Rocky Mountain birthday

Wow! It's been a while, I meant to post this right away, but time and my attention ran away. For Brendan's birthday/Valentine's Day/President's Day weekend we went to Estes Park. Estes Park is only about an hour away, it's a small mountain village that's right at the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. Much more of a summer destination and so nice and quiet in the winter.

Our main reason for going was to try out our new snowshoes courtesy of Papa and Mema! They are VERY cool - super lightweight. We borrowed some for the kiddos from friends and went into Rocky Mountain National Park for 2 days.

First day we went to Sprague Lake and walked a loop - that amazing view behind Jason and the boys was our turnaround point.

After our hike, we went to the only place in RMNP where you can sled - Hidden Valley, which used to be a ski area. The conditions weren't great, but the kids still got a few good runs in! That night was Brendan's birthday, so we went out for his traditional Chinese dinner (we've learned, Papa and Mema -we go out for this now and don't try to cook it at home! : ) Birthday cake was in the motel room eaten on beds!

The next day we went to a higher elevation to Nymph Lake/Bear Lake. It was absolutely gorgeous - snow everywhere - and we hiked to a frozen alpine lake (big deal here - can't find a frozen lake around Denver) that the kids could all play on. CC took turns walking herself or being pulled by one of us (including Brendan, in the picture!)

What does CC remember most? "The fun restaurant with all the different colored cereal" - she asks constantly to go back. It's just the breakfast room at the motel, they offered continental breakfast and clearly, Froot Loops were very popular!