SPRING BREAK

We had an adventurous week at the Cluff house.  I was wanting to stay home and clean and organize my house this week, but no one else thought that sounded like fun, so I let the majority win, and we partied all week instead!  I am glad I didn't do what I wanted to do!

On Tuesday we took our annual trip to Palo Duro canyon.  My kids said it was the most fun time they have had there.  I had to agree considering the youngest child on our hike is now almost four.  Ellen and I were thinking back to when we were younger and had young kids to carry, and were pregnant, a lot of times both at the same time.  It was a beautiful cool day, and the river was flowing well.  Here are a few pictures from the day.

Everyone posing on "picture rock"

A little cave they found along the way

Abigail at the 1 mile marker on our hike.  She walked herself up until then.

Justin after playing in the river

Abigail making a sand angel in the sand.  She insisted on taking her shirt off since all the boys did.

Wednesday the kids worked hard in the morning to get the house clean and then we went and saw Gnomeo and Juliet.  The kids thought it was a great show.  When we got home we got the car packed and ready to go so we could leave for Denver early the next morning.

Thursday we got up early and left for Denver.  We got there in enough time to check in at our hotel, freshen up and head to the basketball game.  Jeff wanted to get their in plenty of time.  There was a session going on before ours started so we had to wait outside since the game went into overtime.  I was kind of thinking we shouldn't have come so early, but when the opened the doors, we got in and headed up the elevator I looked back at the crowd that was behind us and I was very glad Jeff had wanted to get there early.

All the people behind us coming in

The line clear out and around the corner

The game was stressful, but in the end BYU won!  We stayed and watched a little of the Gonzaga vs. St. John's game.  After watching BYU struggle through their game, I was thinking it was going to be ugly on Saturday when we played Gonzaga.

Friday we drove to Colorado Springs and spent the day there.  We started at Cave of the Winds.  It was a fun cave to go through.  It was a guided tour which is always fun because you get to hear more of the history behind it.  Emily and I decided we wished we lived in the early days when there was more adventure in exploring the caves.

Everyone at the start of the tour.

The view outside the cave.  It amazed me a little boy discovered this cave up so high.

We then drove through Garden of the Gods.  This is a park owned by the city.  It was beautiful with all of the red rock.  We got out to climb on the rocks for a little while, but it was getting past lunch time so we didn't stay too long.

The whole gang

A little rock climbing.

Emily

After lunch we went up to Seven Falls.  It is a waterfall that has seven different drops.  It would have been fun to climb to the top, they have some stairs you can climb, but it was too icy so they weren't letting people on them.  We did get to take an elevator about half way up and look.  They were beautiful.

The last thing we did was take a tour of the Olympic training center.  It was very interesting, and fun to see future Olympians practicing.  This was the stop that a lot of the family liked the most.

The kids doing their own Olympic poses.

One of the bobsleds

We ended the day with a slice of cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory.  This is a restaurant we wish was in Lubbock.  We didn't have any food because we were all still too full from lunch.

Saturday we started out at the Denver Aquarium where Emily, Tyson, and Justin got to swim with the fish and sharks.  They put on wet suits and went snorkeling in one of the tanks.  They had a lot of fun and they got to see a lot of cool fish up close.  My favorite were the two 80 + year old turtles.  They told them not to get in their way because they would just run them over.  I saw it almost happen to some girls who were putting on a mermaid show.

Here they are getting ready to go in.

While they were snorkeling

A picture of one of the giant fish they saw.

One of the Sharks, it stayed close to the bottom the whole time

A sting ray

The group when they were all done.

The aquarium was amazing.  It was well laid out, and there was a lot to see and do.  The kids got to touch sting rays, feel star fish and crabs, and according to Abigail see real Mermaids.  Everyone had a good time.

A picture of the kids outside the aquarium.  You can see Abigail off to the side, she is not happy she couldn't be on top.

Our last event in Denver was the BYU basketball game.  We were all real nervous after Thursdays game, but we were thrilled with the outcome.  The crowd was incredible, everyone was there so excited, and the whole team was on!  For this game our tickets were way up high, but we were by a lot more BYU fans than we were the first game, and it was so fun.  BYU played better than we could have asked for and we came home with a victory!  It was a great ending to a wonderful spring break.  Tomorrow, back to the real world, and for the kids school!

Tyson, Emily, and Justin at the first game

Jeff and Abigail at the first game

Emily, Justin, Tyson, and Ryan getting ready for the second game

Abigail getting ready for the second game.  She took a much needed nap during the first half!

Tyson singing the fight song.  He was the only one who sang his little heart out every time they played it.  They play it a lot when the game is on TV, lots of TV timeouts!

The backside of Jimmer

The front side of Jimmer

Warming up after half time, you can see the BYU flags waving

The final score

A happy Cluff Family!