Rooftop Rodeo

Yesterday, we spent he day in Estes Park.  It was a much needed day away, just spending time as a family. 

 First stop: We went to breakfast at Randy's Pub and Grill. I finally had biscuits and gravy (I have been craving them for a week-thanks sister).  Then we drove up the canyon and walked around downtown Estes. It was super crowded, so we just got some ice cream and sat by he river and played at the park.

 Then we took a drive up Old Trail Ridge Road.  It was windy and cold at the top, 11,700 feet high.  We shopped around the gift shop, Jackson got a new Teddy Bear and he picked out a Moose for his brother. We had a little snack then headed back down for the rodeo.  As we were leaving the cafe in the sky and driving back down the gas light went on in the truck. OOPS! We should've filled up before our little adventure. Luckily we made it down and back into town to the first gas station (which was about 40 cents/gal more for people like us that wait til the last minute to fill up).

Next stop: RODEO!!

Jackson loved the horses!! He ran around saying "Neigh" to every horse he saw.  His favorite part of the whole trip was probably the pony rides.  He loved it!!!! He got to pick which pony to ride then he got on and grabbed the horn and started saying "go, go, go".  It was so cute, he had the biggest smiles on his face.

 After he got off we went and walked around and after about 10 minutes, he ran back over to the ponies and wanted to ride again.

 After his second ride we got some popcorn and went to our seats for the rodeo...we ended up with front row seats, the ones where the flags hit you in the face and you get sprayed with mud when the horses ride by. Half way through-Jackson was done sitting for a while, so Chris took him out to walk around...of course they ended up by the pony ride again. The nice pony man told Chris to put him on and walk around til he got tired. They probably walked around 20 times before Jackson was ponied out.  They came back and we watched the rest of the rodeo together.

 After the rodeo Jackson got to go down in the arena and get his hat signed by a bull fighter, the rodeo queen and princess, and the rodeo clown.

 Once we got back to the truck, we put of Jackson's p.j's got in the truck, turned on some Garth Brooks and drove home.

Hawaii

We spent last week on our family vacation to Hawaii.  We stayed in Princeville on the Kauai island. It was beautiful-mountains, rain forest, beach, ocean and beautiful sunsets.  There was beauty in every direction.  It was very relaxing and great to spend time with family and explore the island. We were very busy, and the time flew by way too fast.

These are pictures near the Kilauea Lighthouse.  The water was so blue here.  After our trip to the lighthouse, we stopped in the little town for some shave ice. Delicious! 

There were many different beaches along the island, we were able to visit quite a few of them-mostly on the North Shore-Hanalei Bay, Aninini Beach, Ke'e beach, Tunnels Beach.  We found some great snorkel spots and saw lots of colorful fish.

 We loved spending time with Jackson, he did great on the plane rides, but had trouble adjusting to the time change. So we were up EARLY every morning.  Jackson and I got to watch the sun come up every morning-great memories.

Leanne and Ryan went on a long hike one day, so we took a trip to visit one of the plantations.  We took a train ride through the  plantation to see how all the fruit is grown. I didn't know pineapples grew on the ground! That was really interesting.  We also stopped along the way and got to feed the wild pigs, chickens  and goats. Jackson loved this part.

We took a quick detour on the way home to look at the Wailua Falls.  

We took a drive to the South shore of the island and drove up the Waimea Canyon, also know as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, the veiws from up there were amazing.

We stopped in Poipu on our way down from the canyon to see the spouting horn-its a hole in the rock that the ocean water sprays out of straight up in the air. It was really neat. The beaches on the South shore were beautiful, I wish we could have spent more time there...maybe next time!

One of our favorite things we did on this trip was a sunset sail.  We went out on a giant sail boat, they served us appetizers and drinks and we got to watch the sun set over the ocean.  The captain of the boat took Jackson up and he got to drive the boat, too.

This is the view from an overlook on a walk that we went on a few times.

Jackson absolutely loved the water.  If there was water around he was in it within minutes. It was fun to watch him splash and laugh. The pools at our condos were really nice, a good change from the salt water.

We took a river boat to the Fern Grotto, and learned about one of the most popular wedding sites on the island. After the boat ride we went to the Smith family Luau-complete with a garden tour, Imu ceremony, feast, and an incredible performances from all the different cultures that make up Hawaiian history.

Chris and I spent one night out together, we watched the sunset from the St. Regis bar, then went to dinner at Fredricos's and had tacos, and listened to some live music.  It was a great night.

Building sand castles.

Soaking up the sun!

We went to the farmer's market and we tried lots of new fruits-papaya, mango, coconut, apple bananas, sugar cane and of course pineapple-my favorite.

ALOHA!!!!

Sunshine

 Today it was 86 degrees so Jackson and I played out in the water and worked on our suntan for Hawaii.  We played in the sprinklers and in his little whale pool.  I also spent about half an hour laying out in the hammock while Jackson took a nap. A beautiful day to soak up the sunshine.

Salsa Garden

Our first attempt at gardening is a salsa garden.  It consists of tomatoes, peppers, onions and cilantro.  We planted the seeds in the little pots and once they all started growing we moved them into a big pot in the back yard. I am hoping for lots of pico de gallo this summer!!!

We have also been growing a lemon on our lemon tree. There is one lemon in the tree and it has been growing for almost 6 months. In December the whole tree flowered and I thought we were going to get more lemons but all the flowers fell off.  Behind the lemon tree is a Bing Cherry Tree.  After we planted it we realized it needs another cherry tree to pollinate it in order to produce fruit.  So we need to go buy another cherry tree, and hope the bees get busy pollinating!  Maybe the lemon tree needs to pollinate, too.  A lady a work with told me to get a water coloring paint brush and next time the tree flowers to dab it in each of the flowers-maybe pretending to be a bee. I'll give it a shot..  

We also planted a few pots of flowers, its amazing how a little color can brighten up the whole back yard.