Happy New Year from Estes Park! We spent the day snowshoeing, skating, and sledding - perfect day for winter fun.
The sun was out all day today and the brilliant blue sky was just what we all needed.
Our first adventure of the day - snowshoeing! We signed up for a guided hike through the YMCA and we were the only family who signed up, so we had the two hike masters all to ourselves. They were very both very sweet and patient, which was fortunate for our sometimes patience-challenging family. ;)
The boys and one of the guides.
The whole crew in line.
The boys! We did not do a good job of wearing weather-appropriate clothing; in particular, none of us had on ski pants or any type of waterproof footwear. Daniel had a rough time with falling quite a bit, and got tons of snow inside of his jeans and got colder and colder and less and less enchanted with the hike.
The whole gang! At this point, our patient hike guides took us back to the starting point, where Daniel and Will hung out and played Foosball, and Annika and I continued on with our own private guides.
The beautiful frozen river that Annika and I hiked to. I think this was Wind River? Whatever it was, it was absolutely gorgeous and serene. Our guides said sometimes people had their marriage ceremonies in this spot. We turned around at this point and snowshoed back. Beautiful morning!
After lunch, we checked out ice skates and went skating at the Y. There was a small ice rink set up with no walls to lean on for balance, so it was pretty rocky at first.
Annika got the hang of it once faster once Will realized that her skates weren't tight enough. Amazing how much easier it is to balance with properly tied footwear.
Will used hockey skates and did great - definitely skated circles around me. I am a better roller skater, but Will has the Ice Skating Crown!
Daniel never quite got the hang of balancing since the blades were single-bladed instead of the double-bladed ones he has been using in Manhattan, but that was just fine - he had a blast playing on the ice, sliding around the rink, and throwing random snowballs at us.
Our final winter adventures....SLEDDING! We headed back to Rocky Mountain National Park to the sledding hill in Hidden Valley. Given the heat wave with temperatures actually above 0 degrees in the afternoon, unlike yesterday, we didn't have the place all to ourselves. It was an absolute blast. Annika is in the pink coat in the right-hand side - I started to take the picture as soon as she left and I swear she was halfway down the hill by the time I snapped the picture.
Will giving Daniel a push on the Flying Saucer.
Daniel and I, freezing together - still impressed that my hair can freeze when it is dry.
On our way out of the park, we saw all kinds of deer, including this up-close creature.
This evening, we headed to downtown Estes Park for dinner, and had to make a stop at one of the dozens of ice cream/fudge/taffy shops. We are excited to dig into this fudge sampler to ring in the New Year.
In addition to fudge and sparkling cider, we are indulging in what we hope will not become a New Year's tradition - combing out everyone's hair to treat for lice! Woo hoo!! Party!
Happy New Year to you! We wish you peace, love, and joy in 2015.
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