Wednesday in Glenwood~fun bike ride and hot springs...

Wednesday morning we woke up and went down and got breakfast, then the boys swam again and we decided to do our bike ride that day.

Lars called the bike rental place to see if they could take us up the canyon that day so that we could ride back down. Usually they take you up 16 miles, but apparently the drop off up that far wasn't open yet. So they told him we could just rent bikes and ride up as far as 7 miles and come back down but we didn't really want to do that. So he asked them if they ever take people up and drop them at that 7 mile point and they hadn't ever but said that sure they could do that for us that day!

So we got ready to go and got a backpack with water and snacks packed and caught the bus down to the closest stop next to the bike shop.

It happened to be right next to the big outdoor hot springs pool, so we walked by there and stopped to take a few pictures and promised the boys we'd go there after our bike ride...

  Then we went  over and got our bikes and helmets picked out. Originally we were going to have Gunnar ride his own bike like he always does at home, but when they brought the bike out for him, it was just too big for him and it was the smallest one they had.

I was a little disappointed at first and thought he would be too, until they brought out this trailer bike and attached it to Lars' bike and they got on to try it out. It was just about the cutest thing ever and he loved it!

So we got all the bikes loaded into the trailer and we piled into the van and....

it wouldn't start. Haha...it was the first time they were doing this for the season and for whatever reason the van wouldn't start back up after the guy had pulled it over to pick us up.

So we all got out of the van and the guy was going to go get another van, but decided to try starting it up one more time and it started! So we all got back in and he made sure he just kept it running once we got up there.

We drove the 7 or so miles up and he let us out with the bikes and we got on and headed down.

It was beautiful up there!!

And I loved seeing this view in front of me...

 We stopped after a mile or 2 and locked up the bikes and hiked up this little trail...

Ashton was mad we were stopping at first, until they started searching for rocks, then we couldn't hardly get them to leave!

  So we stayed for a little bit, had a snack, then got back on the bikes.

 

I just have to say that I had the happiest feeling throughout this whole bike ride. I kept wishing it was 16 miles instead of 7! I loved seeing Gunnar on that little trailer bike peddling so hard thinking it was the greatest thing ever, and Ashton on his own bike and the scenery was just so pretty and I just found myself being so grateful for the moment and really for just my little family and the blessings in my life.
Obviously I have talked a lot about wanting another baby and I would still be grateful for another if we were blessed with one, but I also just love the stage we are at now with the two healthy boys we have. Getting to go on trips like these now and really enjoy them because Ashton and Gunnar are big enough and independent enough to get out and do these things. I really have everything I could ever want & more and am so thankful. It is a good feeling to just be happy with what you have!

It was just the best day.

We stopped off for a bathroom break after our little hike and I set up the camera and took this picture...

At one point we had to go around this guy after we watched him move some big boulders...

...and around a couple other workers working on the trail.
We were the only ones riding on the trail all day though. It was so nice...

Had to get a picture of this :)  

 We got towards the end and ran into a guy out running and he pointed out some Rocky Mountain big horn sheep up ahead of us hanging out right off the trail.

 We got really close to them and they just watched us going by...kind of cool to see them jump up the cliffs when they did finally move!

After we made it all the way back into Glenwood, we rode the bikes to Subway and had lunch.

 Then rode them back up to the bike shop and returned them.

We will definitely do that ride again someday!

Then we walked across the street to the hot springs.

We had a couple free passes that came with our room, so luckily we just had to pay for the boys.

They had fun, but I actually think they would have been happy to just swim in the hotel pool again. I only put my feet in...it wasn't hot enough for me where the boys were and I didn't want to get totally wet since it was a bit chilly outside.

Oh and the 2 big slides we saw as we were walking to the bike place in the morning weren't open for the season yet. I think it would have been a lot more fun if they had been. Oh well! We spent a couple hours there then went back to the room.

Another perk of our hotel was that you got pizza and a movie in your room on your 3rd night's stay, so we ordered a pizza and watched Rise of the Guardians that night then went to bed.

 Very tired again!

Up next...our fun hike :)