Coor(s) blimey...it's the holidays.......

Last week we went to our first baseball game in Colorado.  Stu and I had been to one in Minneapolis a few years ago, with a whole bunch of Aussies....and we all were suitably unimpressed with the game.....no runs were scored!  So with great trepidation we decided we should let the boys experience a game while they were in the US, and they reluctantly came along.  The game is played at a stadium called Coors Field and is really picturesque. 

We had reasonable seats (except for the setting sun in our eyes) and were prepared to give it a go.  Loads of runs were scored...I think about 15 all up, but I have to say....WE WERE BORED!!!! Cricket (in our opinion) is FAR more interesting (yes, some of you would find that hard to believe), and we left before it finished because we had seen enough!! And the bloke next to me (in fact most of the people there) were eating sunflower seeds out of a packet....called "SPITZ" and that's exactly what they were doing....chewing on the sunflower seeds, then spitting on the ground...right next to me...It was disgusting and unfortunately, the way the ground is designed, you have to turn in your seat to watch the game, so I had to turn and see him as well!!

 Last Saturday, Morgan, Jakeb and Stuart went snowboarding up at A Basin, which only had 2 weekends left of snow season. 

 It was really slushy, so on the Sunday they snowboarded for 1/2 the day, then decided to walk up to the summit of Loveland Ski Park (which had closed a couple of weekends prior and where they had snowboarded most of their time in Colorado) It was 4 kms  (13 010 ft) up a steep incline...half the distance of the summit of Mt Everest...(Jakeb told me that fact, so hope it's true!!!)  Since it had closed, there had been good snow dumps, and because noone had used it, it was untouched.  It took them 3 gruelling hours to climb......

and 3 exhilarating minutes to go down!!

Here's a link to a video Stu made of their ascent and descent.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdIqGuh6wXA
The whole process of getting an exchange to the US was daunting, time consuming, mentally exhausting, overwhelming, tiring...the list goes on. Stuart also changed schools midway through 2012......so after 8 1/2 yrs at Maidens Park PS, he had to start again at Eaton PS....for only 6 months.  He had 2 weeks off over Christmas, flew to the States....immediately started a new job, enrolled Joshuah into high school, settled Morgan into Uni at Greeley...all before I arrived.  He has had 5 days off over Spring Break and a couple of Long Weekends, so now that the Summer holidays have arrived he is well and truly ready for 10 weeks off!  A well deserved break!
So the first day of holidays....Thursday, 6th June , all 5 of us headed off to Canon City, Colorado, where the boys were going to go white water rafting on the Arkansas River at Royal Gorge.  We had been there before, at the start of our Spring Break and we couldn't go near it as it was covered in snow, so it was good to see it in its defrosted state.  We had lunch at Canon City, in a park....

 did a quick Skyline Drive on the ridge of a mountain....

dreamed of living in a house like this......

and found the public board that had all the cattle brands from the area in the last 100 + years very interesting...

Next stop was the white water rafting....and I dropped the 3 boys and Stuart off to board the "Mr Snuffle-Up-a-Bus".....in their flattering wetsuits...

I then drove to the Royal Gorge, caught a stand up, steep train down to the bottom,

took some photos of the scenery.....

and waited for them to go past in their rafts....(for 1 hr!!)

 I've been with Stuart for 30 years now, and I reckon I loved him even more when he paddled past me, didn't realise I was there, then saw me and gave me the biggest smile, wave and cheer......

 and the person with the loudest "happy yelling"?...Stu!

They really enjoyed it...their 3rd rafting experience...first time was Bali and second time New Zealand... lucky kids!!
On Saturday, Stuart headed off to Army at Fort Carson, leaving at 5am and getting back to the house at 10pm. Jakeb and Morgan went snowboarding and Joshuah and I were packing for our trip.
Sunday was the last day of snowboarding for this season....Jakeb had put in about 75 days of snowboarding while in America, which is huge...so the 4 boys (I include Stu in that), drove to ABasin for the last time and hit the dwindling slopes....

last day at ABasin

Most of the snow had melted, there were only 2 lifts operating, but there was a mob there, decked out in all sorts of gear...apparently one bloke was playing his saxophone while snowboarding!!

  Here is a link to their last day at ABasin, including footage of Jakeb nose planting in the pond, in front of a large appreciative crowd!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wb9ElmnayXI&feature=share
When they got back to the car, Morgan realised he had lost his wallet, so they went to Lost and Found with no luck.  He thought it may have fallen out of his pocket when he took a stack up the mountain, so he and Stu climbed halfway back up the mountain to where he may have fallen to look for it in the snow, when they got a phone call from Lost and Found to say someone had handed it in.  It was a great relief, except $50 was missing!! Cheeky buggers! So Morgs only dropped/lost 2 phones and 1wallet in his snowboarding endeavours!!  Today Stuart and I head off on the "proper" start of the holidays and will be meeting Joshuah in Nashville on Saturday....can't believe I am saying that!!!