XO34

Wow! What a week. We have had an interesting week. We were suppose to be on vacation in Utah Tuesday through Friday. That didn't happen. We have Poppie here with us so we have had a pretty low key week.

Aaron has spent a good bit of time doing woodworking. Campbell had a playdate and a sleepover this week. We were suppose to find me a birthday present on our trip to Utah this week. I like unique gift items and we can usually find some cool stuff on our little trips. We didn't go on that trip so we hit the mall on Thursday to shop.

Poppie visited with some friends while the four of us went and walked the mall. We ended up finding a really nice necklace for me. After the mall we went home to get Poppie. We then all went out to dinner. We had a terrific dinner! We went to this Italian restaurant that serves family style. We got so much food! It was all delicious too.

On Friday, the actual day of my birthday, we sent Poppie with his brother. The four of us headed down to Colorado Springs where we took a terrific train ride. The train took us to the top of Pikes Peak. This is the 2nd mountain over 14,000 feet high that we have been up. The train ride was a lot of fun. Caleb slept most of the way up, but the rest of us got to see some beautiful scenery. The ride up took about 1 1/2 hours. At some points the grade was 25%. Once we reached the top, we got off the train and attempted to look over the fence. The wind was blowing at 40 mph so we were getting pushed pretty good by the wind. Campbell was really having a difficult time with the wind.

After spending a couple of minutes outside we went into the observatory to grab some lunch. By this point, Campbell was feeling the effects of the altitude. She was feeling rather ill. Caleb's lips were a little blue. Apparently, these little southern babies don't handle the thin air too well.

We spent about 30 minutes at the top of the mountain before getting back on the train. We later learned that with the wind chill, the temperature at the top was -30 degrees. That is the type of cold that just hurts.

Campbell slept half way down the hill. Once we got below 12,000 feet she was feeling good again. She even felt well enough to her her special "high altitude doughnut". They told us that regular doughnuts don't cook well at the high altitude so they had to create a special recipe. I don't know if that is true or not, but of course we had to buy the special doughnuts.

We all really enjoyed our day on the train. When we got home Campbell made me a necklace for my birthday. She is such a sweet kid! The jury is still out on whether I have hugs and kisses for 34, though. If I can ever get over this killer cold maybe I can be more objective about being 34. Right now I just feel tired and old.