Pikes Peak

Then we headed down to the bottom of Pikes Peak to catch the Cog Railway with one of Eric's Millersville ROTC buddies and his family. It was about an hour trip to the top and we were allowed to stay at the top for 40 minutes to prevent any altitude sickness. I took quite a few pictures on the way up the mountain through the window...

Here is a waterfall that is partially frozen.

This is the house of the man that takes care of things on the mountain...he has a long, long, long driveway.

Sign at 8,832 feet...

Sign at 10,012 feet...

Views on the way up the mountain.

Here is the cog that was in front of us...

And this is the view from 14,110 feet...pictures don't really do it justice but here they are anyway...

All of us at the top...

Daddy and Alexis in front of America the Beautiful plaque...

More pictures at the top...

The cog that we rode up to the top...

Lastly, we though this picture was cool...see the rays of sun shining onto the one spot at the bottom left of the picture...

Air Force Academy

On November 8, we headed down to Colorado Springs to take the railway up Pikes Peak. We stopped at the Air Force Academy along the way. The school is on a beautiful piece of land and was a sight to see. Alexis and daddy in front of the school...we couldn't go down to the school area, but we could go inside the Chapel.

Here is the outside of the chapel...

Alexis and daddy inside the protestant chapel...

Beautiful stained glass throughout this part of the chapel... We also saw the catholic chapel and Jewish chapel.

Alexis and daddy in front of the school...Alexis liked to look at the planes...

Daddy telling Alexis about the planes...

Fun with the dogs and Pedicures

Alexis with her two buddies...don't ask me what kind of pose this is... Now it was time for the pedicures. First, daddy painted Alexis' hand and feet with nailpolish she found. Well, then she wanted to paint mommy's feet so of course, I let her. I think more of my skin was painted but it is cold and I'm not wearing sandals or flip flops right now. Well, she didn't want to stop there...Bailey and Schnapps had their toe nails painted...

Here are Bailey's nails...I could get a good picture of Schnapps' nails because her hair is so long. Neither of them were too keen on this because they thought we were going to cut their nails... The pedicures are not over...

Yes, it was daddy's turn...and of course, he was even less keen on the idea...I think they turned out pretty nice...

Denver Zoo with Grandmom, Pappy and Aunt Michele

On the last day of the visit, we decided to go to the Denver zoo. Grandmom, Aunt Michele and Alexis on the train ride.

Now this was the most interesting animal experience I have ever had. We went in to see the gorillas and this one male became attached to Alexis...he only wanted to watch Alexis through the window and if other kids got in the way, he walked away. He would cross his arms and sit down right in front of her and just stare at her. When we tried to leave, he followed us around the side to where you can see him from the outside. A woman caught up with us and told us that he was following Alexis. Well, he was...we went back up to another window and he sat down right in front of Alexis...this was just absolutely amazing.

We thinking he was trying to say hi here...

Alexis and the gorilla just staring at each other...

Lastly, a group shot in front of the sea lions...Alexis was doing the pose...

Estes Park - even higher this time...

After Eric and I rolled out of bed after our Halloween partying, we headed to Estes Park to see if we could get further up the mountain. We took a different route to Estes Park and found this lake along the way. Alexis was more interested in skipping rocks than posing for a picture.

Alexis with Grandmom and Pappy in front of the lake.
View over the lake - I thought these clouds were just awesome!

When we got to Estes Park, the first thing we saw was all of the Elk on the golf course - so we took the path...Alexis wanted to be on daddy's shoulders...do you see what I see...

Here are the elk...see the golfers right on the course with them...the elk weren't bothered by them at all.

Here is a large male elk keeping guard.

Aunt Michele, Grandmom Fillman, Alexis and daddy in front of the mountains on the trip up...

At this point, Alexis said it was time to do "ring around the rosy"...so they did...

We made it up to about 11,000 feet...and it was beautiful. We stopped at this point because it was freezing cold and family was feeling the altitude.

Aunt Michele and Grandmom at the highest point we drove to...

Lastly, a deer we saw on the way down...

Playing Ball and Kite Flying

Playing catch with Pappy with the glow squishy ball Pappy got her. Playing dodgeball with her princess ball and posing...

Posing again...

In Boulder, we finally found a kite for Alexis (they are sold seasonally in Denver so we haven't been able to find one). She picked it out - a mermaid... Daddy was more interested in flying the kite when we finally got to fly it...

Grandmom chasing Alexis through the river at Central Park.

On the back porch steps...

Broncos v. Miami Game

Eric took his dad to the Broncos v. Miami game...they were 12 seats up from the field and had a blast...

Eric only took pictures of the cheerleaders...none of the football players...

Halloween

The day before Halloween, we went trick or treating at the Children's Museum in Denver. Here is Pappy helping Alexis get some candy. She was a little hesitant to say trick or treat in the beginning but then she warmed up.

Alexis at the museum in her Buffs cheerleader outfit...check out the Dorothy shoes...that was Alexis' choice.

On Halloween, we went to a pumpkin patch at Anderson Farms...they still had a lot of pumpkins left.

Alexis with the pumpkins...still in her Buffs cheerleader outfit and this time with leggings and her Buffs crocs...it was a little cooler today.

On the hayride to the wagon ride to the pumpkin patch, we were able to feed the longhorns.

Grandmom and Alexis on the wagon ride...this one wasn't too bumpy but we went on another mine cart ride and that was extremely bumpy...he took us over man made bumps and the track then started to zig zag. It was daddy's idea to sit in the back cart and boy did he have to go to the bathroom when the ride was over...luckily the potties were right in front of the ride.

Most of the pumpkins left in the pumpkin patch were rotted because it had been so warm. So when we got back to the store, Alexis picked one that she could carry on her own...

Then we headed back home and got dressed for Halloween. That is Eric (I think a ninja), Grandmom Fillman as a cat, and mommy as a disco momma. Mommy and daddy were dressed up because we headed out on the town for Halloween and had a great time in downtown Denver.

Alexis went to the neighbor's house first to get some candy...daddy wanted her to trick or treat for 2 1/2 hours (he wanted candy), but she only lasted about 1/2 hour. She did go back out with mommy when it got dark and got a little more candy...she was a pro at saying trick or treat by then.

After a long night of trick or treat, Alexis gave out candy at the house. Here is everyone on the front porch handing out candy.

Boulder trip

The first day of Grandmom, Pappy and Aunt Michele's visit, we decided to go to Boulder to see the mountains and go shopping on Pearl Street. Here is everyone on the way up the mountain...Alexis decided she wanted to be camera shy, which is odd for her. Everyone enjoyed the mountain views and shopping on Pearl Street. We watched a really cool magic show and daddy got a special performance of card tricks after the show.

The view in Boulder...