Durango to Silverton Railroad

The last leg of our trip involved a scenic trip on the Durango to Silverton narrow gauge train. For those of us unfamiliar with "narrow gage" it means the track width is about a foot and a half more narrow than normal. This means the train rocks back and forth more. It also meant as we scaled the cliff wall above a huge gorge the train had to go about 2 miles an hour in order to not tip off into the river.
The trip was pretty impressive with all the fall colors. It probably was NOT the best time in our children's life to take them. Three and a half hours each way is a bit much for little ones. They were troopers and we survived as did all of the elderly passengers in our car. Katie made a few friends as usual. It always amazes me how friendly she is. She always comes away with some sort of treat or trinket from some person she made friends with. It's unfortunate that we will have to taint her view of people with the "stranger danger" talk. For now we'll let her think everyone has her best interest at heart!









And this, is Katie within minutes of hitting the pillow. I'll remember in the future it takes a 7 hour train ride to tucker this kid out!

Mesa Verde Ruins

This trip was sort of a surreal experience for me. I went with my family several times to this park as a child/teenager. It is also the same trip where my father had the beginnings of his heart troubles that landed him in the hospital in Cortez, CO for a week before he was stable enough to go back to UT. He was very sick for months after this trip and he almost dies. This place doesn't have the most comforting thoughts associated with it for me. It never crossed my mind that 15+ years later I would be here with my children and husband.

I have to say things look about the same as they did that many years ago. Although, it was interesting to hear all the new information they have and what things they think they were wrong about before. I am still amazed that people actually lived here. What a crazy place to build your house.

Cliff Palace

This particular dwelling is called Balcony House. You climb down 130+ stairs from the top of the mesa and then up a 32 foot ladder with the huge canyon below you. Katie didn't even think twice about climbing the huge ladder. She thought it was the "coolest" thing ever. (She's at the very top of the ladder.)
People couldn't believe that we were bringing a baby on such a "dangerous" hike. Ohhh, if they only knew we took him skiing at 7 weeks what would they say!
Really, it was not that dangerous, or they never would have allowed us to take him.

To get out of the house you had to climb through an 18 inch hole and scale a cliff wall with ladders and tiny steps cut out of the rock. I wonder every time I crawl through that hole how many people get stuck and have to go back the other way to get out. Can you imagine how embarrassing that would be? I remember one time when we did this tour the ranger told a couple waiting in line that they would not be able to participate due to their "size". Now if that isn't motivation for weight loss who knows what is!



Long House
This was Todd's and my favorite house. Not sure why, we just liked it. The ranger guiding this tour was super in to it. With each stop along the way he would leave us with a teaser line. You could tell he just loved his job.

Below is a Kiva. I guess it's some sort of religious room. They used to have tops on them. The picture next to it is Katie coming out of a restored Kiva. I think she made Todd go down with her 3 times because she thought it was so "cool."

























And here is a mug shot of the newest Jr. Ranger in Mesa Verde. Note the badge, she has been wearing it everyday since the trip. She accidentally left it in grandma's car yesterday and truly the world has some to an end. She is so worried she will see a ranger and they won't know that she is one. Definitely the cutest little ranger I've ever seen!!

Camping--Mesa Verde National Park

I think my self esteem has slightly recovered from my "throw me a bone" post. Thank you all for awesome comments. So, here we go with the trip highlights:

Camping in Mesa Verde

This trip was all about saving a buck or two. (Good thing too, since we're headed for our next depression!!!) So, we camped for the first few nights in the park.

We borrowed the Okroy family tent so we could put a Pak n'Play inside in hopes that Joey might sleep better. In turn, we all sleep better, right? Sort of. He was terrified of the tent. Not sure why, but it took a bit to get him to sleep. And, he only woke up one time during the night! Only, again he was terrified of the tent. This time it was a real trick to get him back to sleep. Thus, not much sleep on night one for the parents. Perhaps this contributed to my wonderful park service lady experience. Night number two--smooth with the kids. Only I didn't sleep so well because I was worried Katie would fall between the air mattress and tent wall and suffocate and that Todd didn't have enough space on the other side of me. So, I stayed still in the middle and tried to sleep without much success. Oh, the joys of family camping!

Ok, the deer here are ridiculously accustomed to humans. Just check out this picture. This is the bathroom near our tent site. The deer are clustered around the fresh water faucet having their morning drink. Quite ingenious if you ask me and yet a little gross!!!

Do I look THAT bad?!

We just returned from a great vacation. It's always refreshing to get out of town. Truth be told it is an serious extra effort taking two little ones, but we survived. And, I think they had fun. We've decided it was the trip of the "poop". There will be more to come on that. I just thought I would share a quick story from the trip and then I'll post pictures later.

To make a long story short, we had to get tickets to see the ruins in Mesa Verde National, Park. So, I headed into the visitor center to purchase some Thursday morning. So there I am among geezers buying my tickets. The park service lady (in her late forties to early fifties) asks to see ID with my check card. So I pull out my license and hand it over. This is where we took a serious trip downhill. She takes my license and looks at it and then immediately looks at me with this strange look. Then she continues to do this at least three more times before she says, "WOW! You must of had a really good day at the DMV. Are you sure this is you?" I'm thinking, "Holy Cow! Did she really just say that? How do you respond?" And then I want to say, "No I stole someone else's license so I could buy three dollar indian ruin tickets." But, instead I politely say, "Yes, I must have had a good day that day." Then she hands back my license and continues with my purchase. You would think she would realize it might be the time to hush, but instead she says, "I don't mean that you terrible now or anything, it's just usually people's eye's are closed or their head is tipped funny, you know?" So, now I'm feeling a bit defensive and I say, "Well ma'am, I have been camping and had a few kids since that picture was taken, so I probably do look a bit different." Still really trying to be polite at this point. Oh, and did I mention that she doesn't have the most quiet voice either and there is a line of about 20 people behind me. Then she has the nerve to say this, "Can I see your license again please? I really need to look at that picture again." Now the three other park service employees behind the counter are looking at me as well as the 6 geezers at registers with me. I'm thinking, "You have got to be kidding me." I wanted to run out the door at this point, but she still hadn't given me my tickets yet, nor had I signed my receipt slip. So, I pull out my license again and handed it over. Then she says, again, "Wow! That really is a great picture, I still can't believe this is you!" Keep in mind, she is giving me the up and down look over and over while saying this. Finally, she gives me back my license and my tickets and I bolt for the door with the geezers staring and wondering how I look in my picture. I'm still in shock about the whole thing. I can't believe someone has that little tact. Actually, I can, but I can't!!!! I never wanted to be one of those mothers who "let themself go" so, I guess I'm going to have to work a little harder to get back to "license status."

PS. Here is the picture that started it all. I really don't think it's that great, but apparently some do!!!

Alpine Loop

A couple weeks ago we took a Sunday drive up the Alpine Loop in search of changing leaves. We were a little premature, but some of the really high ones had started to change. I must admit that fall is my absolute favorite time of the year. There is something about the way the sky looks and the air feels that it so refreshing to me. I was trying to tell Todd how I think the blues of the sky change with the seasons and that fall has the best sky. I think he thought I was totally nuts. Anyone else fell this way? I wish fall would really last from Sept-Dec. It seems we haven't been lucky the last few years. Maybe this year. . .

I abosultely love this picture.

And, this one!

Ok, I love them all!~

Princess Party

Katie was dying to have a princess party this year. So, hopefully we have that genre out of the way for future parties (somehow I highly doubt it though).

Snow White seemed to be the favorite princess of the day. Katie wanted a Snow White cake and a Snow White dress to wear. So I attempted the cake. I suppose it turned out all right. I made it in the morning before her party and I noticed as the day wore on she began to sink farther and farther into the cake. Luckily, by party time, she had not been swallowed by the bottom of her dress. This, as any of you with 3-4 year olds know, would have been tragic.

The "princesses" painted princess pillowcases, pinned the crown on the Belle and played hide the poison apple. The girls receievd "fairy princess dust", tiarras and wands.

All in all things turned out great. No tears and no double princess outfits. Success!

*Note to self: In the future, remember painting and 10 little girls might not be the best plan.

Severson Kiddos

Severson Family

I love how it is impossible to get all the kids looking at me at once. This is just so characteristic of the cute kids. I love this family! (They used to watch Katie while I worked.)

Colby


Claire

Bella

Annika