Playing Dress-up in the Backyard

Saturday Morning at Horsetooth Falls

On Saturday we were out of the house by 8:15 for a hike to Horsetooth Falls. It was a really lovely hike, and just about perfect for the kids. Short, but still long enough to feel like a real hike. The weather was a bit cooler than it has been, and there was small, clear pool at the end for wading. I think this is one we'll have to do again, especially in the spring when the falls are more of a waterfall and less of a trickle!

Muriel 7.21.10

Colorado Train Museum

Is anyone surprised that we went to the Colorado Railroad Museum last Sunday, on our second weekend here? Or that we bought a year membership? It was a big hit with the children, so I think we'll be putting that membership to good use.

Rowan's favorite engine, though it was frustrating to have to share it with other children who wanted to play on it. Especially because he was too shy to play in there unless he was alone or with one of us. There was a rope you could pull which rang a bell on the outside of the engine.

this was through the window of an train car that held stacks and stacks of old bound copies of the Rocky Mountain News.

Rowan Makes it to the Rocky Mountains

Okay, so actually we all made it to the Rocky Mountains last weekend, but Rowan was the most excited about it. This is how the hour long car ride into the park went:

Rowan: Are these the Rocky Mountains?
Pat/Emily: No, these are just the foothills.

five minutes later
Rowan: Are these the Rocky Mountains?
Pat/Emily: No, these are still the foothills. It's going to take about sixty minutes to get there.

three minutes later
Rowan: Are these the Rocky Mountains? There are a lot of rocks!"
Pat/Emily: No, still the foothills, Rowan. We will tell you when we get to the Rocky Mountains okay?

two minutes later
Rowan: Are these the Rocky Mountains?

Needless to say, he was thrilled once we finally got there. Even though we were out of the house by 9am, it was very crowded by the time we got into the park, and finding a parking spot at a trail head was difficult.


We ended up doing a very short "hike" (walk) on the Alluvial Fan Trail. It was crowded, but the river was beautiful, regardless.




We even spotted some wildlife, though it wasn't the Bighorn Sheep Rowan is dying to see.

After our hike and a snack we decided to head back into Estes Park for some fishing at Trout Haven Ranch. We were completely unsuccessful despite the vast numbers of fish that could be seen swimming around the pond. The children, especially Rowan, were quite disappointed. Luckily we live close enough that we can go back often, perhaps on a day when the fish haven't already seen a gazillion worms.

Niamh, Our Little Dancer

Niamh has been dancing up a storm (thanks to Zoe Elko and Angelina Ballerina). She often goes outside to do her "ballet".

Settling In

Having been in Colorado for almost three weeks, things are finally starting to feel somewhat normal. Niamh and Muriel got over the jet-lag within a few days, but it took Pat, Rowan, and I much longer. Seems like there was 5-7 days of 1am-3am risings.

The children are mostly thrilled with all the new food, but they won't eat some things, like the yogurt. They thought that the housing development across the field from our house was a different village. They are not fond of driving everywhere. For the first two weeks, they asked almost every time we went anywhere if we were walking or driving, not understanding that we really can't walk anywhere. Niamh once begged to ride her scooter somewhere that it would take twenty minutes to drive to. When I explained that we needed to drive because it was too far away, she told me she could just ride her scooter really fast next to the car. She wasn't even deterred when I told her I thought her legs would get tired. "When one leg gets tired, I'll switch to the other leg!"


They really love having a yard. The only plant in the backyard is one lonely sunflower in a corner, and it is dutifully watered every day. Perhaps we need to make a trip to a garden store for some other plants for children to water.

We've made it!

This trip from Morges to Loveland was one of the most painless flights we've had with the children. I'm not sure I can say exactly why, but for some reason it all went pretty smoothly.

Rowan mostly watched movies the entire way from Geneva to D.C.

Niamh colored, played with stickers, or some new toys she got for the plane. And Muriel did a little of what Niamh did, and also...

took a nap for about an hour. We hit the only snag in the journey when we got to D.C. and found out our flight had been canceled, and Rowan then completely melted down. We were able to get on a new flight a couple of hours later, but Rowan's meltdown lasted until about forty minutes before the flight, when he finally crashed on the floor of the airport. He basically slept until we got into Denver.


Niamh and Muriel played for a bit, but then they also fell asleep. And they too slept until Denver. We got to our hotel around 10pm, found out it was too late to even have fast food for dinner, so we just ate whatever snacks we had leftover from the flight. We took the kids down to the pool for a little bit before it closed, and they got to bed at about 12:30.

The next day we got into our new house bright and early, and the rental furniture arrived a few hours later.


This photo of Muriel asleep during dinner pretty much sums up how tired everyone was by the end of that first day in Colorado.