Colorado Fall 2012

So it has kind of become a tradition for the Barron family to take a trip to Colorado every September.  This past weekend we took a trip up to Estes Park, Colorado and it did not disappoint!  We rented a house that backs right up to the Rocky Mountain National park and has 360 degrees of stunning mountain views.  The house was perfect for us, it had plenty of bedrooms for everyone and was only about 5 minutes from town and 10 minutes from the national park.  

Views from the wrap around porch

Our casa for the weekend

One of the coolest things about staying in Estes Park was the awesome deer and elk sightings.  We were in Estes at the perfect time of the year to for the Elk rut...What's that you say?!  I had never heard of it either until we began planning this trip!  During the Fall in Colorado the Elk are gathering their mates for mating season.  We saw one elk with about 40 females of his own in a huge herd!  The most awesome part was hearing the male "bugling" which is exactly what it sounds like, they make this huge loud noise which was awesome to observe in person.  My mother in law, Debbie was very good at getting lots of great pictures of this trip and definitely got some good ones of the elk:

While in Colorado we took advantage of the beautiful temps morning and night.  It was in the 40's at night and in the 70's during the day, AKA perfect conditions to spend as much time outside as possible!  We hiked, we biked, and we explored!  I'm going to apologize now for going overboard with the pictures...

This was literally our backyard, Brayden LOVED climbing the rocks without any help!

I love this picture, it really goes to show who is boss!

Christi and Debbie got to explore the mountains on horseback!

"the kids"

We hiked up to this waterfall in the national park, great hike and beautiful sights!

Brian got an extra workout with this 25 lbs strapped on to his back!

Doesn't Brayden look excited??

This is what he really wanted to do, get out and explore on his own!!!

Aunt Christi and Uncle Keithy

Grandma and Papa Barron

 

Brayden says "mmmmmm"!

I could just die!  Is this not the sweetest little boy you have ever seen!? This was Brayden's first bike ride, doesn't he look excited?  My favorite pic from the trip and such a fun bike ride :)

Again, Brian got an extra workout pulling Brayden in his little buggy!

Family pic
Thanks Ed and Deb for a great trip!!!