This past weekend Daniel and I took Joshua and Kayla on an overnight trip to Estes Park. The weeks leading up to our trip they were so excited. They talked so much about going to Estes. J even had a countdown going. They couldn't wait to sleep in a hotel. It was their first hotel stay so I wonder what they thought it was going to be. We decided to leave Levi with Omah and Papa where he had blast being the center of attention. He is still at the age where he can't handle staying up late and missing a nap very well. He would have been a ball of crankiness. We sure missed our little buddy and can't wait to take him next year!
Daniel and I used to take an annual trip to Estes every fall and so it was a lot of fun taking the trip with the big kids.
Fall is the best time to go because of the Elk rut when the males are rounding up their females for mating season. Unfortunately we must have gone one weekend too late. Every year we have gone there are literally 100 elk on the golf course. But this year we had to hunt them down and when we spotted them there were only a handful of them together.
We told Kayla is was going to be cold in the mountains so she had to get all her snow gear on. We were able to convince her to take her snow jacket off for the 2 hour car ride up but this hat she wore for most of the trip. She told me it was for the elk.
Checking into our hotel. They were so excited!
tic-tac-toe and Hang Man while waiting for dinner.
Taffy Shop.
A stop at our favorite treat spot!
In Estes, deer and elk have the right away.
One of their favorite things from the trip was swimming in the pool. J was so excited about being able to swim in a 9 foot deep pool. I have to admit, I was a little nervous the first time he showed me his new trick when he and Daddy would together and then jump in but he did awesome!
Kayla's babies are tucked in.
Another favorite (I think everything was a favorite on this trip) was watching cartoons in bed.
J sound a cave.
We finally found the elk!!! We saw several on the golf course the next day. We saw some locking horns while in the water which was super cool. The two smaller males kept locking horns and then would approach the bigger male who had a herd of females. Then they would back off once they saw they weren't intimidating him. Dan played some bugling elk on his phone and the largest elk bugled back, and then got up and started moving his herd.
Joshua and a rattlesnake. Boy loves snakes.
Meanwhile, back at home Levi had a blast with Omah and Papa going to CFA, having his first McDonalds experience and going to Touch a Truck. 
While at the swimming pool at the hotel we saw a little boy who was Levi's twin. WOW! When I pointed him out to J I said, "Doesn't that look like Levi?" J said, "Yes...is it?" We couldn't get over how much he looked like Levi. The next day I completely forgot about all that. Then Omah sent us this picture and right away all I could see in this picture was the boy from the pool. Daniel said the same thing.
Such a fun, fun time for all of us. Since being home the kids have been playing Estes and going to Haley's (the treat shop). Love seeing them create such fun memories.
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