Dia del Padre

We spent Father's Day in Rocky Mountain National Park which is about 1.5 hours from our house. Mark had made up his mind he really wanted to do a hike there and so we set out to make it happen:)  Before we left for the day, we made him breakfast and the girls had some gifts they wanted to give him. The two older girls were not super happy about me taking a picture since they had not had a chance to groom for the day .. .. groom schroom ... they looked beautiful to me!

 The girls gave Mark some pretty awesome gifts. Kars made him this fishing box in pottery that even has a reel on it. I'll have to get a better photo (Mark had already swooped it off to his office this morning). He got a new shirt, a massage pillow for his desk chair and long work travels. He also got some coconut cashews that he is devouring;) and my parents sent the cute POP and THE MAN CAN along with a Home Depot gc.

 Bailee and Karsyn had made him a "Survival Kit" that he had fun reading through

 His favorite gifts were the ones right from the heart like this. I mean c'mon ..  .. a free massage at Cool Aid Massage (Emmrey's business). 

Sounds like a dream!

 and these sweet notes that he will treasure because they are so full of feeling:)

 We headed for RMNP and our first stop was the Moraine Park Discovery Center. This was a pretty cool little visitor center, but the best part was this huge window with this view! I could have sat there for hours.

 Mark decided on a 3.5 mile hike from Bear Lake to Bierstadt Lake. This park has a cool system where you can shuttle to different trail heads and start/stop where you choose. You can use it as much or as little as you want. We opted to shuttle to the top (Bear Lake) and hike back down (Bierstadt Lake). Here we are waiting for the shuttle.

 On our way!

 There were a lot of people at the top. Many of them just check out the lake and then shuttle back down. I was a little concerned at first that we would be sharing the trail with all those people, but once we started moving around the lake it thinned out quite a bit. The view was gorgeous!!

 Bay and Kars stayed ahead of us most of the hike (a little too far at times). I was impressed with their navigation skills.

 

 Emmy and I brought up the rear for the first half. She because of the uphill climb, and me because this respiratory junk I'm still fighting was kicking my butt! Mark was the middle man trying to keep tabs on both teams.

 When we arrived at Bierstadt we were all ready for a rest. This big rock was perfect. It was so so windy, but it was warm so it felt pretty good.

 While we rested, Mark threw out his line for a while.

 Not long after, several other groups joined us at the lake and pretty soon Mark had quite the audience watching him;)

 Although this is still his biggest fan club

We finished out the day in Estes Park and enjoyed a burger at Penelope's, headed home and watched an old season of The Amazing Race (we're kinda addicted)

 

One of the things I love about this guy is that he likes to explore and get out and see things. He helps me create those experiences that hopefully our girls will hold onto.  I am so glad we get to make those memories together:) Te amo Marko!