colorado

We had a fabulous trip out to Colorado last week. I'm still in awe of what a great time we had. Remind me again why we can't always be on vacation?

It started out not-so-fabulously with Hayes and I on a 2 hour flight that ended up taking almost 7 HOURS! Thunderstorms in Denver had us grounded in Colorado Springs for 4 hours after circling for 45 minutes. Let me tell you, 7 hours on an airplane with a small child is not how you want to spend an evening. Hayes was an angel, considering. By the time we landed, got the rental car and left the airport it was after midnight. Hayes was still doing well. Wide awake and completely delirious, but good. This is him at about 11:30pm while we were in line for the rental car. Everything was very hilarious at this point.

Adeline had her first overnight stay away from Mama and Dada during the trip. We sent her up to Colorado with my parents the day before Hayes and I left. She did wonderfully. I knew she would. When we were saying goodbye she seemed giddy that I wasn't coming. Slightly sad, but I love that she is so confident about being with grandparents.

Robert came in a day after Hayes and I. Vacation days are tight for him so he stayed to get an extra day of work in. My Brother-in-Law, Mike, and their two oldest boys, Elijah and Noah were there as well which was lovely. Adeline and Hayes loooove their cousins!

The trip consisted of hiking, biking, fishing, camping (yes, camping!) and a whole lot of great family time. We were outside most of the time in temperatures ranging from the low 70s during the day to the 40s at night. Beautiful.

I took a lot of pictures. Brace yourself.

Day 1 : This was actually day 3 for Adeline and day 2 for Hayes and I, but it was the first day Robert was there, so it was the start of our true family vacation.

The guys got a fly fishing lesson while we played around at the incredible YMCA of the Rockies. The place is huge. Horseback riding, hiking, crafts, indoor pool, put-put golf, playgrounds, hiking/biking, cross-country skiing in the winter, etc, etc, etc. It is only about a mile from my parents house and surround by beautiful view in every direction.

fly fishing

putt-putt

playing










the craft house (Addie did tie dye, Noah made a doormat, Elijah made a necklace for Gee-gee):

Day 2 : Fishing, hiking and biking. All the men (including Eli and Noah) got up early and did a little fly fishing. Since it was a guys only trip, I don't haven any pictures. Apparently they had a great time and caught, well, nothing.

There is a small ski resort about a mile behind my parents house that has mountain biking in the summer along with some hiking trails that stretch all over the mountain. Just after lunch, we took the ski lift up and hiked the trails to the bottom. We deemed it a "practice hike" for our big hiking/camping adventure the next day. After the hike, we loaded up the mountain bikes and headed over to Winter Park. We road a really great trail from the base of the mountain all the way into town and had dinner at our favorite pizza place.

Day 3 : The big camp out. We're not talking your regular drive in, set up your tent in an nicely appointed campsite type of thing. Oh no. This was real wilderness camping. As in... pack all your stuff up on your back and hike deep into the woods to find a place to pitch your tent. The real deal camping.

Our packs were huge and heavy containing 3 tents, 8 sleeping bags, clothes for 9 people, food for 9 people eating 3 meals (packed inside a bear keg... BEARS, people!), cooking equipment, water filtering stuff, and emergency supplies. All in all there were 4 packs between 5 adults. The person without a pack was in charge of carrying Hayes. He was by far the lightest load. Adeline walked some and got passed between the men the rest of the time.

We hiked in a few miles and found an amazing spot to camp right along the river surrounded by huge pine trees. We set up the tents, played around, had dinner by the fire and headed off to bed just as it started to rain a little.

The rain stopped quickly and we all had a good night's rest. Adeline slept like a rock and Hayes slept, well, like Hayes. He woke often, but since he was right there in the sleeping bag with me, he just nursed and went back to sleep. I think he got more sleep that night than he had in days.

The next morning we ate breakfast, had coffee by the fire, then hiked up to Cascade Falls. When we got back we had lunch, packed up and headed back out to the trail head. All in all it was over 8.5 miles of hiking.

The whole experience was just amazing. It is truly beautiful out there and I loved every second of watching the kids interact with nature. Both Addie and Hayes had a great time. Adeline loved the river and exploring around with her cousins. Hayes would have stayed and dug in the dirt and sticks for weeks if we had let him. We all came home filthy and exhausted. Proof that we had a fabulous time.

Day 4 : Our last day. We spent the day in an adorable town called Grand Lake for some playing, a little souvenir shopping, and some completely yummy homemade ice cream.

Boo to vacation coming to an end.