Beautiful Colorado!

After our morning of rides, we packed up our car and headed North to Pagossa Springs, CO for the weekend.  Mike's friend Clayton from work invited us up to visit his family's ranch for fishing and fun.  It was mother's day weekend and what a fantastic family weekend it was!  Pagossa is a small mountain town surrounded by hot springs and picturesque mountains.  We took the scenic route up there and had no regrets! 

What a gorgeous ranch property!

 The river ran right through it and stopped along the way to make a lake and a few ponds to fish in.

 They had ranch horses too!  You could tell they loved the mountain life :).

 Fishing in the clear water.

 Or just pondering!

 cute sign

 The boys made themselves right at home, their feet were wet shortly after we go there!

Kyle ran free as a bird in the fields! 

 And found the mud... He didn't waste a minute of getting his hands dirty!

 where there is mud, there are worms!

 Baby hung out with me for most of the day.

 Animals just seem to LIKE Kyle!  He was giving the horse a kiss and the horse was smelling his worm.

 Jacob wasn't as interested in being so close to the horse!

 Josh was looking for worms for more of a practical purpose... Fish bait!

 They shared a deep thought moment together.

 The ponders continued...

 We learned that Kyle belongs in the wild... He LOVED it, every part of nature!

 Exploring the gosling trails and looking for turtles.

 Running the open range...

 And then the horse saddles came out!

 Little J's first horse ride :). 

 K chose the wading pond over the horses... He was in his own world!

 I love the horse spots!

 Mike even saddled up!

 J is our little fisherman... He was determined to catch a fish.

 What a beautiful place to take a stroll on a horse, we feel so privileged!

 C and I took our own little stroll.

 A morning at the ranch!

 It turns out that most hotels won't let a family of our size stay in a single room... But we found a great timeshare to stay in!  The whole house was ours for the weekend and that 'basement' room was a hot tub room... You can imagine how much fun the kids had 'swimming' in that!  We are going to always look for available timeshares when we travel.

 Beautiful lake view from two balconies. 

 Great fun for energetic boys!

 Ky-man!

 Jakey!

 Back to the ranch for an evening of fun!

 Rock skipping...

 Hi, Carter!

 Roasting marshmellows to make smores.

 Mike's friend and his lovely girl friend. 

 A little bit of night fishing.

 What a way of topping the evening off for these little guys... A ride in the ATV!!!

Thank you so much, Clay & Family!!!! We had a wonderful time at the ranch and the boys made memories that will last forever!  It was so kind of you all to share your little (really, quite large) retreat with us :).