So Long to Colorado Springs

The reason we planned a quick trip to Colorado Springs is because our daughter was going to attend a camp at the USAF Academy and we used the trip there for some much needed family time.

While we knew B was going to have an amazing week, we were going to miss her - especially her younger brother.

This was B's room that she shared.

B had an amazing, life-altering week.

Visit to the ER

We had such a wonderful visit to Colorado Springs recently, but it ended on a sour note.

In just two days, we rode horses riding through the Garden of the Gods, walked through the Garden of the Gods, toured the Olympic Training Center, tried to drive to Pikes Peak (turned away due to high winds), hiked in a canyon, visited the Focus on the Family center, had a wonderful lunch, and drove around the USAFA.  But during most of the second day, my son wasn't feeling well.

By the time we got to the Academy, he was complaining about his stomach hurting, so we decided to head back to the hotel to let him rest.  D slept for a hour, but things progressed so rapidly after that.  Thankfully while D slept, I found the nearest urgent care facility, because when he woke up he was in so much pain that he started vomiting.

My husband stayed with our daughter in the hotel while I raced D to the urgent care.  Our visit to the urgent care was brief because the doctor suspected appendicitis.

So D and I raced to the ER and we wound up staying for 7 hours.  The ER doctor said that D presented with appendicitis, so he ordered an MRI and treated D for the vomiting.  They ignored his soaring fever (not sure why), but once D drank all of the MRI contrast meds and kept that down, they finally tackled the fever.  (Grrr! - I begged for two hours until I finally found a doctor who would treat the fever.)

After 7 hours in the ER and a normal MRI, the ER doctor told us that D was the third pediatric patient that week that was on vacation and came into the ER presenting as appendicitis.  He said all three patients must have had a virus.  

Needless to say, we were thankful that D was going to be OK and wouldn't require surgery.

I took this photo just minutes after we got to the ER and it wasn't long before he lost all of the color in his face from feeling so awful.

D was exhausted, but well enough the next day for us to return home, but it took 9-10 days for D to get back his strenght.

USAFA Visit

One of our last stops of the day during our brief visit in Colorado Springs was to drive around the Air Force Academy.  We included a stop into the Visitor's Center to watch a movie and then we walked over the hill to the Chapel.

The campus is beautiful.

Stunning Chapel

We also loved it back in 2005.

I saw this on the trip over the hill.

This photo of my son makes me cringe.  D was actually pretty 

sick by this point and things started getting worse.

I'll write about that tomorrow.

Red Rock Canyon Open Space

We had a last minute change in plans while we were in Colorado Springs, so we decided to hike a little in the Red Rock Canyon Open Space.  This hike was beautiful with only a few people around.

You can see the snow covered Pikes Peak in the background.

At 14,114 ft elevation, Pikes Peak can be seen all over town.

I thought they were crazy, but I followed them up this ramp.

I thought they were crazier to continue the trail, so I 

decided to walk around on my own.

But look at the views I saw while I waited.

I might be wrong, but I think the Garden of the Gods was 

out toward the black arrow.

Olympic Training Center

We were so excited to tour the Olympic Training Center during our brief trip to Colorado Springs.

After the tour, my daughter said she was impressed with the amount of effort the OTC put into the athletes, that it showed how much they wanted the athletes there, and that it was awesome for our top athletes to have somewhere to go.

My son felt that the tour was pretty cool and felt so inspired as an athlete.  

Totally COOL!

This was also just outside the start of the tour.

These were how many days until the next two Olympics when we visited.

We enjoyed walking around before the tour. 

Words to remember!

The OTC has a beautiful campus with all the different

training facilities.

We could only see the pool through a window.

Athletes have to be near the top of their fields to be allowed

to live and train at the OTC.

Happy campers to find something about water polo.

It was exciting to see athletes training.

Another inspirational training quote.

We got to watch these wrestlers train.

This was a view from the outside of the weight room.

The campus is beautiful.

We got to walk to the top of the building to see the cauldron

that is lit on special occasions.

"Cool Runnings" anyone?

We were all pleased with our tour of the OTC, but I think our children

were inspired to work harder at their sports (swimming, water polo, and archery).

B&D

I am thankful that my children still let me take their photos

(or at least without too much of a fuss - LOL).

Garden of the Gods #2

We had a nice time walking through the Garden of the Gods.