This weekend was a whirlwind of activity. Friday night started off with 
dinner at Chili's with Grandpa Bob. He came over after work and we were upstairs when we heard Seamus ferociously barking...he does that to Grandpa. Eban heard Grandpa's voice and squealed with delight and was attempting to get down the stairs as fast as he could. Grandpa met him on the landing and Eban giggled and threw his arms up in the air indicating that he wanted Grandpa to pick him up immediately. It's just so sweet to see him react to Grandpa like that...I wish all the grandparents could live close to get this type of welcome when they come into the house!
Saturday morning, we went to the Westminster Recreation Center for Hayden's first birthday. It was a hoot to see all the babies in the po
ol. Even Morgan had her first swim and she had a great time floating around with her mom. I didn't h
ear any tears from Hayden's friends when they were in the pool. Eban had a small mishap when he decided to trip on the stairs. His nose has a pretty scar to remind him to be careful while walking near the pool. Anyway, Hayden did great with his first cake
. He dug in and got super dirty like he should! There was frosting all over his outfit, his hands, his face, and his legs. It was great to see him love it! Eban loved eating the frosting of the cake and I'm 
not too sure he had any cake...but he happily gorged himself on icing!
I forgot to tell you that once we all got out of the pool, the life guards closed the toddler pool area down. We then saw the long fishing net come out and they were "fishing" out items from the bottom of the pool. It was Caddyshack all over again. I said I hoped they were fishing out Snickers and Hayden's dad corrected me and told me Baby Ruths. Ugh...I wonder how long we were all swimming with the extra "gifts" in the pool???
After that, Nani, Eban and I rushed home and got Seamus. We started our drive down to Colorado Springs as the sun was setting which made for a real pretty commute south of Denver. Once we hit the Springs, we checked into a pet-friendly hotel. We asked where the closest kid-friendly restaurant was and the person told us Chuck E. Cheese...ugh, I'm SO sick of Chuck E. Cheese. But I sucked it up as Eban loves the place and we went around the block to the restaurant. Eban loves Chucky and got to sing and dance with him when he came out for a personal appearance. Eban loved being on stage while dancing and clapping! It's very reminiscent of his daddy when he used to be a Denver rocker!
We called it a night around 8pm and tried to get Eban to go to sleep...we used up all of our "please go to sleep maneuvers" and finally the one that worked at 10pm was when I put him in the car and drove him around Colorado Springs for 30 minutes. That worked until 3:45am. He got up and was in a fit and wouldn't go back down. Nani and I took turns walking him in the hotel lobby, the hallways, the event area...you name it. He was a total terror!
Nani and I had a TON of coffee with breakfast. Nani, in fact, had more sugar in her coffee as you can see from the photo. She must have had 8 sugars and one sweet n low in her coffee. She was still tired! As soon as we hopped in the car to go to Canon City, our little man was out. 
Of course we laughed at this as it was simply incredulous to be on vacation and have a screaming kid get you up at 3:45 in the morning!
We continued on to the Air Force Academy. Eban loved getting out of the car and looking at the planes they hav
e sporadically placed throughout their campus. There were plenty of ooohs and aaahs coming from him as he happily pointed at all the planes! We went to the visitor's cente
r where he petted th
e planes. I guess he is used to 
petting Seamus and Jackson, that he petted the plane they have on the floor. After that, it was time to go home and get some good zzzzz's.
dinner at Chili's with Grandpa Bob. He came over after work and we were upstairs when we heard Seamus ferociously barking...he does that to Grandpa. Eban heard Grandpa's voice and squealed with delight and was attempting to get down the stairs as fast as he could. Grandpa met him on the landing and Eban giggled and threw his arms up in the air indicating that he wanted Grandpa to pick him up immediately. It's just so sweet to see him react to Grandpa like that...I wish all the grandparents could live close to get this type of welcome when they come into the house!Saturday morning, we went to the Westminster Recreation Center for Hayden's first birthday. It was a hoot to see all the babies in the po
ol. Even Morgan had her first swim and she had a great time floating around with her mom. I didn't h
ear any tears from Hayden's friends when they were in the pool. Eban had a small mishap when he decided to trip on the stairs. His nose has a pretty scar to remind him to be careful while walking near the pool. Anyway, Hayden did great with his first cake
. He dug in and got super dirty like he should! There was frosting all over his outfit, his hands, his face, and his legs. It was great to see him love it! Eban loved eating the frosting of the cake and I'm 
not too sure he had any cake...but he happily gorged himself on icing!I forgot to tell you that once we all got out of the pool, the life guards closed the toddler pool area down. We then saw the long fishing net come out and they were "fishing" out items from the bottom of the pool. It was Caddyshack all over again. I said I hoped they were fishing out Snickers and Hayden's dad corrected me and told me Baby Ruths. Ugh...I wonder how long we were all swimming with the extra "gifts" in the pool???
After that, Nani, Eban and I rushed home and got Seamus. We started our drive down to Colorado Springs as the sun was setting which made for a real pretty commute south of Denver. Once we hit the Springs, we checked into a pet-friendly hotel. We asked where the closest kid-friendly restaurant was and the person told us Chuck E. Cheese...ugh, I'm SO sick of Chuck E. Cheese. But I sucked it up as Eban loves the place and we went around the block to the restaurant. Eban loves Chucky and got to sing and dance with him when he came out for a personal appearance. Eban loved being on stage while dancing and clapping! It's very reminiscent of his daddy when he used to be a Denver rocker!
We called it a night around 8pm and tried to get Eban to go to sleep...we used up all of our "please go to sleep maneuvers" and finally the one that worked at 10pm was when I put him in the car and drove him around Colorado Springs for 30 minutes. That worked until 3:45am. He got up and was in a fit and wouldn't go back down. Nani and I took turns walking him in the hotel lobby, the hallways, the event area...you name it. He was a total terror!
Nani and I had a TON of coffee with breakfast. Nani, in fact, had more sugar in her coffee as you can see from the photo. She must have had 8 sugars and one sweet n low in her coffee. She was still tired! As soon as we hopped in the car to go to Canon City, our little man was out. 
Of course we laughed at this as it was simply incredulous to be on vacation and have a screaming kid get you up at 3:45 in the morning!I showed Nani the state and federal prisons that are housed in Can
on City - some tour, huh? Then we headed up to the Royal Gorge bridge, which is the world's highest suspension bridge. It was a tad eerie as the only people at the bridge besides the workers were us! Seamus even had the opportunity to go onto the bridge, although it scared the hell out of him when a park
ranger drove over the bridge. Since it's a suspension bridge, it shakes and makes a lot of noise when a vehicle starts to dri
ve on it. Well, Seamus wanted nothing to do with the bridge after that experience, so I walked him to the edge to wait for Nani and Eban to stop exploring. Seamus impatiently waited for them by crying, whimpering and whining like he was being hurt. Finally when Nani and Eban walked back to us, he happily stood up and wagged his tail! You could actually see relief on his face when they returned...he's so sensitive!
on City - some tour, huh? Then we headed up to the Royal Gorge bridge, which is the world's highest suspension bridge. It was a tad eerie as the only people at the bridge besides the workers were us! Seamus even had the opportunity to go onto the bridge, although it scared the hell out of him when a park
ranger drove over the bridge. Since it's a suspension bridge, it shakes and makes a lot of noise when a vehicle starts to dri
ve on it. Well, Seamus wanted nothing to do with the bridge after that experience, so I walked him to the edge to wait for Nani and Eban to stop exploring. Seamus impatiently waited for them by crying, whimpering and whining like he was being hurt. Finally when Nani and Eban walked back to us, he happily stood up and wagged his tail! You could actually see relief on his face when they returned...he's so sensitive!
Nani, Eban and I also had the opportunity to take the aerial tram across the expanse. I wasn't a fan of that trip but Nani loved it. In my age, I have stopped be
ing a daredevil and appreciate the simple things. A trip, in what I call a small cage, across a huge gorge on wires isn't appealing to me for some strange reason. I did it because Nani really wanted to do it. Eban could care less about the whole thing, but I was white knuckled the entire time!
ing a daredevil and appreciate the simple things. A trip, in what I call a small cage, across a huge gorge on wires isn't appealing to me for some strange reason. I did it because Nani really wanted to do it. Eban could care less about the whole thing, but I was white knuckled the entire time!After the aerial tram, we drove across the bridge and drove through the wild animal park on the other side. Seamus loved the reindeer, the bison and the big-horned sheep. Eban pointed at the animals and enjoyed this piece of the ride as well. It was unnerving to go across the bridge (10 miles per hour max!) while listening to it groan and creak.
We drove on to the city of Cripple Creek, Colorado - one of only three gambling towns in Colorado. There used to b
e free-roaming donkeys in the town, but they have since caged the donkeys as it's busy with tourists gambling their money away...or winning fortunes, who knows? I visited Cripple Creek when I was really young on a family vacation and I remember waking up to a donkey peering into our motel window. It was really fun to see
that as a kid. I guess they 
needed to revitalize the city and brought in gambling as it wasn't making any money as a former gold mining town...
We drove through Woodland Park and down the north side of Pike's Peak to the Garden of the Gods. We drove through the park and took all sorts of pictures of the rocks. Nani said she was waiting to see flowers but I had to explain there were only rocks at this garden. 
e free-roaming donkeys in the town, but they have since caged the donkeys as it's busy with tourists gambling their money away...or winning fortunes, who knows? I visited Cripple Creek when I was really young on a family vacation and I remember waking up to a donkey peering into our motel window. It was really fun to see
that as a kid. I guess they 
needed to revitalize the city and brought in gambling as it wasn't making any money as a former gold mining town...
We continued on to the Air Force Academy. Eban loved getting out of the car and looking at the planes they hav
e sporadically placed throughout their campus. There were plenty of ooohs and aaahs coming from him as he happily pointed at all the planes! We went to the visitor's cente
r where he petted th
e planes. I guess he is used to 
petting Seamus and Jackson, that he petted the plane they have on the floor. After that, it was time to go home and get some good zzzzz's. Nani played soccer and scored her first goal! YEAH NANI!! I put Eban down at 7:45 and he didn't get up until 7:30 in the morning...it was about time he slept like that!
Today it's freezing and I've already dropped Eban off at school and I enthusiastically looked at Nani and told her I wanted to read a book. Maybe I'll read the last of the Harry Potter series...we'll see!! Here's a video of Eban who is clearly tired and then he got excited as we started talking about airplanes while at the Air Force Academy!
Here are some of Nani's pictures from the trip:
