This is the very first time we went, soon after we moved here in 2007.
Then we took everyone that visited for a few months- like Mom and Ben, and Michael's parents, David and Pat:
We also went to the Pike's Peak Hill Climb in 2007. That's the race where very brave (crazy) drivers zoom along the road in the quest to have the fastest time to the top. It was actually really cool. We missed it last year, because I was in the hospital on bedrest and this year because it's not a great place for Olivia.
ANYWAY, I was excited to visit other places in the Springs, so Olivia and I drove down a little while after Michael Friday afternoon. We checked into the hotel and Olivia checked out herself:
She loved looking at herself in that mirror. I'm sure the housekeeping staff loved the fingerprints she left all over it. We drove out to the race track for a few minutes, then went back to the hotel. Olivia practiced walking:
So close!
We woke up Saturday and headed to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. I didn't know much about the zoo, except that you could feed giraffes (more on that in a minute). I quickly learned that this particular zoo is built into the side of the mounain. Meaning you walk the equivalent of a 10 story building in elevation. Lots of excercise at this zoo! We would walk a huge hill (pushing a stroller), finally get to the top (huffing and puffing), turn a corner and see another huge hill. Shew. It was a great zoo, though. The girls I worked with last year told me about feeding the giraffes. I was sure Olivia would LOVE it and we're old pros at the zoo, due to our many trips to the Denver Zoo.
Naturally, I didn't have any cash on me and it costs $1.00 for 3 giraffe crackers. So I hiked up another hill to the ATM, only to find an out of order sign. We scrounged together .97 cents and the man working the cracker booth felt sorry for me and pitched in 3 pennies. FINALLY, we made it to the deck to feed the giraffes. I excitedly unbuckled Olivia and she curiously peered through the gate...
She was mainly looking at their necks, so I picked her up to look over the top of the fence. And she was TERRIFIED. I'm not sure if it was because of how close they were:
Or how many were standing there:
But she was not happy:
I thought it was awesome, but I finally stopped traumatizing my child and we moved to the next exhibit. Luckily, she wasn't the only child screaming and she really only screamed when one got close to her. Not too traumatizing, right?
We stopped at a playground and that's where she had the most fun. They had a tunnel shaped like a snake that was the perfect height for her to practice walking. She really liked peeking at me through the tunnel:
I wanted a good picture of her in this chair, but there were chickens running around everywhere and she wouldn't look at me. This is the best I got:
We left the zoo and headed to Garden of the Gods. Another must see in Colorado Springs. I've been there several times, but I really wanted to take some pictures of Olivia, plus it's a free park.
She was a hit at Garden of the Gods. It was pretty crowded and people got a kick out of trying to get her to smile while I rolled around on the ground to get the best angle. She's such a little ham and loved all the attention.
We moseyed around Colorado Springs and had dinner, then headed home Sunday. It was a nice break, but we were glad to get home!
Olivia had 2 packages from her Mamaw (Michael's mom) when we got home. We were going to wait and let her open them Thursday, but patience is not either of our strong points, so we let her open them after dinner. She got some adorable clothes and an Elmo Live. She loves Elmo:
It's really cool. Michael and I had more fun with it than Olivia.
This has gotten extremely long, so I'll leave you with a bath picture after I took out her ponytail:
And a video of her newest "trick:"
We have some fun stuff planned for her birthday Thursday. I still can't believe she's going to be 1!
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