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| Omaha Zoo- The Jungle |
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| Sting Ray Bay |
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| Kaylee's goal at the zoo was to see a peacock |
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| Cousins at park |
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| The Cook's and Churchman's |
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| View from Debi and Dan's backyard |
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| Water World |
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| Scary Ride they conquered |
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| Focus on the Family- kids at microphones |
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| Recording Studio |
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| Sound Effects Room |
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| Panning for precious stones |
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| Garden of the One True God |
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| Mt Cutler Hike |
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| Mt Cutler Hike |
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| Mommy and Kianna |
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| Playing in the creek |
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| Mt Princeton Hot Springs |
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| Hot Springs Creek |
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| St. Elmo Ghost Town |
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Hiking The Crags
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| Sisters |
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| Debi and Keri |
We spent 20 hours driving from Michigan to Colorado with three kids ages 5, 7 and 9. Some may call us crazy, but honesty it was so much fun that we would do it again. We packed little surprises to give the kids along the way, which included coloring pages, mad libs, scavenger hunts, license plate game, crafts, stickers, glow sticks, snacks and movies. We listened to the first Harry Potter audiobook on the way there and to Adventures in Odyssey on the way home. We put 3,700 miles on our van and were gone for 17 days. We made lots of fun memories and took hundreds of pictures.
We broke the trip up by spending a day at the Omaha Zoo. Trevor and I both had fond memories of going to the zoo when we were younger, so it was fun to share that with our kids. The highlights were the jungle, the aquarium, the desert dome, the nocturnal animals, sting ray bay, and the misters that cooled us down along the way.
We drove to Colorado to visit Keri's sister, Debi; brother-in-law, Dan; and nieces: Katie and Libby. Debi and Dan both had the week off of work and were amazing hosts.
Highlights of our trip:
- Behind the scenes tour at Focus on the Family- One of Trevor's board members works at Focus on the Family and was able to get us a behind the scenes tour to see how Adventures in Odyssey is made. Kaylee is a huge fan, so was super excited. The kids were able to sit at the microphones in the recording studio. They were given a scenario and were able to ad-lib into the microphones, as if they were one of the Odyssey characters. One of the neatest things was learning how all the sound effects are added to the sound tracks. The tour was amazing!
- Garden of the gods or Garden of the One True God as Uncle Dan calls it- We spent some time hiking and enjoying the beautiful scenery. The kids were able to pan for precious stones. Kianna and Trace got bow and arrows as souvenirs. Oh and we can't forget the bride posing in her lingerie while standing on a ledge. As we drove by Kianna said "I guess I know what a bride wears under her wedding dress now." We were appalled by the woman's immodesty, but got some good laughs out of Kianna's witty statement.
- Hiking Mt Cutler- It was a beautiful hike in the mountains, a first for the kids. Unfortunately, Kianna was not feeling well which we suspected was due to altitude sickness and dehydration. She complained most of the way up and down the hike, which isn't uncommon. She gave us a scare though when almost immediately after completing the hike her nose began to bleed and I mean bleed. It was gushing and wouldn't stop. Thankfully Debi is a school nurse and has dealt with her share of bloody noses and altitude sickness. She told Kianna to blow her nose and when she did a golf ball sized clot came out. I'm in the medical field and that was one of the grossest things I have seen, especially coming from my own child. It was really scary, but it worked as her nose stopped bleeding soon after.
- Picnic by the stream- After hiking Mt. Cutler we had a picnic and then we began bouldering rocks in the stream. It was so much fun watching the kids be adventurous. Both Kaylee and Trace slipped and got a bit wet, but didn't even complain they were having so much fun.
- Meeting up with Jonathan and Katie- Katie is getting married on July 19th. The girls and I were able to go to Katie's final dress fitting to see her beautiful dress. We also were able to meet Jonathan, her fiancé, for the first time. We had a nice meal together and spent the evening at a park being silly.
- Feeding the squirrels in St. Elmo- We visited an old ghost town up in the mountains called St. Elmo. We spent some time walking around the deserted streets, but the highlight for the kids was getting to feed the squirrels. The squirrels were so tame they came right up to the kids and ate the food out of their hands.
- Mt. Princeton Hot Springs- We drove 3 hours to swim in the hot springs creek only to find out the water level was dangerously high, so it was closed. It was disappointing news, but we still enjoyed the amazing mountain view and were able to swim in the mineral pools.
- Water World- We spend a day along with Debi and Libby at this super fun water park. We have reached the stage where Trace was tall enough for nearly all the rides. The kids were fearless and went down some scary slides. The girls and I tried body surfing some waves, which didn't go so well for Kianna and I. We got rolled around like a tornado, but Kaylee did quite well.
- Hiking the Crags- This was a 4 mile round trip hike that was mostly flat. We hiked in a meadow, along a stream, with the mountains surrounding us. The last part of the hike was elevated as we hiked up a portion of the back side of Pike's Peak.
- Experiencing the above things with Debi, Dan and Libby. We had a great week enjoying the beauty of God's creation with them. They were wonderful hosts!
