First EVER Schumann Family Vacation and Other Family Activities

So, a week after CJ was baptized and Reed blessed, we had the opportunity to go camping. We had some friends who weren't able to use their reservations and we took the reservation for them. We went camping down in Colorado Springs. We didn't know what to expect. I guess KOA Campgrounds has this thing every year about caring and camping and our friends usually go every year. Well, this year they had a ton of other things come up and she posted on facebook about it. I guess you buy one night and get the second free. They had booked a cabin down in Colorado Springs and we offered to take their reservation. We had SO much fun! This was our very first family vacation and it was great, aside from the cold and rain. We left Friday afternoon and came home on Sunday. These are pictures of our cabin:

There were two bunk beds:

(The girls each got their own)
A queen size bed:

(We had to bring our own sheets)
and a quaint little corner for Reed to sleep in in his port-o-crib:

The first cabin they tried to put us in, Spencer found bed bugs so they upgraded us to this one with a porch and balcony. Sweet deal I think! (No worries, he looked EXTREMELY close for bed bugs and found zero!)

We had never been anywhere in Colorado, so we asked friends and family of what we should do and we followed a few of their suggestions. We woke up on Saturday and, after a yummy pancake breakfast cooked by yours truly, we headed off to Garden of the Gods. Now, we had no idea what to expect when we went there, but we weren't disappointed:

We were kinda expecting something like Zions National Park or Arches, but it wasn't NEAR that big, but it was beautiful. It was like a little bit of southern Utah plucked up and sat down in the mountains. It was funny though when we got there because we were reading about mountain sheep. When we looked up we saw some animal like things at the top of one of the structures. We were thinking, "COOL!! There are some sheep!", but then they started to hop a little and we thought, "COOL!! Eagles or Hawks!", but a wonderful zoom on my camera revealed something that we did NOT expect:

Pigeons. Yes, pigeons. Spencer didn't believe me and quite frankly I don't really blame him because that structure looked a WHOLE lot bigger than it was because those birds looked HUGE from down on the path. We had to laugh about it because we thought it funny that we were in awe over pigeons.

After Garden of the Gods we went to North Pole, Colorado to visit Santa's Workshop. Again, had NO idea what to expect. We thought, "OH! A fun little place for the kids to play around in and see fun little crafts!" When got there it was a different story:

An amusement park.....in the mountains! And when I say "in the mountains", I mean it was all built on the slope of the mountain. It was actually opening day for them and it was FREEZING! Not to mention it started to rain there as well. It was really fun though. The girls and Spencer had so much fun. I had fun watching them until I couldn't feel my hands anymore and then it stopped being fun. We went back to our cabin and turned the heaters on and watched movies for the rest of the night because it was raining so bad. We are SO glad we did it though.


Memorial Day Weekend
Well, we started the day, Memorial Day, with the annual Buckley Ward Memorial Day pancake breakfast. It was so yummy! Spencer was made Cub Scout Master and the breakfast was sorta for the Cub Scouts and this was Spencer's first event as Master. He did a good job. THEY did a good job. They had pancakes, oranges, orange juice, milk, bananas, and BACON!!! I was so happy. A lot of people came, it was really fun.

Afterward, well, let me tell you this story first. A couple days before we left for camping, I was folding the kids clothes and had the TV on. A Colorado morning show called "Everyday" was on and they were talking about "Pirates of the Caribbean 4". They mentioned if you text something to a certain number then you would be entered to win tickets to the screening of the movie and be entered to win tickets to the Real Pirates exhibit at the museum. What would be the harm, right? Well, I entered and while we were camping they informed me that I had won both things. I was in shock! I have NEVER won anything in my life. We weren't too excited about the movie, (way overdone in our opinion), but the museum exhibit we were excited about. Spencer seemed real impressed with me for winning, which I think is hilarious!

So, now back to Memorial Day festivities. After the pancake breakfast we went to the museum. We got 4 tickets and they included the entrance fee into the museum as well as the pirate exhibit. It was so neat, the exhibit. It is centered on a slave ship called The Whydah (wi-duh) that was a slave ship turned pirate ship in the early 1700's. This guy was told stories by his uncle about a pirate ship and where it sunk and when he grew up he went searching for it and found it. They had so much stuff there. They had the fully intact bell from The Whydah. It was awesome. They had so many rifles, actual rope from the ship, cannons, medical syringes, commode, and the coolest part, I think, was the real pirate treasure that they had found. It is the only treasure ever found in the world. Pretty cool. We were even able to touch some of it!

I'm so glad that I entered that contest!

We then went and saw some other things at the museum. The girls wanted to go to the space exhibit so we went there. They have an infrared camera there and we had some fun with that. I walked in front of it and once was all I could do because it showed a little too much heat in a particular area that was quite embarrassing (let's just say "headlights" and you will get the picture.) Although, now I have scientific proof that my husband is indeed a "hot head":

This is Avary, Spencer, and Reed.

Spencer had taken today, Tuesday, off as well. So, we decided to go on another little adventure. Spencer had to go to the Scout store and it was so far on the other side of Denver that we thought we would go up to Lookout Mountain and see what was up there. It was SUCH a beautiful day today that it would have been a shame to waste it indoors.

The wilderness was so refreshing today it was wonderful. The air was so sweet and clean and smelled wonderfully of pine. So rejuvenating.We visited the Boettcher (becher) Mansion, which was FABULOUS! I have decided that that is where the girls are going to have their wedding receptions.

We then set off to Buffalo Bills Grave. These are views from the road to the grave.


While we were there, we saw the "lookout".

I made some little additions to give you an idea as to what we were looking at. It was so breathtaking! The picture doesn't give it justice.

We then started for the actual grave.

On our way back from the the grave, we saw some hang gliders soaring above us:

It was pretty neat to see these guys gliding over us.

We are FINALLY starting to experience Colorado and we are having a blast! We are making some really good memories with the girls and we are so happy that we have this opportunity to spend this time with them. We have been eternally blessed.


PS
These are just some random pictures that I took. CJ and Avary have been such a big help to me with Reed. They rock him to sleep so I can get little things done.

They like to play on my phone while they do it, actually I think that is how I get them to hold him so long is offering my phone up as a sacrifice. It works.

We had to put Jersey in a kennel while we went camping and she stunk so bad that we asked them to give her a bath before we picked her up. She was really happy to see me, but the fun thing is is that they put a little bandanna on her after her bath:

She looked so cute when they brought her out. I love my doggy.