1st Camping Trip!

This past month our family had a few 1sts:
Mara completed her 1st year of preschool
Ty finished 1st grade
and to celebrate both of these things we decided to take our 1st camping trip of the season!

Mesa Verde N.P. here we come....

Over Memorial Weekend we took a little road trip to Mesa Verde! Awesome. Awesome place! I highly recommend it! We thought since we were going somewhere of Ancient Indians we should all be given Indian names! It was too funny! But you couldn't just give any name--it had to be earned! Each name has a story or a reason behind it! But I won't go into detail, I'll just post the names! Here are the names which we referred to each other:
Nate: Chief Red Shirt, squatting duck
Erica: Sleepless coyote
Ty: Running deer, potty dasher
Mara: Chirping bird, red beard
Caleb: Blue water

We packed the car as tight as we could! It's a good thing it was only a 4 hour drive because these little kiddos were packed like sardines!

I wasn't sure why they called Colorado 'Colorful' but after driving through the state I learned that it is full of color: reds, greens, blues, oranges, yellow! Colorado is awesome! Wish I could see more some day!

This cute kid loves picking flowers for mama! Even if they are weeds! Our first stop of the day was to the visitors center to buy tickets for the tours.

We set up camp in a nice green pasture area! This place was full of deer! We woke up every morning to tons of deer all around our camp sight! They don't call this place 'verde' for nothing! It was a great time to go because everything was so green!

We took a drive along a 6 mile loop which had many stops along the way to see Indian Ruins. Some Indian Ruins were close by that we could see right into.

Other ruins were from a distance that we could only look at from far away.

The viewpoints were spectacular. Sometimes you would really have to search for the Indian ruin in the distance!

Can you believe something so amazing and ancient still exhists?!

This was only the foundation of the exhisting ruin. It was hard for me to visualize and picture what it would have really looked like, built above ground with windows, ladders, and all.

We not only had fun this trip, but we sure learned a ton about the Native Americans. It made me want to learn more about these ancient people!

The weather was perfect for our little trip! Any later and it would have been way too hot! We did have a little wind on one day, but it wasn't too bad! Glad for the sunshine--it made us more excited about the summer ahead!

We had a quick picnic lunch--I mean quick--before our tour started!

What makes Mesa Verde so incredible are the 3 tours you can take of the amazing ruins. They cost money, but are so well worth it! Here Ty and Mara are on the trail that leads to Cliff Palace.

And so the descent down to the Cliff Palace begins! It was a well worth it hike! The kids loved it!

They loved climbing all the ladders the most! Can you imagine your kids doing this every day to get around?! Sure glad it's not me!

Two kiddos climbing through the rocks!

Why it was called a palace I'll never know! Not the kind of palace I want to live in! But sure cool to look at!

Here is little 'chirping bird' enjoying a fun day in Mesa Verde!!

Some of the ancient corn grinders were left in place.

Ty--or running deer as we liked to call him!

There were quite a few people on our tour, it was a busy weekend being Memorial Day Weekend.

I left this place wondering where the Ancestral Puebloans went and why they left so suddenly?! Our tour guides didn't have the anwers either, only speculation. I also left with a deeper appreciation for little things like water, food, and flushing toilets! So

I thought climbing the ladders was fun...scary with a little one on my back! But it enhanced the adventure! I am so grateful not to be an Indian climbing up and down ladders to my house, carrying my baby on my back, no water, no baths, no place to have the kids play! Ya this trip made me more grateful for the time I live and all that I have been blessed with!

The kids didn't mind climbing the ladders one bit! They thought it was the best part of the tour!

The next tour we did was the balcony house. It was even better than the cliff palace I thought!

The hike down wasn't bad at all! It was the hike back up that was treacherous--you'll see why!

We sure wore these kids out on this trip! They didn't complain about the hiking, we start young and they love it!

How scary would it be to have children living in this place and running around here? It's a sheer drop off in their front yard!

This place has been on the top of my places of things to see and do! Check! It was all that I thought it would be and more!

The scenery was spectacular, but I'll take the city any day!

The arcitecture was great. And to think it's still standing today is awesome! I didn't realize how old it was until I read more about it, somewhere in the A.D. 550 to 1300!

Here Caleb is enjoying his safe ride, but he soon has to get out so we can crawl through--on hands and knees--the hole in the wall. It made me a little nervous!

What a grand adventure for my kids!

Notice the smaller rocks inbetween the morter. This is how they would build their houses by pushing small rocks to help with support.

The Indian people must have been quite tiny--here is the door to their home!!

Ok--this was gave me a little anxiety! It was kind of scary! I've got a baby on my front, a baby on my side, and my sweety behind me and I had to just hope and pray we made it to the top!! I couldn't imagine letting your kids go up and down all day long!

Have I mentioned I'm grateful this isn't our little house for our family?! So thankful I was not an Indian! I would not have survived!

How would you like this to be your window of your house! Awesome view!

Caleb loves giving Ty kisses! Ty will say "What do you give your brother every night before bed Caleb?!" And Caleb comes up and gives him a kiss on his cheek! Cute! Can you feel the love? I loved that we all got along on this trip! Not too much fighting or teasing! It was a great relationship builder for all of us!

Almost to the top! This was quite scary for me! Holding on to chains, climbing these little holes in the side of a wall, with Caleb on my back! How in the world did the Indians do it?!

Don't look down Mara!

This was called the Spruce Tree House. The hike wasn't too far, and it was a neat ruin that you could see up close and go down inside an actual Kiva.

Caleb down inside a Kiva! Now that was kind of creepy! Way too dark and confined for me!

The hike down to the Spruce Tree house wasn't too strenuous, in fact Caleb did most of the hike on his own.

Well, he did have a ride one time on mama's shoulders! Don't get smacked by the tree little buddy!

Mara loved the spaghetti for dinner! Hence we called her 'red beard'!!

A wonderful day came to a close! We saw many things in just one day and here are 3 tired kids ready to crawl in their sleeping bags!
That was only ONE day of our trip!! More to come!