Olympic Training Center and Helen Hunt Falls

On Wednesday, we started off our morning with a visit to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

We couldn't resist a picture of the five rings with the five cousins.



Fun family pics.





As we were walking inside, we noticed the countdown board and realized that we were here exactly one year before the London Summer Olympics begin (apparently the next Winter Olympics are in Souchi, Russia).



In honor of this, we were treated to goodie bags with fish (Swedish candy fish) and chips (potato chips) while waiting for our tour to begin.



We entertained ourselves while waiting for the tour.







A triple threat on the figure skating rink...







Ready for the movie that starts off the tour.



We saw the gymnastics training center and even got to see some athletes training.





Here is the shooting range.









Later that afternoon, we hiked up Helen Hunt Falls.







Stopping to relax a bit.



Enjoying the view at the top of the hiking trail.






The kids left their mark on the trail.







What goes up must come down!












Steve played frisbee with the kids while waiting to leave for Fargo's Pizza for dinner that evening.









Boogying to the player piano.



The kids topped the night off with a dip in the hot tub and a watermelon snack. They had a blast swimming and played one of their favorite games--"makeover"--with foam bubble hairdo's.





Wow. I can't believe we did all that in one day!

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

On Tuesday, we visited the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo with Gary and my sister's family. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time. We drove on Gold Camp Road, the route used by trains during the Gold Rush, on our way there.






The first stop at the zoo was the giraffes. The kids got to feed them lettuce...no more cracker treats anymore I guess!





The cousins by the snake sculpture.



One of the free-wandering peacocks. Their call sounds like they are saying "Help!" and I kept on thinking it was D or M each time!



Hey...we match!



Petting the wallabies.





Another favorite at this zoo is feeding the birds seeds on a stick...kind of like fair food for birds.







Riding the tot train.



It was fun to see the cousins have so much fun together.











We got to see the zookeepers feed a hippopotamus.



After the zoo, we drove to the Will Rogers Shrine of the Sun. It is even higher up on the mountain than the zoo is (elevation level is 8000 feet) and it gives you a magnificent view over all of Colorado Springs. The information board said you can see up to 130 miles!









Jane and Gary had everyone over for dinner in the evening. Jane gave a different colored bouncy ball to each of the kids and they had a blast with them, even making up their own game on the floor (as seen here).



Good times.