We were awoken on the 17th by a little knock on the door at 7.30am. Michael wanted to come and see us and play!! Surprisingly enough he wanted to wrestle with Neen. We spent 1 hour runnning around the room pillow fighting and westling. Then it was time for some breakfast. We had a nice leisurely breakfast Then we headed off to have a wander around denver and to pay the parking fine we had managed to get !!!!! Whoops. Denver city was really pretty very open with lots of wide streets. Nice old buildings too. Then we headed off up 16th Avenue Mall which is one huge shopping street - nice to check out the prices in the shops. The we had the two hour drive to Estes Park in the Rockies. Our house was lovely - we had a hot tub on the deck. Michael just couldn't wait to go swimming so Neen and I headed off to the pool with him whilst Mummy and Daddy did the food shopping. Good deal I feel

On the 18th the boys headed off to hire some bikes for a couple of day - BTW we are again at altitude-2500m not as bad as the inca trail but still makes you struggle on the breathing!!!!! We had an easy day swimming and Michael spent most of it jumping in and out of the hot tub he loved it! The the boys headed off on a cycle ride!!!! Wrong time to go within 20 minutes of going the thunder storm came and guess what they had no provisions!!!!! 2 hours later they turned up soaking to the skin with a story to tell. They had headed down the hill OK but seemed to miss the turning to get back to where we lived so were actually heading out of town. They also lost each other for a while and then the heavens opened. The hail was huge so Neen hid under a tree - very clever in lightening weather! Then he saw a hand waving from a car. Mark had been picked up by a nice couple and they had gone off to find Euge. The couple then brought the two drowned rats home!!!!! Both suffering from being very cold so they piled into the hot tub - see there was a reason we booked a place with a hot tub Bev obviously knew what was going to happen!!!! So after this exciting adventure we headed down into town to go to the kiddies park where all our kids had fun. Michael went down the huge slide with Daddy, Neen and Aunty Jacqui. Then hed went on a little boat with Daddy and squirt water all over Neen - Neen came off worst!!! The boys had races in go carts!!! All in all an enjoyable day

On the 19th we decided to head off and have a picnic in the Rockies National Park. So off we went into the Park and headed down Bear Lake Road. We stopped for our picnic at Spruge Lake which was a nice lake with loads of trees lining it. Very green - we had a nice lunch and were joined by some chipmunks who loved Michael as he fed them food We then headed up to Bear Lake which stands about 2800m above sea level so the Inca trail training came in handy!! We walked around that which has lovely views of the mountain range. The we decided it was time to go and do something for children!!! So we headed off to try our hand at Trout Fishing. Much to Michael's unhappiness we caught nothing not even a bite!!!

The 20th brought more cool stuff - Jacqui finally headed off horse riding she has been trying to do this all trip but hadn't succeeded. Well Michael chose to ride with Aunty Jacqui so guess what we got the biggest horse in the place!! It was a monster and he knew it too!!! He bite other horses in front of us and had really bad wind!!! I was glad I wasn't Bev following behind!!! But the hour ride was great nice views of the rocky mountains but boy it was hot! That afternoon the boys headed off fishing again to try and catch something so we could tell Pops!!! Neen got a bite but he did not manage to reel it in in time!!! Shame. Whilst this was going on Jacqui and Bev headed off for some pampering and had a spa pedicure!!! Pretty feet.

On the 21st we headed off into the park again to go up the scenic trail rideg road to the highest point some 3200m. We got some great views of the rockies but I wouldn't say it was the best drive in the world. We then headed down to have a picnic at Hidden Vally where again we were joined by little chipmunks - very cute. Then we had to do all the washing and get ready for heading off to Vegas the next day