Weekend Away

We knew we wanted to get out of town this weekend, and didn't officially decide what to do until the morning we left, even though we were all packed and ready to do something, anything. We decided to head up to spend the first day in Estes Park. I couldn't believe we could spend an October day in the mountains wearing T-shirts and were too hot most of the time.

First stop...throwing rocks into the river. A big hit with both kids. I had to hold Emmy's belt loop the whole time because she was determined to jump in the water the whole time.


Then we walked over the the golf course to check out all the elk. They were bugling and we couldn't believe the sound. It sounded exactly like a little kid screaming. There were huge one really close by.

After that, we headed downtown to check out the shops and get some ice cream. Zane took over the job of pushing Emerson in the stroller to give us a break.
Zane got vanilla and we let Emerson get her own strawberry cone. Zane only had a few licks and was done and Emmy ate her ENTIRE ice cream cone! If we even got near her to try to help lick a part that was about to drip, she went crazy to protect it.

Eating Ice Cream from Josie Weingartner on Vimeo.

Finally, we went to the playground to get some energy out.
It was right by the river, so Zack and Zane took a few minutes to hang out and watch the water.

That night, after our Estes Park adventure, we ate dinner with Janelle and Anthony in Greeley and spent the night at their house.

The next day, we went to the Fritzler Corn Maze on our way home. It has so many things for families to do.

We raced these pedaling carts. The kids cracked up the whole time, trying to beat each other in the race.
Emmy's favorite thing was this huge "Pillow Jumper." She wanted me to let go of her hand the whole time but when I did she just ran like crazy and fell like crazy. If other people jumped around her, she would fly into the air. So I held on to her tight. Zane, on the other hand, wouldn't let go of my hand for even a second. He felt a little nervous. It was really fun and we laughed the whole time.

The actual corn maze had 10 checkpoints to get through in phase 1 and 10 in phase 2. We made it to checkpoint #2 in the first maze before we had to turn back and go back to the beginning. Zane was doing great and having fun. He thought it was funny when we hit dead ends and tried to help figure out where to go. But Emerson had her own plans - she just wanted to stop every few steps and play with the dirt and corn stalks. She also wanted to run the opposite way from us and if we tried to pick her up she threw a fit.

Zane's favorite part was the "Dinosaur Maze." It had obstacles inside and was pitch dark. He did it twice.
At the end of the day, we rode the "Barrel Train." They loved it!
After every hill, Emmy said, "More, more, more, more" until we got to the next one.


It was great to spend some good quality time playing as a family. I love fall!!!