Colorado 2012: McCauley Madness!

We enjoyed our few hours as a family before our friends arrived in town. Since it was a Friday morning, we knew we had to get out to the Farmers Market. Its adorable! Thank goodness it was open til 1am because we didn’t roll out of bed until after 10. LOVE that I am blessed with a sleeper. Its one of the few things she and I have in common!

Aren’t hippies fun?!

Seeing all the dogs that everyone brings along just makes me want Penny to be with us! She’d be a real hit, but I don’t know if any furry friend could be as cute at this duo we found. Double trouble!

B and I loved this fun street performer’s antics, so she got a change to give her first tip! We did this quite a few times ‘cause it was just that fun.

And though she’s super picky and never actually ate it, she loved carrying around “her cherry”. Love us some samples from the farmers! She even considered sharing her cherry with the friendly, fuzzy alpacas…but then didn’t .

At the end of our morning, we stopped by the pond and skipped some rocks. So much fun in one square block of town.

A few hours later (after a primo nap!), we heard the door open…ABBY! Not a single picture came out without at least one of them being blurry. Way too much screaming, running and jumping to be had. So cute!

 

The next morning, we had a yummy breakfast and headed right out to the Garden of the Gods. One of my favorite attractions! First, we stopped by the visitors center and learned about area wildlife: GRRR…

Then, a great opportunity for our first (and maybe ONLY) group photo. It was nearly 90 degrees that afternoon, so we were HOT.

Next, we were off on the first hike of the trip. Again, it was HOT and we had two toddlers with zero strollers. We weren’t going far…for sure! But it was a lovely time.

Understandably after a full day of traveling the day before, Abby was pretty tired. So we drove ourselves down to the Trading Post. One of the best tourist shopping places in the city and a lovely lunch spot!

 

Julie and I always laugh about how different Bridget and Abby can be. Its not a surprise, but Julie and I are pretty different ourselves (what’s great, though, is how similar are spouses are! we always say: julie is the jonathan, anna is the ryan…its SO true). Regardless, where B is a great napper but doesn’t sleep well in the car – Abby rarely naps but will be asleep before the ignition starts in the car. That being said, it was no surprise to see she was asleep after our 5 minute drive to lunch. What was shocking, however, is how long she stayed asleep. Through our entire lunch, only to wake when the thought of panning for gold came up. Perfect timing!

Bridget didn’t seem to mind some chill time by the pond:

BBut soon enough it was time to find some gold! This is some of the best $5 you can ever spend:

We did it!

Thanks, Daddies, for doing all the work!

Hmmm…looks like someone else was getting tired, too! Guess it was time to head home for a nap…

Fun times together! We headed back through the mountain pass to our comfy cottage and enjoyed a home cooked meal before hitting the hay before 10pm. We’re so old!!! The next day brought a full day exploring Woodland Park in hopes that both girls would be some much needed R&R before starting the week with a bang on Monday – Santa’s Workshop!!