COLORADO TRIP

Today I'm sharing a few photos from my trip to Colorado. I finally got out there to see my sister, Katie and we crammed a lot of sight seeing in just a few days. On Saturday, we woke up early and headed to the Garden of Gods.

It was so hot... but we moved at a slow pace and got to see the beauty of Garden of the Gods. The rocks are huge and much more beautiful than I had imagined. 

We got lucky... there were always someone around who willingly took our pictures. :) 

My sister told me to watch out for rattle snakes...eeek! I mean, I knew they were out there, but ick. I was a little nervous about them, but thankfully, we did not run into any. 

I just love this photo of my sister and son. You can totally see the love on Edward's face and how his hands are on her shoulders. It makes my heart so happy. He was just as happy to visit her as I was even though he found hiking torturous. LOL

On Saturday we were just hanging out. My sister asked Edward if he wanted to go see the Paint Mines. He said not, initially, but we coaxed him into it. We didn't go to Colorado to sit in the house all day. I wanted to see all the things! :) 

It was a neat place to see! The rocks are absolutely beautiful and we discovered a few caves along the way. Edward tried to pretend he wasn't having fun, but the ranger said he saw him smiling. 

I took this photo from inside a cave that we climbed up to.

He's about tired of walking at this point, but he lived. 

I looked up inside the cave and saw this and had to take the photo. Just the two of them hanging out in a cave... you know... it's what normal people do during the day. :)

We managed to take a selfie inside the cave of the three of us. :) Also, Katie and I swapped shoes. I took her kids and she took my flip flops. We didn't plan on going to the Paint Mine until we were out and about... Otherwise, I would have worn tennis shoes. Climbing rocks in flip flops isn't easy.

I wondered what Edward was thinking over there on the rock. 

Katie saved the best for last...on Monday morning, we woke up early to drive 2 1/2 hours to Rocky Mountain. We grabbed Chic-Fil-A for lunch on the way. It was a long day, but oh so worth it! And I lived to share my photos. :) Katie almost killed me a few times on the Mountain, trying to get some photos. LOL

Check out the elevation... 8,200 feet. And then we hiked almost another 846 feet. You cannot even imagine how difficult it is to breathe this high up the mountain. I'm so thankful I took my inhaler because I needed it!

Katie talked me into climbing on top of this big rock to take a picture... I didn't realize how high 800 feet was until I looked up. As you can see from my body language...I WAS SCARED. LOL

I was gripping the rock to say in place. Seriously, one slip and I was dead. 

We made the climb to Lake Haiyaha. It took us two hours to climb two miles... but we made it and it was so pretty!! I have to say, Rocky Mountain literally took our breath away. It was an incredible hike...one I'll never forget. I almost wanted to turn back about three times going up because I honestly didn't think I could go any higher with the altitude and elevation. I just kept pushing myself because I knew we were so close... and we didn't come all this way for nothing.

It was very rocky and you had to climb over big rocks, some rocky...literally to get closer to the lake.

These two decided to get in, but Edward backed out as soon as Katie hit the water... it was freezing like pins and needles. I put my hand in and was shocked... but what did we expect? A lake at the top of the mountain should be freezing, right?

I'm happy these two got some bonding time in. Edward absolutely adores his Aunt Katie and so do I. She is one of my favorite people.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, this picture. It's getting framed and I already framed one for Edward's bedroom.

This was me trying to climb over the rocks to get closer to the kids... :) I took my time because I was exhausted from the hike up.

It only took us an hour to climb down the mountain and it was much easier than going up! LOL... Just so you get an idea of what 875 feet high up in the mountain looks like...this is it. We walked around those two little lakes. SCARY!! I think if I really thought about how high we were hiking, I wouldn't have done it. 

As we were driving out of the park, we spotted a herd of elk so naturally, we had to stop and this scenery just made me stop in my tracks. Isn't this beautiful?

Where have you been lately? I'm looking forward to going back next year! Hopefully, in the Spring. Thanks for stopping by and reading about my adventures.

-Nic

CARNIVAL CRUISE

Hello everyone! It was hard going back to work this week after being on a cruise for 7 nights. We had such a great trip. Not a lot of sunshine, but we ate a lot, rested, played a lot and laughed a lot. It was just what my little family needed.

My hubby and I have traveled to a few places, but we've never been on a cruise. It was different... if I had to chose between staying on land or a ship... I prefer land. But we tried it and still had  a good time. If we ever go on a cruise again, I do not want to go for 7 nights. That was too long for me. I'd much rather keep it at 5 days.

One of the things we were really looking forward to was going to the Atantis Resort in Nassau. This is what we woke up to... it was extremely windy and it poured all day. We did not go to the resort, but we did get off the ship for an hour to do a little shopping.

I snapped this on our first day after we boarded the ship! Edward was really excited. We were all the way on the top deck and Edward was amazed at how big the ship was.

I made sure to go over some safety rules with him...one being... DO NOT PLAY AROUND THE RAILINGS. EVER. Enough said.

I don't know how we managed this... it could have been the $500 bux spent in the Arcade, but we did not do any shopping on the ship and Edward did not want anything. :) Except for our cards to swipe in the Arcade. I do not like how you use your card for everything... before you know it, you've spent $1800 by the end of your cruise... beware!

On our first night, we decided to eat dinner at David's. It cost extra, but it was worth it. And I got a free bottle of wine for booking the dinner on our first night! It was delicious and well worth the $38 bux per person. We considered going twice...until we realized how much we spent on drinks etc. :)

This tiny burger was tasty. :) It totally hit the spot before our steaks arrived.

It took Edward awhile to actually get in the hot tub. I think he was nervous... so daddy got in with him and after awhile, Edward met a few friends! Thank God... he was driving me crazy.

This boy loves to eat...and he ate good the entire week. He even cracked on me a few times... when he gets home, it's back to Hot Pockets and Frozen pizzas. Sad, but true. LOL

This was our second day. We attempted to play miniature golf on the top deck, but it was freezing and it was too windy.We got to play on Wednesday!

I couldn't help myself... I had to do it... you know what i'm talking about if you scrapbook. :)

My husband took this photo Sunday night as we were leaving Baltimore. 

I had a few margaritas and they were not stingy on the liquor. One night the tequila really hit me after I had two and I couldn't stop laughing. LOL

This hot fudge cake was sooooooo good. I had it on three different nights... Hence, this is how I gained 3 pounds on the cruise.

And cheesecake... DELICIOUS!!

We ate a lot of tacos for lunch. We love tacos... and it never got old. I had burgers and fries a few times, too.

We were standing at the front of the boat here. It was beautiful.

While everyone got off the boat to do some excursions in Half Moon Cay, we enjoyed the pool and hot tub to ourselves. The hot tub was crystal clear and clean... and the pool was freezing, but it felt good once I was hot enough. :)

I snapped this picture while we were in Freeport. We did a little bit of shopping and took a tour of the gardens.

Edward loved seeing these little guys show up on our bed everyday. :) 

We rented a jeep and took a tour of Freeport on Friday. We were excited to be on land!! It was cool driving through town, looking at the villages and mansions.

I took these photos while we were in Taino Beach. The sand was white and the water was so blue. Gosh... seriously, it was beautiful.

This house was soooo big. Add 4 more of these photos side by side and that is how big it was! GORGEOUS.

Seriously, it was huge. I wouldn't mind living here.

View of Half Moon Cay from the front of the ship.

Edward was determined to climb up the coconut tree to grab some coconuts... when he realize that was impossible...he went looking for them. And he found two. :) My little nature boy.

He found a few rocks and shells that he put back after admiring them.

And that's it. A little snapshot of our time on the cruise! I took over 400 photos... these are some of my favorites.