Mesa Verde National Park

Four Corners Monument

Mesa Verde National Park

Notice the Bilby son pulling on Jada's arm....that has been quite an issue.  Jada really can not see very far in front of her - so she did worry us on these high spots.  So the boys would drag her to us and say, "Here she is - I am officially not responsible anymore!!"  Cracked us up!!

Coming up out of the Kiva!

National Park Extravaganza

We didn't stop at every state sign - but we should have!!

They are such good sports!

Yeah - Dad got a little clever with the photography!!

You see that red sand??  Yes, we were COVERED in that sand - I had sand places I didn't even know could collect sand.  Here's the girls bucking the headwinds!!

These girls love to live on the edge!

We hiked to some fun places!

We were proud of ourselves!

Another arch!!

Kind of proud of their hike!!

So here they all are - looking over the edge of a very deep canyon - Dead Horse Canyon - to be exact - and they pull this stunt on me...

At this point I was yelling - that this was NOT FUNNY!!!

AND I was NOT laughing!!!!

See there was another ledge there - but I could not see that from where I was - and they knew that - I would rarely get close enough to see those things - I just hate HIGH EDGES!!!

The girls got these new caps - but notice that Jada is holding hers???  Yes, her brother (yes, the one shown in the picture) thought it was funny to knock the hats off with his "cap gun" - aka - finger.  Just so you see that our vacation was not all happy smiles!!!  Brothers played their normal games!

The Salamander Brigade - I'm sure the salamanders were shaking in their boots!

The Travels Continue

We have looked for Mountain Goats (Colorado)

We have asked total strangers to take our picture by the highway!

We have played on playgrounds right by the mountains.  (Colorado)

We went to a National Park that took some getting used to - those were SOME cliffs!!!  And if you think Aaron is not being brave - you should have seen ME!!

(Black Canyon of the Gunnison Park)

Black Canyon of the Gunnison

 

 

 

Notice the death grip - yep - I'll admit it - I do NOT like heights!!

Some of us expressed our extreme masculinity as well....

The Hiking Continues...

We ventured to the National Atmospheric Research Center - what a great place!  We learned as we went inside and took part in the hands-on activities and then went outside and hit their gorgeous hiking paths.  Of course, it was almost 100 degrees today AND Jada kept reminding us that she was "too tired" as she was dripping with sweat and looked a bit bedraggled!  So we kept it short - but managed to get a few fun photos!

The View from the Research Center

Weary Hikers!

Discussing the hike to the top!!

How we ended our day!!  Perfect for a very hot day!

Rocky Mountain National Park

What a treat today has been!  We feel like we've been to the mountain and back...oh, I guess we have!!  I will let you see a few of our fun pictures....

Micah's "Manly" Walking Stick

The boys wanted to attract wildlife - Aaron thought moose antlers would help.

Posing!

What a great spot for family photo!!

AND a Bilby kid photo!!

We were up VERY high at this point - those are top-most mountains behind us.  AND it was SUPER cold - we had been hailed on and snowed on just today up in the mountains.

As high as he could go - the VERY TOP!!!

It was quite a cloud-show we had today - this is the top!

We may not have had much snow in Iowa this winter, but we found LOTS here!!!