Winter Park

Saturday, July 24th - We arrived in Winter Park from Wichita, Selah, and Colorado Springs. I had to get a picture of Kellen with his right arm in a brace and left foot in a boot - still healing from his broken bones. We enjoyed Hernando's pizza - a favorite tradition!

Sunday, July 25th - Online church, then fun playing with Owen. Kellen made him a Marshall dog out of paper and tape!

First time at the pool - then swimming nearly every day!

Monday, July 26th - We went to the new Headwaters River Journey Museum.

It was really impressive! Lots of fun exhibits.

Monday afternoon - Fishing St Louis Creek

Owen caught one!

Jenna caught "Jimothy" and "Sharconda"

This is the one that got away at first.

But, then he caught him plus another one!

Tuesday, July 27th - Georgetown Loop Railroad

Some shenanigans as we waited

Beautiful Scenery

A beautiful day

And such a fun time to watch Owen who loves trains.

So glad we went!

Wednesday, July 28th - Jenna and Kevin went on a bike ride in the morning.

Wednesday afternoon - some more fishing. This time with Dad.

Kellen and Jenna were very frustrated with not getting any bites. Kellen finally caught one and was able to take this picture that he had wanted to stage.

Wednesday night - fish fry! Yum!

Thursday, July 29th - Grand Lake - first stop - the lake

Next, we did a little shopping. Jenna and Kellen added to their duck collection. When we were in Georgetown, Kellen bought a squirrel stuffed animal. Owen found one in Grand Lake and loved it so much. "Sneaky Snacky Squirrel."

All the flowers are just so beautiful there. Lunch then ice cream - a favorite tradition.

Katie and I went to the museum remembering last fall's East Troublesome Fire while Kevin and David took the kids to the playground. Then, Kevin had to head home for band camp meetings.

Thursday evening - Kellen and I went on a walk and saw two deer.

Friday, July 30th - We all went on a walk and the kids played for a bit on the playground. Lunch, then Mom, Katie, and I worked on scanning pictures for the 50th anniversary project while David, Jenna, Kellen, and Owen went swimming. And, we had the first afternoon thunderstorm of the week.

We rounded out the week with watching more Olympics (as we had each night) and David teaching the kids how to make fishing lures. Saturday, we headed for home and Dad and Mom went on to New Mexico. It was a fun week!

Florida - Day 7

 

Saturday, July 3rd - Our check out time wasn't until 3:00 pm, and we had originally planned to go out kayaking one last time. But, we were awakened throughout the night by thunderstorms and torrential rain. By morning, it had let up a bit, but still poured off and on. We kept debating - should we or shouldn't we? I'm so glad we decided to just go ahead and go! We saw two different sets of 3 manatees!

It was so exciting! A highlight of the trip for sure! Despite the rain!

Simply amazing!

The second set of three that we saw included a baby! We named them Barbara, Hugh Manatee, and Manny T.

Jenna and Kellen's shells from the week!

Back to the house to wash and dry our wet clothes, pack up, eat lunch, and check out. We did pretty well finishing all the food that we had bought - 2 and a half loaves of bread, 2 and a half bags of chips, a jar and a half each of peanut butter and jelly, 3 ready made Costco dinners, a box of fruit snacks, a box of gushers, a bag of skinny pop, and some cheez-its. On the way out of town, we stopped by Weeki Wachee state park in search of a pressed penny machine that was registered there, but didn't find one. We also stopped at CVS and Walmart in search of some last minute souvenirs. We ended up each getting a t-shirt at Walmart.

An 8:55 pm flight home to Denver, then a drive back to Colorado Springs - finally in bed around 2:00 am on July 4th! This was a trip of a lifetime, so fun, so glad we went! (Also really glad that we got out in time before hurricane Elsa!)