Coco With Santa & Hike to Miracle Rock

Dec. 11, 2010 Kids got to have hot chocolate and cookies with Santa who stopped to see the kids in our ward for a quick visit. Jaxton showed no fear and was the first of our kids to sit on Santa's lap. He also downed several cookies and a couple cups of chocolate. Austin had no problems telling what he wanted for Christmas even though I am not sure how much of it Santa understood. Kelseanja made a little list on a piece of paper, so Santa would know what she wanted. Makayla wrote Santa a poem which he read. Trenton got to meet Santa for the first time and didn't seem to mind the big white beard which may have gotten drooled on. I think Santa enjoyed holding him as well as a few other newborns in the ward. When Santa was done listening to all the kids and posing for hundreds of pictures he was off.

After we helped clean-up, we grabbed some lunch and headed for the hills. We found ourselves in Glade Park up in Colorado National Monument at a little picnic area near Miracle Rock (aka Potato Rock). We ate our lunch, then decided to find where this large rock was hiding. After all how hard could it be to find a huge rock anyway?

There were a few trails, but none of them was clearly marked, so we guessed. Just over 1/4 a mile later, hiking in the snow, we finally found the gigantic rock.






Of course we took pictures and played for a short while then headed back to the picnic area.



Where we found an arch-like overhang and took more pictures. For December, it was a nice warm day clocking in at almost 50 degrees. Can anyone say Heatwave?




For a spur-of-the-moment family outing, we had an enjoyable time. On the way home I took more pictures of the scenery as the kids watched "Tinkerbelle and the Great Fairy Rescue" for the second time that day, but this time in French. (That is what happens when there is only one movie in the van and Daddy is with us.) The funny part is that none of the kids realized it was playing in French for about fifteen minutes when Kelseanja finally pipped up saying: "Why can't I understand what they are saying?" Funny, funny. Even funnier, we left it in French and the kids didn't seem to mind.