Trail Running

When we first moved to Colorado, I went for a hike in Chautauqua Park and saw people trail running. I remember thinking, "Wow! Those people are animals. I can barely breathe at this altitude, and they're running up rocky trails, hopping over logs!" Well, a few months ago, I finally got up the nerve to try it myself. I went for a trail run with my dad, brother, and husband, on a hiking trail just up from Glen Haven. It was beautiful and exhausting, and I loved it. I had not had (or perhaps just not made) the opportunity to do it since then. But today, when I told Chris that John was going to run in the mountains, Chris and Kathy were nice enough to offer to watch our kids, so that I could go with him. It was so much fun! I'm not fast, and I even had to stop and walk for a few minutes, but we ran for 40 minutes total, and I felt pretty good about it overall. John took me to Heil Ranch, a place he runs whenever he gets the chance. It was beautiful. I can see why he goes back. I hope I get to go with him again soon.

Last Day at Disney

Saturday was our last day at Disney, and we decided to spend it at the Magic Kingdom again. We took it easy, since we had been there already (we were only there from about 10:30 - 4:30 this time).
We rode the ferry over from the parking lot instead of taking the monorail. I thought this was a sweet picture of Cookie and Helene deep in conversation.
Big Thunder Mountain was one of our favorite roller coasters, so we had to do it again. Cookie and Tommy enjoyed it, too. Look at that sky - what a beautiful day!
And we had to do the Buzz Lightyear ride again, as well.
See, this is one of those occasions when Helene chose to pose for the camera instead of hide.

Look at the expression on this girl's face as Helene almost takes her out with the hula hoop!


It was fun to have a second, shorter day to see the Magic Kingdom again. We did a couple of things this time around that we had missed the first time. The ones we all enjoyed were The Enchanted Tiki Room (cheesy, but upbeat and fun and a nice chance to sit for a few minutes and relax), The Carousel of Progress (which didn't get a high grade in our guide book, but we all really liked it), and Splash Mountain.

It's nice to be home now (and will be even nicer when John finishes his conference and is home, as well). And I'm glad we have a day to recover before school. The kids have Monday off, and they have lots of make-up work to cover before Tuesday!

Epcot

We went to Epcot yesterday.  It was another full day; we were at the park from 9 - 5, and this time, I forgot to put sunscreen on the back of my neck.  The weather was perfect two days ago for the Magic Kingdom, but it felt about 10 degrees warmer yesterday, so I was sunburned and tired at the end of the day.  But other than that, it was great.

Here we are in Germany, where the beer and pretzels were actually authentic and really good.  :)

I think walking around the countries was my favorite part, but would have been more fun without kids.  I don't like taking my kids into the stores because they want everything in there, and I hate saying, "No," over and over again.  So, it's not particularly fun browsing the shops with them.  About halfway through, we discovered that there are "Kidcot" stops were the kids can decorate masks and add ornaments to them from each country.  I wish we'd noticed that earlier; the kids had a good time with it.

These pictures were taken in Colonial America, at the Pearville Fair.  Campbell thought it was pretty funny to put his mask on for the picture in the dragon pear.

Campbell's favorite ride of the day was Mission: Space.  It's a simulation of a flight to Mars.  There are two versions available, and we chose the "more intense" version first.  The guys loved it.  Campbell said the best part was the pressure from the G-forces (interestingly, that's the only part H & I didn't like).  Helene & I later did the "less intense" version and liked it better.  It was exactly the same, just less pressure and speed.

Helene's favorite ride was the Test Track.  I didn't do this one, but I think it's like driving a race car around a track.

Campbell and Helene also liked Spaceship Earth (the big ball at the entrance) because we got to design our own future and see pictures of what our lives might be like.

Cookie and Tommy flew into Orlando today, and we met them for dinner.  There are quite a few good restaurants right across the street from our hotel (we're staying near the conference center.)  We've enjoyed Ming Court, Red Rock Canyon Grill and Maggiano's.  John's conference started today, so it will just be the kids and their grandparents and I.  We talked about doing one of the other theme parks today, but decided our time was best spent doing the Magic Kingdom again.  There are things we missed and rides we want to do again.  We're ready for another adventure-filled day!

The Magic Kingdom

Today was my first day in The Magic Kingdom in 20 years.  That makes me feel old!  But everybody is a kid again at Disney, right?  All four of us had a great time.  We spent 8 hours at the park and decided that was just the right amount of Disney for us for one day.

At dinner this evening, we rated all of the attractions we visited today on a scale of 0 - 10, then averaged the results.  Here is The Magic Carpets of Aladdin ride.  We gave it an 8.

I think this was taken on the Pirates of the Caribbean, which we rode twice and gave a 6.25.  I'm not sure how accurate our rating system is, now that I look at these last two and compare.  Hmmm. . .

This was on the Thunder Mountain Railroad.  I couldn't believe my baby girl was sticking her arms up in the air on a real roller coaster.  I love roller coasters, but even I am scared to do that!  This ride got an 8.5.

John and Campbell in front of Tomorrowland.  We liked several of the rides and attractions in this section.  We gave Buzz Lightyear a 7.25 and Stitch's Great Escape a 3.25 (yes, it was really that bad).
Helene is either a total model, hamming it up for the camera, or she hides and refuses to have her picture taken.

John finally snuck a shot of her:
The carousel got a 3.25.  There was nothing wrong with it, but compared to all the other attractions at Disney, well, it's just a carousel . . .

Here is Space Mountain.  This is one of the rides I remember clearly from my 9th grade church choir trip.  I rode it 5 times that day!  And it's still just as much fun!  We rode twice today, and we gave it a score of 9.5.
This was Astro Orbiters - pretty basic carnival ride - scored a 5.

We had a really fun first day at Disney.  I'll write more about the other attractions we saw at a later time.  I'm tired now.  That's the sign of a fun-filled day.  Epcot tomorrow!

Here are our other scores:

Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse - 5

Haunted Mansion - 8

It's a Small World - 5.25 (John and I agree that this is a "must do" despite the low score.)

Buzz Lightyear - 7.25

Mad Tea Party - 4.5

Mickey's Philharmagic (a 3D movie complete with extra effects that you can feel and smell) - 6.5

Hall of Presidents - 3.5 (amazing animatronics, but the kids were bored)

Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor - 6.75

Tae Kwon Do Belt Testing

At the end of September, I tested for my next belt in Tae Kwon Do. I had been a blue belt for 6 months, so I was anxious to move on. These are all of the intermediate (green, high green, blue) adults at testing:
Here we are doing our current form, Yul Guk:


Here are some step-defense and self-defense demonstrations:

Here are Chris (my training partner) and I with our new high blue belts:
We're advanced level now. I'm really looking forward to beginning a new curriculum. If things go as scheduled, I should be getting my black belt in about a year and a half!