Spring Break in Estes Park

This week, my kiddos and I vacationed on Spring Break at Brynwood on the River in Estes Park, Colorado.

It was gloriously beautiful there. We had bunnies that hung out frequently outside our door.

We also had this little critter which we thought was a prairie dog.

Every morning these guys kept visiting us as well.

One day these elk were hanging around my car and our cabin. Mr. Wonderful had just got here the night before and it was a nice “Welcome to Colorado wildlife” for him his first morning here.

And speaking of our cabins, we stayed at a wonderful place called Brynwood on the River.

Set with the backdrop of the Rocky Mountains, this place makes you feel a little more relaxed, a little more in tune with nature and from the moment we wake up, we couldn’t wait to get outside and revel in the beauty that was Colorado.

My kids loved being outside…ze boy liked doing boy things, like throwing knives.

Pine cones are what we used to the start the fireplace in our quaint little cabin on the Big Thompson River. Meet Kayla, the sock monkeyed pine cone gatherer.

Her and Brettley enjoyed showing off on how to make a fire.

These girls are the best of friends.

Brettley’s parents manage the Brynwood and they are wonderful people. One day we (Brennan and I) had a girl’s day out with both of our girls.

Then one day we drove up to the Rocky Mountain National Park. It is close to 10,000 ft in altitude.

The next day I was nauseous. In Estes Park there is an “Oxygen Bar” you can go to to breathe in oxygen to get rid of altitude sickness. Or you can buy little cans of oxygen to breathe in. It perks you right back up and is worth it.

The boys climbed up steep rocky walls.

Momma was a little nervous about that.

I couldn’t figure out how they would get up let alone DOWN.

We drove and wound our way up, up, UP through the park and finally stopped at this lookout point to snap some photos.

About that time a van drove up and a bunch of folks jumped out – it was our church friends the Murphy’s who were also visiting from Oklahoma. It’s a doggone SMALL WORLD I tell ya!

And then we saw it…the white haze in the distance.

Within seconds we were in a white out of snow.

The view was completely gone. The mountains and valley lost in a swirling white fog of a snow storm. Little white pellets that looked (and felt) like Dippin Dots pelted our faces. I pulled my camera and iPad inside my coat to protect them.

I said..” I think we better start driving down this mountain now while we still can.

So we did, but we stopped by Bear Lake first.

The kids took off running onto the trail leading to the lake.

This was a picture my daughter Kayla’s friend Mithun took of them at Bear Lake last summer.

Beautiful right?

This is our picture of Bear Lake we snapped after driving through a snow storm to get there.

We have to go back in the summer. I’m trying valiantly to pose here, but what you don’t know is…a few days before I was walking from our cabin to Brennan and Jerry’s in the dark. I refused to drive because I was so in love with being outdoors while we were there. I hit a divet in the gravel drive…and….

Rolled not one but TWO of my ankles and sprained them. I was not only freezing cold posing for that picture at Bear Lake, but had two ankle braces on and was hobbling through the trail like a penguin. The kids got a kick by walking around bow-legged and saying this was how I had to have fallen to have TWO sprained ankles.

Sweet kids.

Mr. Wonderful dumped a bunch of snow on their heads at Bear Lake.

I got a kick out of THAT.

They totally deserved it.

Mr. Wonderful didn’t fake smile as good as me while we were freezing our tushes off for this family pic at Bear Lake.

Winter Storm Virgil had hit, and we were now blanketed in a covering of snow, which delayed our leaving by an entire day.

We are dying to return to Estes Park. You honestly enter another world. One that is a little less hurried, a little dreamy, and one in which we didn’t turn on the TV for more than 5 days. It was nature at its best, and one to behold God’s creation. It was a perfect Spring Break.