Day 3

Day 3

Wow!  What a sunrise! I woke up after about 1.5 sleep thanks to Grayson thinking he was a bat sleeping upside down on his head.  He woke up crying and I found him with his head off the bed almost touching the floor & his feet & legs across Gabe's legs facing up.  He kept saying his stomach hurt & could not go back to sleep.  I sat in the chair with him until all my appendages were completely numb.  BUT, besides that the morning was crisp, clean & peaceful as I sat outside while everyone else slept and watched the sunrise, the beavers dance & the fish splash.    Everyone woke up, ate breakfast as the outside started heating up.  Kansas has been 90 degrees both days...yuck! 

We stopped in Hays, Kansas for a break & some groceries – man these Sheets boys can eat!  There was an old Fort there – Fort Hays that was open about 25 years in the 1870's.  We were all given cards with a soldier's name, rank,  & vocation on it.  We carried those with us to two furnished Jr. Officer's Quarters which were beautifully restored white two story homes with white wooden siding.  We had a lady take us through the homes and show us the differences between a bachelor's quarters & family quarters.  Each Jr. officer got a side of the house – upstairs & down.  They had a parlor downstairs & pantry but shared a kitchen.  Upstairs each got a bedroom.  The bachelor however only got the parlor.  Since he had no children, the other families children took that room.  There was a buffalo head on the bachelor's quarters wall.  He was not originally in the home, but they had a heard of local buffalo herd and he was the head of.  He died in the 1940's.  We are not sure how old he was, but he was enoromous.  We learned something new.  The reason buffalo get so huge is that they never stop growing – hmmmm maybe my children are really buffalos!??!?!  

Outback was a “two seater” which Gabe was not impressed with & we asked him as we left if he had to go to the bathroom we were going to go here.  By here, we meant inside the visitors center.  He said, “No way!  I am not going in there!”  We all laughed as Gabe shivered at the thought of having to use the “out house.”

We went to the guard house & put the kids in jail.  Grayson did not like the idea of us shutting Gabe up in the cell – not even for a photo op!  (even though he was just screaming at him only about 20 minutes early – he must still love his brother) David put them behind the huge iron door to pretend to be in jail.  

The block house – made of sandstone that had great fossils imbedded in them – began as the fort's defense from Indian raids, but since this Fort in the beginning had 500 soldiers there, the attacks never came.  

We got back in the RV & Lucy headed us back to the interstate & we were on our way to Colorado.  

The boys got really silly & David got them all to put their heads down on the pillow & rest – including David and they are asleep as we speak.

Lucy has irritated me a bit – maybe due to make lack of sleep.  She gives us an estimated arrival time.  She does NOT however inform you that it will be in a different time zone!!!!  ARGH!

YIPPEE!  I am giddy now!  As we traveled across the front range of Colorado, we saw Prong Horn Sheep.  They  were amazing!  Then, we started seeing Pikes Peak.  After a rough day of traveling because we were all tired, everyone started perking up.  Especially me.  I truly felt like I was coming home  after 16 years away.  I got the chills.  When I drove across in 1993 by myself – I really hated the last part of Kansas and the front range of CO because it seemed to go on forever!  But, today it was a great feeling!  I knew what was coming up.  Mom navigated great through CO Springs while I was anxious to find a wireless connection so I could get Liz's (my roommate in college) phone number off my facebook page.  I got in touch with Mendy.  It was great talking with her!  Hearing a voice from “back home” was comforting!  Wayne was able to get my logged on to my Facebook page & get the information I needed, BUT the scarey part is that he now knows my password now & may send evil things out to my favorite people just to be mean......Wayne – don't do it, please!  Too much conflict in my life as it is!  Be nice!!  Hearing that Max was giving Penny & Wayne a run for their money made me feel for them.  There is nothing like not being able to give an infant relief from being upset.  Good luck to them!  

As we came through Manitou Springs, heading up Pike's Peak, Liz & I got to talk.  YIPPEE!  We are going to meet up with her tomorrow.  I am so excited.  It has been WAY too long since we have been able to catch up!  

We started a new club – it is the Sheets' Sighting Club.  The boys were great at spotting prong horned  on the way through the front range of Colorado & into CO. Springs.  Mom finally saw one.  Well, she was driving!  (but, she isn't a full fledge member of the Sighting Club yet!!)

As we checked in at the Mueller State Park Guard station, there was a mule deer munching on grass.  It got us all excited! Winding through beautiful aspen trees & huge pines, the views were amazing. Staring back at us was a snow capped Pike's Peak.  Pulling up to the Campground gate house, there was lots of loose wood around in the forest because they were thinning the trees to help control forest fires.     Since the very first night in IN, they did not allow you to bring in outside wood so we were not able to bring any firewood with us, so it was good that we did not have to pay for it here! ;-)

Looking out from our campsite the snowcovered peak of Pike's Peak showed its beauty throughout each day.  On the other side of our campsite we looked down through a valley filled with Aspen trees.  What a great site!  The campsite is quiet, clean and had a playground.  The boys could ride their bikes.  We fixed spaghetti, salad & toast.  Man we were all hungry & the boys ate and ate until they almost fell asleep in their plates.