Four Corners

On October 26, we headed out from Colorado towards Georgia during the day of the first snow and boy was it a rough day of travelling! We only had a couple of hours behind us from the first day of travelling because we left late but decided that we did want to start the trip no matter what. When we woke up the following morning, our car was covered with snow. We knew snow was expected but had no idea that it was going to be that crazy. Buck did a great job driving up and down and around the mountains but I think I held my breath the whole time.

That afternoon we arrived at our first touristy stopping point, Four Corners. This is a very unique area in that Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona all meet at this one location and join together at the same spot. You can actually jump from one state to another to another to another without taking any steps in between. It is quite amazing!

Denver Aquarium

One of the things on our "Before we leave Colorado bucket list" was to visit the Denver Aquarium. Since we love all things water, we thought this was a must-do. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit even though we noticed we were constantly comparing it to the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta (which, by the way, is soooo much better). We all had a good time in the aquarium and even sprung for the 4D roller coaster simulation. It was great watching Bucky enjoy it since we are still uncertain about what he'll like and won't like as far as adventurous activities go. So, check that one off the list.

Last Day of Dragons

Even though Bucky earned his yellow belt a couple of weeks prior, his last class was on 5 Oct. After class, we took some pictures at home before he took his uniform off for the last time...until we find a place in GA for him to continue martial arts.

Venetucci Farms

On Oct 3, Bucky's KKP class went to Venetucci Farms to pick a pumpkin again. After picking up and putting back several pumpkins, he finally decided on a smaller one. Then the class went to look at all the animals on the farm, including the world's biggest pig again. Bucky was tired most of the trip so he wasn't too into it but that's ok...he made it through anyway.

Lil Dragons - Yellow Belt

Bucky had another parent's day today for his Lil Dragons class. This was Buck's first time attending so it was extra special, especially since Bucky was getting tested for his yellow belt at this class. I took a lot of pictures but the videos allow the sounds to come through. The clicking noise you hear is my camera :). And, by the way, he GOT IT!! We are so very proud of how great he did during his testing :).

Strong Bonds

Every once in a while the military comes up with a good idea. The most recent that we were able to participate in was the Strong Bonds Retreat. This is the Army's version of marriage counseling. We have been to one before and it was ok but this one was much better. The chaplain was very informative and down to earth. This was actually a shocker for me because I was expecting a bunch of blah-blah and a little bit of free time. Instead we got about 3 hours of very informative lecture/session and a lot of free time (with all day childcare). We went and got the kiddo for a few minutes after lunch but then he was ready to go back and play with his new friends. There was even childcare until 9 PM so we could have a romantic dinner of tacos. Yep, tacos...that's it. I mentioned this as a negative on the After Action Report because, well, tacos aren't very romantic. We had a really good time (except the beds were horrible) and learned some very useful information that should help us communicate better. Here's a picture of "date night"...we thought it was good so wanted to share.

Last Trip to the Zoo

Since we will be heading out of Colorado Springs soon, we decided to take one more trip to the zoo since we have enjoyed many, many trips there.

Buying lettuce for the giraffes and feeding them

Meerkat

Bucky playing

Feeding the birds

Riding the train

Tiger

Bears fighting

Family Pic

The "Thinker"

Posing on the statue

Big Ol' Hippo

Rock Climbing and playing on the jungle gym at the top of the Sky Ride

Splash Park

Bucky's KKP class had a field trip to the Splash Park on the 6th of September. I was only able to stay for about 20 minutes of it but I did get some pictures. Jackie, one of the other boy's mom, took some more for me after I left. He had a great time!

Anxiously awaiting the opening

Playing at the Splash Park

Playing at the park beside the Splash Park

I let him roll down the hill on the way to the car

35th Balloon Classic

I am not a morning person. In fact, there are very few things I will get out of my bed for when the sun has not even risen. Apparently one of them is to see hot air balloons. Last year I saw a bunch of balloons in the air as Bucky and I were travelling around town but I had no idea where they came from or what they were doing up there. It peaked my curiosity. Fast forward a year and I heard through the grapevine about the Balloon Classic. To get a good seat you have to be there around 615 AM. Yes, I said AM!! B & I discussed it and decided that this would be a good thing to check out. So at 0515 on Saturday morning, we rolled out of bed, drank some coffee, got the little guy up and dressed, finished getting ready, and headed to Memorial Park. It was chilly but we were determined to see some balloons. So we arrived along with many other people, paid our $5 for parking and got out of the car. Then I overheard someone saying, "sorry." I asked our car neighbors what was going on and they said it had apparently been cancelled because of wind. So here we were at 0630 in the morning...awake. I called our friends who were on their way to the park and we all diverted to IHOP for breakfast instead. That night B & I discussed our plans again. We again decided to get up at the a$$ crack of dawn to see some balloons. So we did. We were more careful about checking the weather before we woke the boy up and it was actually not windy at all. We found free parking when we got there (bonus) and we had our chairs and an extra blanket this time. We walked to the park, set up our chairs and looked around in absolute amazement at what we thought were "just" balloons.

Then we had a truck pull up in front of us and we quickly realized we were going to have a front row seat to the inner workings of a hot air balloon.

It was obvious the excitement the day brought with it when the pathfinder balloon started to rise. There was yelling and cheering and we knew at that point that we were in for quite a show.

I believe there were a total of 64 balloons registered for this year's classic and it was wonderful to watch all of them blow up and take off into the beautiful clear blue sky.

These are pictures of the process of getting a balloon inflated.

And one final picture of the entrance to Memorial Park.

Overall, we were more than pleased after we saw all the beautiful colors and balloons. Even Bucky said "I'm so glad we saw all the balloons."