(Ten points for anyone who can name what movie that title is from!)
So, we took a long weekend and had a mini-vacation last week. To any bloggers out there that might be in a blogging slump, let me give you one piece of advice: go vacation in exceedingly close quarters with your children. You will generate enough stories to keep you hopping for a month.
Our trip is best recounted in pictures, and, as promised, I tried to be a little more artistic in my picture-taking. And by "artistic" I mean "taking photos of something other than Stephen crossing his eyes". I aim high.
(I've uploaded these shots in a smaller version, so the page wouldn't take forever to load. For a better glimpse, just click on them. And if you're wondering why I've labeled all my pictures with my domain name, it's not some weird ego-trip about the quality of my pictures. I've had some bloggy friends who have had some photos messed with; labeling them is just another way to protect your bloggy stuff. Darn Internet Mean People.)
We stayed in this campground. Here's a shot of our camper (borrowed from my parents), otherwise known as The Wind Chamber of Death:
The weather was beautiful, except for the wind--it blew 30 mph the entire time we were there. That camper creaked and groaned and banged all day and all night. And I sat up in my bed at 3 am and said, "Oh, how I love creating cozy memories with my family." Yes. That's exactly what I said.
But all was well every time I stepped outside our camper and was greeted with this view:
Not a bad way to start the day.
I call this next shot "Brothers". Don't they look like they're all wrapped up in an important conversation? I bet they're talking about how much they love their mom.
We made a few side trips, including a drive up to an elevation that let us see the aspen changing colors. If you've never seen an aspen tree in person, put that on your list of life goals.
I was loving some vintage-looking painted signs we saw along the way. "STOP THE CAR," I'd yell, so I could take a photo. Hubs really likes it when I do that. Just ask him.
But really, aren't these cool, and worth a little uncomfortable brake-slamming?
I really like this shot:
Here's a picture of the inside of the camper. This is what it looks like when my family explodes:
The boys did some exploring and found several interesting rock formations in our campground. They led us to this curious one, a heart shape right in the rock (the scope is difficult to see in the photo, but I could almost lie down in it. If I made a habit of lying down in natural rock formations, that is). Adam named this The Rock Of Love (that's pronounced lu-u-u-u-uv).
Here are my five favorite people:
And here's me, being a rugged mountain woman. Thanks to the wind, the Man Hair evolved into Troll Doll Hair:
This next shot is entitled "Hey Mom I Found A Fire Ant THIS Big". I can't imagine where this child gets his propensity for melodrama. Cough, cough.
I really love this shot of my daughter's shadow. Kind of cool, isn't it?
Hubs insisted I take this picture of his killer s'more making stick. You have to love a man who's not afraid to get excited about things like this:
One of our favorite parts of visiting Colorado is driving across the flatlands of the Oklahoma panhandle and southeastern Colorado. Even though I grew up in the mountains, I'm gradually beginning to appreciate the wide-open beauty of the plains.
Isn't that beautiful? There's something very satisfying about knowing I live only a few short hours from land like that. It makes me think that if things get too crazy, I could just pack up a covered wagon and head west, you know?
They do outfit covered wagons with on-board DVD players, don't they?
