Face Painting at Gatti Town

We went to GattiTown the other night and the kids got their faces painted. Cassidy loved it of course. At first Colton was leary but once the work was done he loved it. Pretty creepy! (thanks for the pics Peycia)

Grand Lake June 2008

What an AMAZING time we had up at Grand Lake. We spent 7 days at a cabin in Grand Lake, Colorado, which is about 40 minutes north of Winter Park and just south of Estes Park. Just before we headed up there, we heard that it had snowed quite a bit. So, I checked the forecast and found that the HIGH was going to be 60 and that many days we'd be in the low 30s with snow. So I had to frantically repack for the trip adding pants, coats, etc. There was only 1 day up there we even wore shorts and that was the day we headed home. Anyway, we started our trip on Friday night eager to get on the road. Well, about 3 hours out of Dallas, at around 9pm, we ran over something in the road and had our 1st flat tire...arg! So we pulled over in Vernon Texas and changed our flat tire in 90 degree evening heat. Nice. But we were back on the road not long after and stayed the night just outside of Amarillo. On Saturday we got up early and hit the road anxious to get there. The drive was beautiful as we came up I25 into Colorado. We drove through Winter Park, which we had never been to, and over an 11,000 ft pass which gave us the 1st shot of cold weather. The temp dropped into the low 50s. As we rolled into Grand Lake and fell in love with the town immediately. It's a small lake town, no franchises, every store family owned, etc. A lot like Crested Butte or Telluride, but on a lake. The cabin was fabulous and the kids were squealing when we pulled in. After unloading we headed into town for dinner. With it being so chilly we drove most places but could have walked about anywhere from our cabin. We woke up on our 1st official day to 42 degrees and snow flurries. That didn't stop us and we headed down the road to do some fishing. There was an inlet, or small river connecting the 2 lakes, just down from our cabin with a great fishing area. After fishing we came back, had lunch, and headed off for our 1st hike up to Adams Falls on the east side of the lake. The Falls rocked and the hike was just long enough to not exhaust the kids. But Cassie melted down when the hike was over (see pic on the slideshow of her pouting). On day #2 we decided to see if we could spot some of the local Moose that Grand Lake is so popular for. Everyone in town had told us to head up toward the Rocky Mtn National Park entrance and we'd see some moose. The entrance was just 2 miles north of town. So, we got up early, ate a quick breakfast, and rushed up to see if we could spot some. Well, because of another night of snow, the road was closed so we had to stall for a bit. But after a few hours we went back and saw our 1st MOOSE. It was amazing. The kids were freaking out and luckily we had some binnoculars so we were able to really see them well. We also saw lots of Elk and some deer. After our animal hunt we continued up into the park and went hiking and had a picnic on a trail called Coyote Ridge. It was a perfect day...maybe a little chilly at 50 degrees but the scenery was amazing. After lunch we finished our hike and headed to the top of Trail Ridge Road in the park, which is the highest road in the United States topping out at around 12,000 feet. We were driving above tree line which was surreal. The drop offs on either side as you accended up the hill were pretty freaky! At the top there was a visitor center and snow everywhere. It was about 40 degrees but felt like 30 and extremely windy. As we came down the back side of the range we ended up in Estes Park. There we did some shopping and had a quick snack before heading back over the mountain. I mention the snack because I must have eaten something not so suitable....as I laid in bed that night feeling horrible ending up spending the 3rd day of my vacation bedridden with food poisioning. This was Tuesday and I did not leave the bed until 5pm. It was horrible. But John did a fantastic job keeping the kids busy taking them on another hike, shopping in town, and playing around cabin. They even spotted a moose with her baby. The kids bounded into my room so excited to give me the play-by-play. After waking from a nap in the afternoon I felt better and went out to dinner with the fam. I didn't eat much but it was nice to be out of bed. Well, the next morning when we woke up, it was snowing...and I mean SNOWING. Check out the pics on the show. You would have thought it was January. And the entire day was cold cold cold. We ended up just driving around and exploring that day since it was so so cold. But that evening, my brother, Sean, from Colorado Springs came up with his wife and 5 kids. They spent the next 2 days with us which my kids were thrilled with because they only see their cousins maybe 1 time a year. On our 1st day with them we all went hiking and fishing. The kids were just giddy all being together. It had been so long that my kids did not remember all the names of their cousins and Colton kept calling my brother Uncle Kevin (for Sean's resemblance to our dear friend Kevin Bassett):) So Tim Moore, see it's not just you..."Mr. Todd" :) On our 2nd day with my brother's family we went on another Moose Hunt and came across one that came right up near the car. Everyone was freaking. It was just so amazing. We went back up trail ridge road with them into Estes and went on a hike up to Nymph Lake and Dream Lake. It was about a mile in and all the kids did so great. Even the two 4 year olds did the whole hike, there and back, without a complaint. We were shocked. The lakes were so beautiful. This by far was the best part of the trip. It was so satisifying going on this long hike with 7 kids, treking deep into the woods for an hour over snow, to end up at a "postcard view" of a lake at the foot of peak. Nice! We came back into Grand Lake for dinner & headed back to the cabin. Everyone crashed early as we were all exhausted from our long day. The next day we packed up and headed down to Colorado Springs to see my brothers new house then our family left and headed back toward Texas. We made it to Dumas, just north of Amarillo, and stayed the night. The last day, Fathers Day, we drove down to Palo Duro Canyon and did some short hikes. The kids loved hiking into a cave we found. Very cool! Our stay there was short as it was 104 degrees. Quite a change from our chilly days at Grand Lake. One sad thing about the area of Grand Lake was that the pine trees in the area are being killed by Pine Beetles. They burrow into the pine trees and eat all the nutrients out. The Rangers tell us that eventually all the pine trees will be gone and only Aspens will be left. There are thousands of acres of forest affected. If you look in the background in many pictures you'll see most of the trees look red/brown. Those are dead trees. Many trees have been cut down in fear that they will fall and block roads, injure people, etc. Anyway, as our family reflects on the trip we are all already missing our cabin, fishing creek, moose hunts, lake hikes, and time with family. Cassidy cried all through dinner tonight saying she "missed the cabin" and Colton was grouchy because he missed his cousins and wanted to still be "on vacation". Wouldn't we all Cole? We hope to make the trip to Grand Lake an annual vacation as it was by far the most special trip our family has ever taken. We are all looking forward to Grand Lake '09......