Estes Park, Colorado / July 2010

At the Stanley Hotel... how would you like to see this each time you looked out your window?

just beautiful flowers.....

fell in love with these daisies......

Patrick and his counselor......

The Stanley Hotel

this little acorn was put up to cover the original symbol put up...... which was a swastika ... before Hitler the symbol was actually a nature symbol with some American Indian tribes.. (I never knew that!)

Did you know that the Stanley Steamer land record was not broken until this century? Took us over 100 years to come up with another steam automobile that could match what the Stanley brothers put together.... They were very very interesting.

Sweet Rachel posing for me..... in front of yet another beautiful lake, trees and sky.

just beautiful mountains...... AND children! it was sooo cold.. down in the valley it was 30 degrees warmer than it was at the taking of this picture!

Rachel and her counselor..... they are singing a song..... she didn't see me taking this picture or there would have been quite a sour look on that sweet face... (lol)

We ran into friends......... Parker on the far right next to Patrick are in the same scout den, then Rachel and another one of Parker's brother... and he has two more brothers in there some where... haha.... The man in the back ground was a ... John Denver 'want to be' and did a pretty good job.. He had the children up there singing and it was so funny. Did you know that Twinkle Twinkle Twinkly Little Star and the ABC song have the same melody? The children did not... and all of a sudden did not even know the abc song.. it was so funny..

Bear Lake

Hiking up to this water fall about killed us... the altitude, we had to stop every 20-30 yards there for a bit... it was crazy.

A little friend who followed us on our hiking...

not wanting his picture taken.. see his eyes closed? haha

Camp! They started each day like this and ended each day like this....singing!

This is the Tortilla Basket song...... this is Patrick's counselor.

Another drive.... and beautiful views.....

a lake near the continental divide...

I love this picture.......... that's Patrick in the shadows in front of me and Rachel is in front of him in the sun light...

Breakfast one morning... 53 degrees and love those mountains.......

The "B" Family from our home church here in Frisco! IT was so much fun to run into them here in Estes Park.... we met at a local park and listened to a local band playing jazz.....

There are deer everywhere........

Patrick is trying to reach out and touch that tree.... in my head I'm thinking "please do not fall off your horse... b/c if you fall.. I'll need to jump down and I do not think I'll be able to get back up by myself!" giggle.....

some of the campus and lodges at the "Y"

They are always so nice to let me get a picture of them........ I love my children!

This is a very well known area... hmmm see that creek over on the left? I washed my hair in that freezing ice cold water back in the mid 80's...... I love that now I'm bringing my children here.

Finally arriving in Estes Park........ it is beautiful.

and the "Y"

our room

It has been so long since I've 'blogged'......... that I am going to start with where I left off.

I still cannot believe that the last time I posted was Maine...... shame on me.... lol

I've been going through so many emotions, problems, solutions, trials and blessings and I need to share them with you!

First we had a 2nd vacation last summer....... 5 days at they YMCA of the Rockies.. in Estes Park, Colorado...... I have to say..... one of the most beautifully located cities in the world..... :)

I know for regulars it is a bit 'touristy'.... but for Colorado- for us - our first summer vacation there.... it was wonderful. We didn't go into town very often. We stayed at the amazing YMCA.

I had already set aside the money for that trip so we stayed in one of their lodges and it was a very very nice hotel room minus a TV..... We ate on property with their kitchen providing amazing foods at each meal.

The children went off to day camp; 8:30am to 3:30pm and loved it.. they have talked about and sang the songs from camp all year long. I was so impressed with their counselors.... Patrick's counselor was majoring in Business at Baylor University and Rachel's counselor is majoring in pre-law at SMU.

I enjoyed the days with hikes in the Rocky Mountain National Forest which was only 2 miles away. One day driving to the top of the mountain and finding the Continental Divide. I also napped and read 3 books! I loved it. I also went on a tour of The Stanley Hotel where Stephen King came up with the idea for his book; The Shining. Our tour guide was a very itty bitty girl but dynamic in her story telling. She had us laughing so hard... and looking around each corner for ghost.

There was a silk scarf painting class I wanted to take... but for some reason it did not fit in my lazy days of reading and napping... haha

We rode horses one day, hiked another day and swam in the indoor pool each evening. I had packed enough snacks and drinks that all we did was change our ice in our coolers each evening.. I would recommend this camp to anyone...... they have something for everyone and they are able to provide for large groups or small family such as ours.