Colorado Springs Vacation

Back in March, Alexandra kept asking if we could go on vacation this summer. (Really she just wanted to go and stay in a hotel somewhere, like we did last year for the family reunion.) So we talked and decided that we would go to Colorado Springs! So we looked at the vacation bid for Dean's work and the ONLY time he could take off in summer was Wednesday and Thursday last week. So we booked the hotel and planned away.

On Monday we left at about nap time (hoping for a nap for the whole drive, didn't happen though.) And we went to Cave of the Winds. Alexandra had been so excited for this, but when we entered the cave she started to get a little scared. I asked her if she could be brave and be my photographer for the whole tour. Which helped her overcome her fears.

I must say - although they say it's a family friendly tour (including toddlers) it really isn't. Or at least for us it wasn't. Scarlett was fine as long as we were moving. But we had to stop in every room for the tour guide to give his info. And she hated it. Plus we couldn't let her walk on her own, because as we were told multiple times - you can't touch ANYTHING - or you'll get a $2500 fine and a years suspension of your drivers licence. Believe me I had that little quote memorized our tour guide said it so often. So of course, being a toddler, and not getting to keep moving or get down and touch she started crying. Which our tour guide then threatened (and not in a nice way) to have us escorted out. Scarlett and I found a solution though. We ignored the tour guide and I stayed at the back of the tour and would wander holding her back and forth between the room we had previously been in and the room they were currently in. As long as I was moving with her she was fine. I seriously got such a work-out. I hated the stupid tour guide. Not only did he threaten to have us escorted out when she was crying - he would say it when she was perfectly fine....not a great start for our vacation (at least for me and Dean.)

Alexandra on the other hand loved it!! When we got out of the caves, she said "This is the best vacation EVER!"
Then on Tuesday we went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. It was awesome!! Comparing it to the Denver Zoo - it's smaller and not as many animals, but it makes up for that by having you be super close to the animals. I loved how close you could get to all the animals. I had been warned that it was seriously a mountain and we would be walking uphill all day long, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be (it probably helped that I've been trying to keep up on my exercising.) Riley got to be in charge of the camera for most of the day, since Alexandra got to take pictures at the caves.
The girls got to pet a baby wallaby.

And get their faces painted.

But the best part had to be feeding the giraffes. We fed them when we first got there (lettuce) and then before we left (crackers). Scarlett wouldn't feed them in the morning, but by the afternoon she would. She loved it! She has always loved giraffes. The baby giraffes wouldn't stick their tongues out very much, but the adults would. It was hilarious and gross to get licked by the giraffes. We bought Scarlett a giraffe in the gift shop with some of her birthday money and the whole way back to the hotel she was trying to "feed" it saying "eat the cracker." Even now if you ask her what giraffes eat she'll tell you crackers.

Then on Wednesday we went to the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. Riley had studied a little bit about them during her Colorado History last year at school so she was super excited to see them.

It was fun to climb and explore through them. Although the girls had so much red dirt all over them afterwards.

Then that night we went to Seven Falls. The girls got to feed some rainbow trout. We watched some Indian dancing. And Dean and Alexandra climbed the stairs to the top.

She was crying when she finally came back down, she was so scared. She knew there was an elevator around and thought she'd be able to ride it down once she got to the top. Unfortunately the elevator is in a different spot, so she had to climb down. I'm very proud of her for doing it though. There is no way I could ever do it. I wish I wasn't so scared of heights. It looked like it would have been amazing to climb the staircase out over the falls.

They turn colored lights on at about 8ish. I wish we could have stayed till it got darker to really see the lights, but you could tell it was bedtime for Scarlett and we had trouble keeping her awake during the ride back to the hotel.

Then on Thursday we got all packed up and checked out of the hotel and went to the Garden of the Gods. It was super hot and really we were all tired from all the walking we'd done all week. So we didn't do much exploring there. Plus it was getting close to nap time.

The girls had saved up their allowance and report card and tooth fairy money for months. So they bought stuff at every gift shop. Here are pictures of them with their souvenirs.

Riley got a wolf necklace, wolf bookmark, wolf statue, stuffed wolf, fox hat, and a fox puppet. (Can you tell what she's interested in...)

Alexandra got a miners hat, dream catcher necklace, a carved mouse, and a stuffed mountain lion, sea otter, and bat.

The girls also got to swim everyday at the hotel and loved it. It was an awesome family vacation.