Wednesday, August 31, 2011

White Family Reunion 2011 - Park City/Olympic Park

A few weekends ago we made a very quick trip out to Utah to meet up with my Dad, Debbie and my brothers at a condo in Park City. We were really only together for 2 days but managed to pack a lot into those two days!

First up was a visit to Olympic Park. We could see the park from the window of the condo and had to check it out. We were able to go and check out the little museum first with a ton of different interactive areas that Eliza loved.




Then it was time for the ski jumpers show! They practice in the summers by doing their jumps into a pool of water. It was pretty amazing how easy and effortless they made it look and I will definitely be paying more attention the next time the Winter Olympics are on to this event!






After watching the ski jumpers - we walked over to watch some of the bobsledding races.





Sunday, August 28, 2011

Cabin Weekend in Divide, Colorado

In the middle of July, we took a little weekend vacation to a cabin in Divide, Colorado. It's about an hour away from our house on the other side of Pikes Peak. Rob's work has access to these cabins for us to rent and we figured we would take advantage of it!

We got there late at night (since Rob gets off work really late) and just got settled in and had to rig the door to the girl's bedroom so they would go to sleep that night. Of course they wound up getting up as soon as the sun came up the next morning but we tried!

The next day we got up and made breakfast and then headed out for some exploring. We first drove to some mountain so we could do a little hike and Rob could hunt for some rocks and gems.






Then we drove back to Woodland Park for a late lunch at a little cafe and then stopped at Walmart to pick up fishing poles. Ellie was determined to try out fishing at the little lake that we could see from our cabin window. So we attempted to fish for a little bit with no success!





We made foil packets for dinner and roasted s'mores on the grill since there was a fire ban! But it all tasted great still.

The next morning we woke up to a Mama deer and her two babies right outside our window! We were able to get pretty close to the Mama but the babies didn't stick around long. Definitely the highlight for my girls!




We drove over to National Park that was full of petrified trees and other petrified things. It was a hot little hike but cool to see.






It was a fun couple of days away from reality and we hope to make it a tradition to go back every summer to these cabins!

Friday, August 05, 2011

Fun in the Rain

Having grown up in the Seattle area, I have a great love for rain. I just don't want too much of it anymore! That's why I loved Arizona - all the sun. But almost TOO much sun. Colorado is the perfect combination for me! We have sun almost every day here and it's awesome. But the summer is the best. It'll be hot and sunny all morning and then in the late afternoon will roll in some awesome thunderstorms and rainstorms and cool everything off and the sun will usually come back out again (or rain all night which is awesome too). Basically we plan to do everything in the mornings just in case it rains in the afternoon!



Wednesday, August 03, 2011

Manitou Cliff Dwellings

A few weeks ago, we went to check out the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. They are kind of a funny place because it's like a fake historical spot! Basically they are Anasazi Cliff Dwellings that they moved piece by piece from the Four Corners area to this new area. They are exact replicas and over 100 years old but obviously the Anasazi didn't live here! But regardless - it is still pretty cool to see them and imagine what life might have been like. Plus you get to walk through them all and go through a little museum. The girls just liked climbing everywhere!

Rob with the girls inside one of the homes


My posing Eliza


Chloe rarely looks at the camera, but smiling!


On the top levels of one of the homes


Cheesy Chloe

View from the Cliff Dwellings


Inside the Teepee

Monday, August 01, 2011

Fun with Bubbles






We love bubbles and I finally bought us a new bubble machine! The girls have had a blast playing with it often in our backyard and every time friends come over. Thank goodness for the HUGE thing of bubble solution I bought to go with it! And here's hoping that I can pick up some bubble machines on clearance at the end of summer sales - we like to use the machines inside when it's too cold to go outside.