Boulder/Ironman

About 8 months ago Kyle decided he wanted to start training for a half Ironman. He trained hard and this weekend we had the opportunity to watch him race. 

We rented a vacation home/apartment in Boulder, Colorado to stay in while we were out there for his race.

We got in kind of late Thursday night and just got settled in, Friday we drove out to the reservoir where Kyle's race would be. They were doing packet pick up and he had to drop his bike off. They had the Ironman Village set up so we got to walk around that and get tons of samples of stuff. It was so crazy hot so we decided to go down to Pearl Street Mall and let Lennon play in the splash pad and get some ice cream. 

My dad and Margy came into town for the race too, so Saturday morning Kyle left bright and early for the race and my dad picked me and Lennon up. We got to the reservoir a little early so we got to see Kyle before he started his swim. 

Once the race started we set up our blankets and chairs under a tree, I'm so glad we did that because we were there most of the day and there was hardly any shade to be found. We were at a good spot right by the transition area and the finish line so we were able to see Kyle finish his swim and get on his bike, then come in from the bike ride and start the run, then we saw him finish his first lap of the run. I'm so lucky my dad and Margy were able to come, they were such a big help to me. Margy stayed with Lennon a lot when I would go wait for Kyle, and my dad had his nice camera to take pictures, plus it was just fun to have a bigger group of people cheering Kyle on! 

When we saw Kyle start to come toward the finish line I handed Lennon a cowbell and threw him up on my shoulders. He shook the cowbell as hard as he could and we ran the last little ways to the finish line next to Kyle. We were so excited! It was so fun to see him accomplish something he had worked so hard towards.  

We spent the rest of Saturday just taking it easy and letting Kyle recuperate. We went to the most amazing bbq place for dinner, I'm pretty sure it was called Moe's. 

Sunday we drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park. 

We drove up to the gift shop at the highest point of the park and had some hot chocolate. We did that last fall when we came too, it's so cool because you get to drive up to a peak that's just about the same height as Timpanogos. There was still about 10 feet of snow in some places up there. We also saw a ton of elk just hanging out right near the road. There were three or four places along the road where we saw them. 

After that we started a little hike along a river towards a waterfall but it started pouring rain so we just threw rocks in the river for a sec then got back in the car and headed back to Boulder. 

Monday we went to Chautauqua Park and hiked up a trail by the flat iron mountains. 

It was a pretty short hike but we saw a lot of cool things. One section of it was completely covered in rock cairns, Kyle and Lennon set one up to add to the collection. 

After our hike we took a nice long nap then headed back to Pearl Street Mall. It was a little chilly and rained on and off so we didn't do the splash pad, instead we took Lennon into a candy store and let him fill a little sack with whatever he wanted. We walked around for a while and then went to dinner. 

Overall we had a really fun and pretty relaxing vacation (other than Kyle during his race haha). We are currently driving home but taking our time. We stopped in Georgetown, which is an old mining town just outside of Golden. They had a really cute park and playground that we stopped at for a while. We'll probably end up getting in late tonight but we're having fun so it's okay. 

Goblin Valley & Capitol Reef Camp Out

Last weekend we got to go camping for the first time this year! We camped just outside of Goblin Valley, along Temple Mountain road. We had a nice spot right up next to some red rocks so Lennon could climb and play. The first day we got there we set up camp then waited until it cooled down a bit and headed over to Goblin Valley. It was so fun to take Lennon there and see how excited he got. He went crazy running around and looking at everything. Even though we waited until it cooled down a little, it was still really hot so we didn't stay for a very long time. I hope we get to back sometime soon because Lennon really loved it and still talks about the turtle shaped rock he saw (and I'm posting this two months after we went). 

The next day we woke up early and drove out to Capitol Reef. None of us had ever been there so it was really exciting. We stopped at some of the sites where you can see petroglyphs and an old school house and then went to the visitor center. After that we hiked out to  Hickman Bridge. It was a really cool hike, but it took a little longer than expected and Lennon ended up falling asleep in his hiking backpack on the way back. I don't know how he slept because it was pretty hot. After the hike we went to the historic village and got some ice cream and sat in the shade. Capitol Reef is really cool, it's a lot different than all of the other National Parks we've been to. We want to go back sometime when all of their fruit trees are ready to be picked. I think that would be fun. When we got back to our camp that night we found that the wind had picked up and smashed our shade structure into a million pieces. 

Orlando

We spent the last two weeks of our Florida adventure in in Orlando. We left Tampa a couple days before Easter so we were able to spend Easter in Orlando. The Easter Bunny left Lennon a basket and hid some eggs, this was his first year really grasping the concept of hunting for eggs and getting excited over what was in his basket so it was really fun. We spent Easter morning hanging around by the pool, then for lunch/dinner we went to Sweet Tomatoes buffet. It was really good, but not the same as Easter dinner at home. After dinner we went to the movies to see Zootopia, there weren't a lot of people in the theater so Lennon was kind of free to roam the seats. He was so funny, he loves being independent. He sat on the front row for a while, then a couple rows in front of us, then he actually sat with us for part of the show (only because I gave him a ring pop).

The majority of our time in Orlando was spent at the pool and the playground. Besides the Walgreens on the corner there wasn't much within walking distance of our hotel.

Laundromat fun

We had a lot of fun towards the end of our trip. Kyle's parents came out and we got to spend a couple of days with them. We took Lennon to Disney World one day and that was probably the best day of my life. I'm such a Disney fan and I loved being able to share it with Lennon. Everything was so perfect, the weather was mild for the most part, we got right onto rides with hardly any wait, we bought Lennon his first Mickey Mouse ears, and it was seriously the best day ever.

Dragon at the afternoon parade.

Nap time in the stroller.

Getting ready for the Electrical Parade

After a long day!

The next day we went on an air-boat tour. It was such a fun experience. We saw so many alligators and different birds and the scenery was just awesome. It was really loud so we all wore ear protection, a few minutes into the boat ride Lennon ended up falling asleep it was so funny. After the boat ride we went to Cocoa Beach and played for a while before going to Titusville to eat lunch at Dixie Crossroads. This was my second time going there and it was just as amazing as the first time. Their corn fritters are SO amazing. I ate probably twenty before our dinner came out.

A day later Lennon and I hopped on a plane and headed back to Utah. Lennon was really good on the plane, he slept most of the way actually. About a week after we got home, Kyle headed home in the car. Now we are all back in Utah and enjoying being around friends and family but definitely missing the warm weather!