Colorado, here we come...

So, last year we headed south to the beach in Galveston. It was AMAZING.  

This year, we went the opposite direction, and it was equally amazing....

The first big stop of our journey was at Clayton Lake, New Mexico. 

We couldn't head north to Colorado without letting the kids discover the dino tracks. 

Pretty cool. 

We stayed in an Air BnB there called the "Cozy house on Walnut street". It was cute, and we made s'mores in the backyard! 

We stopped at the Hotel Eklund restaurant to eat lunch the next day. Good eats and a quiet atmosphere, and one of the men eating at the table next to us insisted after he saw us trying to take one ourselves that we let him take the family pic. "Sure!" we said. We've been told the people are quite friendly as you head up to Colorado, and that was definitely our experience!

Our next stop was the Capulin Volcano. When we stopped, we thought, "What a view," and we were right. But...it did not even compare to what was coming! :) 

Kaleb and his funny face makes me laugh in this pic! 

It was indeed beautiful! 

Then, we headed on to our next destination...Brookelynn's second cousin, Caydence's house! Caydence and her sweet family took us in one night in Rye, Colorado, and it was super awesome. They barbecued hamburgers and hot dogs for us and we got to hang with Justin's aunt too, who also lives in the area! True story - Caydence thinks Brookelynn's name is "Broccoli".  Lol. We love Caydence and her brothers Emersyn, Jaden, and their parents (Justin's cousin) Bryan and Elaina. 

Nana time! We finally made it to Nana's new house in Peyton, CO, and spent the first day putt-putt golfing to celebrate Jared's fourth birthday! 

Of course, you can't have a proper birthday without some silliness. 

Birthday boy! I can't believe he's FOUR! I told him, "You get to go to COLORADO for your birthday!" What a birthday.  

Yes...we made them do this. 

Dinner at Nana and Grandpa's. 

Nana, celebrating Jared's birthday with chocolate, of course. She and I share that love. 

Gotta have a pic with my birthday boy!

I'm not biased in any way, but isn't my oldest handsome? He takes after his daddy! Here, we are eating at The Black Eyed Pea.

Nana spoiling just a little. :) 

Justin has a game face...or just a confused one. :) Trying to learn card games has never been my strong suit either! But I had to get a pic of the bro and hubby together! 

And speaking of together, we finally got some more pics of the family. It's been since December that we've seen Mom and Dad, when they moved. And, it's been over four years I think, since we've seen my brother, Phil. Such a good reunion! He lives in Washington with his girlfriend Sam and three children. 

And while I hung out with Mom for a bit and took the other kids to Target, the men...went up to Pikes Peak!

It was in the 20's at the top, and the 60's at the bottom!

So, we left Mom and Dad's after three great days, and traveled on. We just had to get some good mountain shots. I think God was showing off when he created the mountains. What beauty!

Next stop - Royal Gorge!

Nothing's better than Dippin Dots while looking out over the mountains at the Royal Gorge.

Following the Gorge, we headed up to our fourth destination, Cuchara, Colorado, at 8,000 feet. 

This was taken at Monument Lake, along the scenic Highway of Legends.  

And...this became our hangout for three days. Coffee. By the river. Behind our house...literally 30 feet. 

Our mountain house. 

And...our bear print. 

That picture is self explanatory. But...you get the idea. He also left this for us right outside our house. 

Yes, literally five minutes after we'd arrived at our vacation destination, a BEAR decided to get into our minivan and make a snack out of our food in there. Justin had to shoo him away, and the kids were watching! Later we learned that there were others he'd visited too, close by! What a great welcome we got, huh? 

Anyway, the house was worth it! (And, as we learned after we settled into the house, we were armed with bear spray! I had no idea there was such a thing!) 

The next day, we did some hiking (armed with bear spray)! 

As we hiked, I couldn't help but think of that song, "The Hills are Alive," by Julie Andrews, and I sang it a bit! 

Isn't this the coolest bug hanging on Justin's backback? We didn't let him stay for too long before we shoo'd him off, but I had to get a pic. 

We're pretty sure the kids enjoyed playing in the snow more than any other part on this leg of the journey! Snow in June?...Definitely part of the Colorado fun!

Thankfully, the kids did great on our hikes, for the most part. It was well worth the effort. 

On our way home, we had to drive a bit of the Highway of Legends and pass Monument Lake again. So beautiful!

I have to admit that after all the hiking and traveling, it was kind of nice to splurge on an expensive hotel at the end of our journey. Here we are at our last, and final destination before home - the Embassy Suites in Amarillo. 

Just took some random silly selfies. 

Did some swimming to finish off the vacay. 

And, of course, no vacation is complete in my book without a Starbucks run. The kids kind of like it too. ;) 

   Well, it was memorable, ya'll. Beach? Check. Mountains? Check. Hmmmm...what'll it be next year? Only time will tell! :) 

Blessings, 

The Englerts