Belated Christmas Happenings

Wow. I can hardly believe it's been almost three months since I posted anything. In times like this when I get "behind" on posting, I consider ditching this blog space. But really, am I behind? This is my little writing space with zero readers, so there's no pressure except what I put on myself. I started this as a writing outlet for me and if I completely abandon it, I know one day I'll regret it. 

So, let's see. It's been a while since Christmas, but I do want to recap because it was memorable. The day we left for Colorado, I got horribly sick and could think of nothing but crawling into bed. And as luck would have it, layovers and travel delays made for a long day. By the time I got to Katy's house, I went straight to bed and stayed there for about two days. I dealt with upper respiratory junk the whole time we were there, which was really a downer. 

But...we did have lots of fun anyway. With Katy living just outside of Colorado Springs, there were lots of fun places to visit. 

The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is literally on the side of the mountain and has a ski lift that starts at the bottom of the zoo and goes to the top. The zoo was open at night during the holidays so we went one evening to see the lights. I think it was the coldest I've ever been in my life, but the view was amazing and so worth it. My phone pics are grainy and don't even begin to capture the view. I'm so glad my friend Shelley, who lives in Colorado Springs, was able to join us for the night.

We visited Garden of the Gods...

I wish we could have hiked here, but I still wasn't feeling so hot. 

We helped Katy paint her bedroom.

We played Settlers of Catan almost every night. 

On Christmas Day, we had a low-key morning, then went to see The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. That was fun because way back in June of 2012, when we were in New York after Katy and Mitchell's wedding, we saw this movie being filmed. 

I don't want to brag or anything, but we watched this exact scene during filming. 

We rode the Cog Railway almost to the tops of Pikes Peak. There were snowdrifts that kept us from making the last mile. 

For reasons I'll never be able to share (even if I am my only reader), I will never, ever-ever-ever forget this day.

Ever. 

Let's just say it's a special memory Katy and I will always share. 

My favorite day of the entire trip was hiking the Manitou Incline.

This was one of the last days on our trip. I was feeling better and getting tired of sitting around.

I was expecting a 2,000 feet elevation gain on a 1 mile hike to be hard. But it was so much harder than I expected.   

 It kept going and going. And just when we thought it was almost over, we topped a peak and it kept going again, as far as we could see.

But eventually we made it to the top.

After a few minutes recovering, we were glad we challenged ourselves. I'm hoping to beat my time on the next visit. 

We didn't exchange Christmas gifts, it didn't snow, and Mitchell wasn't there, but we had a great Christmas. The memories will last longer than gifts ever would have and I'm thankful for the special time we had as a family.