Grand Lake Vacation-Final Day

On the last day, the kids were tired of vacation and ready to go home. 

 After relaxing in the hammock, we took our usual morning walk.  We went back to the playground so the kids could swing and slide one last time.

 Evelyn didn't want to leave the playground, so Tim and I started walking home without her.  Drew was concerned we would leave her so he escorted her home. 

 Even trying at one point to carry her home!

 But then decided, escorting was easier!

 More playtime in the hammock

 Grand Lake was having a festival on this day and we went in for lunch.  Drew loved the Corvette show they were having on main street!

 "Bartender"

 My sweet girl playing peek-a-boo with her daddy at lunch

 We decided to drive back through RMNP on the scary Trail Ridge Road again.  It wasn't as scary the second time around.  We stopped at new pullouts that we hadn't stopped before. 

 In Estes Park, we ate dinner at the Stanley Hotel.  Worst end to the vacation ever!  The dinner was TERRIBLE!!!!!!!!   And very expensive!  But the kids don't remember it, just all the fun they had at Grand Lake!

Grand Lake Vacation-Day 4

The kids seemed to be early risers at the cabin.  They entertained themselves by building forts (using Natty as support) and played "bears in the cave" or "foxes in the den". 

Headed out for our wonderful morning walk around the neighborhood.  The kids were always ready to get out of the cabin in the mornings.  Again, it was a nice cool morning.  They enjoyed all the things little kids like to do. 

 We went on another fun hike to some waterfalls called Adams Falls.  Evelyn thought she would be like mommy and put her sunglasses on top of her head!

 Of course, again, needing to pee in the woods!

 Hiking up to the falls

 Beautiful Adams Falls

 Checking out the stream that feeds the falls

 Hiking back down

 Stopped at Candy Lane (the candy store in Grand Lake) for some salt water taffy and homemade fudge...YUM!!

 This was our view of Grand Lake from lunch.  We ate at the Grand Lake Lodge (historical place), very neat and I recommend it to anyone going to visit Grand Lake.

 For dinner we went to a restaurant called the Sagebrush.  Drew ordered his first steak!  They gave you buckets of peanuts and you throw the shells on the ground.  The kids got a kick out of that!  Funny thing was our waiter at this restaurant was also our waiter in Winter Park when we had lunch on Thursday! 

 On our way home from dinner, we hit the "jackpot" for moose sightings.  Three LARGE bull moose all together.  Sorry for all the photos but they were so amazing to see in person!

Grand Lake Vacation-Day 3

We went to Winter Park and enjoyed the summer fun on the ski hills. The Village of Winter Park was lots of fun! Sorry for the abundance of photos but there are so many great ones!

 

Here are the boys riding up the ski lift to go down the alpine slide

 Drew and Daddy coming down the alpine slide

 Drew enjoyed jumping on the big trampolines...but Ev was pretty upset she was too little to go on.

 While Drew jumped, Tim took Ev up the ski lift to the alpine slide.

 Ev and Daddy coming down the alpine slide

 She couldn't stop talking about how fast the slide was and how much fun it was to go with Daddy!

 "Mountain man" Drew scaled the wall

 Mom and the kids did the maze.  We were supposed to find the letters, M A Z E, it only took us 24 minutes.  If you can do it in less than 8 min, you get a prize!  Oops!

 Fun, Fun, Fun on the connect four game!

 There were these awesome xylophones all throughout the village area.  The kids had fun on all of them!

 

 Train car playground was fun too!

 After Winter Park, we took the row boat out on Columbine Lake.

 

Ev tried fishing for the first time.  She did catch a fish, but it was so traumatic that we did not get any photos (ie. the fish swallowed the hook, lots of blood, and a dead fish at the end). 

 This cabin is for sale and, if we were lottery winners, would own it!

The kids enjoyed trying to catch minnows off the dock.  Unfortunately, they are a little slow and the fish escape.  I did catch a few for the kids to touch.  At least the dead fish earlier didn't scare the kids and they were still okay to touch the minnows.

Our dinner guest that night was a beautiful hummingbird!