family hike and miller farm

last weekend we thought, ok, i thought, we should go experience the colorado rockies in the fall, seeing as we've been here four falls and have yet to make the trek. we decided to head up to rocky mountain national park but found a trailhead about 10 miles out and saved ourselves the $20 entrance fee. The kids had a great time rock climbing, running ahead, and talking scouting stuff with dad (matt has been forced to convert and even bought himself a scout a shirt. too bad neither of us have any idea where the patches go!)

eli conked out on the last stretch but was a trooper packed up in the kelty for an hour and a half. we headed out of the mountains just as a storm was coming in. on the way up we passed a little pumpkin patch/fall festival and told the kids we'd stop on the way home. as we passed it, everyone was taking cover as hail had now started falling. the kids were sad for a few minutes until we realized we were close to miller farm, a working farm just 5 miles from where we were that megan had been to on field trips before. the storm was headed north and us east and miller farm was dry, cold, but dry and we couldn't resist all the fun things they had to offer.Yes, liz is taking these pictures from inside her 50 gallon drum

we spent a couple of hours playing in the corn maze, hay bale maze, huge jump castle, hay bale pyramid, old fire truck, car, and airplane, and petting zoo. but i think the winners were the 50 gallon drum tractor pull and the pedal tractors. i'm sure grandma j turned over in her grave as the whole place was dirty. the van needed a good washing when we got home but a saturday well worth the $10 the whole day full of fun cost. we got home just in time to shower and head over to a neighbor's for dinner. mom's favorite part of the day--someone else cooked dinner;)