After the baptism we had all afternoon and evening to show my parents and Taylor some of the sights here in colorful Colorado. We headed south and drove the Garden of the Gods loop so Taylor could see it, and then headed over to Manitou Springs to see the Cave of the Winds-- where Jon and I had just gone a few weeks before on our Spring Break date.
Since it was a Saturday AND beautiful weather, it was a lot busier than when Jon and I had been there. We decided to split up and have Taylor and Grandpa Tom Tom do the Lantern tour, and everyone else do the 30 minute Discovery Tour.
All of the kids were super excited to be inside a cave-- as well as a little scared since they'd heard us telling about some of the ghost stories on our drive down. Leah especially was nervous, but as soon as we entered she was so awed by how beautiful the caves were she really got into exploring them. She thought they looked like the Cave of Wonders from Aladdin.
The original rope ladder visitors had to use to enter the cave from the mountain.
Some beautiful stalagmites and stalactites. The kids loved the whole tour and were totally fascinated by everything, minus Lizzie of course who didn't want to be held and who also wanted to touch everything (you weren't allowed to touch any of the cave walls because the oils from human hands clog the minerals that "grow" the cave and kill it). So the last 10 minutes or so I was just trying to keep her from screeching and waking up the bats!
Once finished we headed outside where you could practice panning for gold like the miners of olden days. We didn't find any gold unfortunately, but the kids thought it was pretty fun to do while we waited for Grandpa and Taylor to finish.
Cute little gold miner!
There was this huge stuffed bear in the lobby that Lizzie thought was amazing. She loved to talk to it and say "hi" and sit on his feet. I think we have another animal-lover on our hands!
Grandpa and Taylor finished up and we headed over to Rudy's BBQ for dinner, which is a chain started in Texas, with only a few other locations. When we got there around 5 p.m. the line was literally almost out the door! But the smells coming just from the parking lot were enough to keep us there!
We got some pulled pork and some barbecued turkey, with coleslaw, potato salad, and creamed corn. Yum! It was a Southern feast indeed.
Taylor and my dad are both BBQ connoisseurs, so I'm guessing this was their favorite part of the day. They tried the ribs and the brisket. We spent the rest of the night talking and watching movies, since Taylor had to fly out early the next morning.
Sunday night Lizzie decided she'd finish off Grandpa's spaghetti leftovers from Maggiano's. She sure loved all the extra attention she got with family in town!
And, since we failed to get a picture of just our family at the baptism Saturday morning, my mom took one of us Sunday morning. These little kids are growing up fast, and I feel like I can't have too many family pictures (although my family may disagree). We had such a great weekend with everyone, we are so thankful to have both our family's support on big and little occasions, and we sure LOVE having visitors!
0 comments:
Post a Comment