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The whole reason we chose Colorado for our vacation was that my cousin was getting married over Memorial Day weekend…so it was really chosen for us. Not that I’m complaining…the car ride was a bit extensive, but we had a great time, and who knows if we would have ever chosen to go on that long of a car ride without a little push.

While we were there, we thought we should take in some sights. We attempted to trek to Boulder Falls, but the trail had been closed due to falling rock. I suppose that is a good reason to close a trail. While I wished we’d gotten to see it closer up, the scenery around the area was still nice…and proved to be fine for a new family photo.

and it had a fun climbing rock…this is one of my favorite pictures of the whole trip.
They are so stinkin’ cute.

Ellie kept saying how she wanted to climb a mountain…a little creative photography helped her get there. Thanks, Dad.

On the way back down into Boulder, we stopped at the Boulder creek recreational trail and “hiked” a bit. Really, it was quite flat, so hiked may not be the appropriate term. We walked around and watched some guys climb a mountain…and took some cool pictures…and let Ellie touch the creek.

All she had to say was “brrr, that waters cold mama…”

Before I had the fancy camera, I didn’t really care much about flowers, now they just provide a challenge to me. Its fun to see what kind of pictures the camera can take.

This post has been a long time coming.  
I’ve had the pictures pulled for about a week, but just haven’t found time to sit down and write it. As it is, i”m typing one handed while “rocking” Evan to sleep…so please forgive my grammar and/or spelling at this point and just be happy with the update. :) 

We took half of our vacation to Colorado at the end of May…and the other half to Des Moines – those posts will be coming later…as with my typing situation (one-handed), this may already be the longest post in history. 

When the hubs was little, his fam used to go on vacations to Colorado and one of the few things he remembered is going to this restaurant…Casa Bonita. Do you know how fun it is to try and get your three year old to say Casa Bonita? Its hilarious. You should try this at home…if you have a three year old. If you don’t, you can borrow mine. :)  
  
It was so great! I wish that my pictures from inside turned out better.  Ellie called it the jungle restaurant because, well, it looked like a jungle in there. Her favorite part was watching the cliff divers…yes, right in the restaurant.
I highly recommend going here if you ever get the chance. There is this one, in Denver, and one other in the US…but its well worth the trip.  The food was okay – the entertainment, awesome. And…the best part of the restaurant…the “free” sopapillas.
They come with any meal…and they are huge.  
Check out my boy as he checks out his sopapilla.

you can just tell that he’s thinking…”let me at this thing.” 

It was on our way back to our hotel that night that we got our first glimpse of the mountains. My daughter, who wanted to see mountains with snow on them since we left our Iowa home, was so excited. The snow she’d have to wait for…