and Amy left to go pick up Andrew and I was soo nervous that there would be another mudslide and they wouldn't be able to get back. Did I mention that we had no cell service at the condo, so we couldn't communicate when this happened before and if it happened again? Luckily they got back just fine and I was so happy to see Andrew!

Just snoozing with Aunt Anna

I think right before I took this she said, "baller!"

Thursday: Happy 4th of July! Thursday was lots of fun. Amy organized minute-to-win-it style games which taught us a lot about each other. For example: I had no idea my mom was so good at this game:

No, this is not a picture of my mom. (But I do think it'd be pretty cool if she had these pajamas.)

Andrew was good at all of the games...go figure. That's kind of the story of his life...

It was a lot of fun though. (I especially liked the napkin game-and of course the card game since I actually won something!)

Then we went down to the lake and rented paddle boats. We basically just all watched while Wilson and the little boys tried to make a raft and pull it behind their paddle boat with Daniel on it. I'm sure you can guess how well that went. (And I still don't understand why they needed to make a raft when they were sitting in a paddle boat.) Anyway, I think Adaline had a good time even though I was so terrified every time we got in or out of the boat. 

Friday: We went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Normally I kind of hate zoos. I'm more of an aquarium kind of girl. But, when you walk in, the first exhibit is the giraffes. It is the coolest giraffe exhibit I have ever seen! I think it's worth coming to the zoo just to see this one exhibit. 

  I didn't take these pictures, but look how cool that is! There were so many, and we even got to feed them! I wish I'd taken a picture of the giraffe that just kept licking the pole...he was my dad's favorite.

Trying to eat baby Adaline. (see the shorter giraffe that was trying
to get a taste too?)

Hanging out with her peeps

Just a few alligator buddies hanging out at the pool

Nap time

One of my favorite things about this zoo was the incredible view the whole time

I might have been able to imitate him better if I
hadn't been feeding a baby at the same time.
This guy was another one of my favorites though

Baby gorilla!

Daniel wanted to give him a kiss apparently

After the zoo we went to Manitou Springs to ride the train up to Pike's Peak. It ended up being sold out, but considering the downpour that had just started, none of us really wanted to hang out at the top of Pike's Peak anyway. In fact, we were all biting our nails the whole way back hoping the road wasn't washed out and hoping we'd be able to see well enough to get back!

Saturday: We finished packing up and came home (well, after searching for Chloe, Daniel, and Abby (the dog) for more than an hour after they disappeared on a walk). Amy and Wilson had to leave for 'bama that night, but we did squeeze in a rousing game of Ticket to Ride.

Sunday: More church and showing off the baby girl. We got to the airport at the perfect time to get through security and walk right onto the plane, but of course our flight was delayed an hour. Adaline was doing a great job until, in addition to the original hour delay, we had to sit on the plane for 40 minutes because the flight was full and we had an extra passenger...awkward. I finally got her to eat just as we were taking off (which probably helped her ears) and then she slept until just before we landed and I fed her again. All things considered, it really worked out pretty well. By the way, I can't go anywhere without everyone stopping us so they can smile at Adaline and tell me how cute she is and how she has so much hair. The airport was no different, everyone loved her. And it really helped people to love her even more that it was a different baby screaming the entire flight.

Adaline's first flight

Apparently the experience left her a little dazed

Thank you to Wilson and Amy for getting us all together and planning out our good times and to mom and dad for funding many of them. A good time was had by all and I already can't wait to see everyone again!

And now for a round of....Where is Adaline?!

Yes, she's adorable, but where is she?

Can you tell now?

That's right! She's in two suitcases. She was helping me unpack and thought it looked cozy I guess