Colorado- Day 5

Lily and Ryan were both up at 5:30 on Wednesday morning.  Yes, I mean 5:30 AM!  What????  Aren't we supposed to be on vacation this week?  And this was the second day this week that this happened.  My child who is rarely up before 8:00 at home thought it would be fun to get me up before the sun was even up.  Emily and I were miserably tired, to say the least.  By the time breakfast rolled around, I felt like I'd been up for half the day.  It came as no surprise that Lily fell asleep in the stroller as soon as we started walking. 

While Lily was snoozing, Emily and I took the kids to preschool story time at the library.  They enjoyed some books about bubbles and then got to go outside and blow/pop some of their own bubbles. 

Next to the library was a park so we headed over there after story time to let them play for a while.  They had a fun time running, climbing, sliding, and swinging together.

For lunch, we found a pizza place that sold pizza by the slice. 

Pizza + Gatorade = 5 very happy kids

During nap time, Cory and Jon took Parker and Addison tubing down the Yampa River, my mom took Eden and Aubrey swimming, and Emily and I crashed with the babies.  I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a nap so much!

After dinner, we attempted another local park that had been recommended to us.  Unfortunately, the kids were worn out from our busy day and only lasted about 15 minutes before the meltdowns began, mostly over having to take turns on the handicapped swing.  Don't let the pictures fool you- there were a lot of crying children in the bus on the way back to the condo!  I have never been so glad to see bedtime arrive!

Parker loved playing catch with his daddy and Granstan in the mountains!

Colorado- Day 4

Tuesday was the day for hiking. We woke up early and took the big kids with us on a short hike to a waterfall.  We first hiked down to the bottom of the falls and then hiked up to a point that overlooked them.  Both views were great and such wonderful examples of God's beauty. 

After we returned from our hike, we decided to pack a lunch and take all the kids up the gondola (or golawnda, as Parker called it!) to the top of the mountain for another short, kid-friendly hike.  We realized this was risky taking six young children on a hike but decided to try it anyway.   There was a little bit of whining at times, but overall, they all did great!  They loved the gondola ride so much that we rode it back up after naps just to let the kids play in the open field at the top of the mountain.



The Vista Nature hike was very kid friendly.  There were informational signs located throughout the hike with pictures and facts about animals that can be seen along the trails.  The kids loved looking for them and Aunt MerMer loved reading the signs once they had been found!!!  Eden was convinced that she saw a red tailed fox on one of the adjacent slopes!

After dinner, we went back down to the creek to play.  Once again, the kids had a blast playing with the rocks and were all wet from head to toe by the time we went inside for bed.   With all the activity from the day, you would think they would sleep like rocks but... stay tuned for day 5!

(Note to self- wearing the same color shirt as your twin sister will result in both your kids and husband getting confused and talking to the wrong person multiple times during the day!  Oops... Emily and I will definitely have to plan better next time.  Our husbands and kids were confused all day long!)

Colorado- Day 3

Monday was alpine sliding day- Aunt MerMer's favorite day of any Colorado trip.  This is the first time the kids have been able to try alpine sliding and we weren't sure how they would react.  We were not as worried about the sliding down as we were about the riding up.  Any small, unexpected move on the ski lift could result in a long, disastrous fall. 

We had no reason to worry- all three kids did great and we made it to the top without anyone falling to their premature death! (Eden chose not to try the alpine slide and Lily, who probably would have loved it, did not meet the 2 year old age requirement.)

Kids ages 2-6 were required to sit in a parent's lap so Parker rode with Cory on the first ride down and me on the second ride down.  Addison and Aubrey took turns riding with Emily, Jon, MerMer and Granna.  Parker LOVED it and laughed and yelled the whole way down.  On the second ride, Parker and I raced MerMer and Addison and beat them, which Parker thought was awesome!

While everyone was sliding, Eden and Lily enjoyed playing at the adjoining park with Baby Ryan.  Maybe next year we will be able to convince Eden to go with us. 

After lunch and naps, we headed back down to the pool.  Unfortunately, Steamboat Springs was in the middle of a heat wave so the daytime temperatures were in the high 80s.  Several people told us that this was the hottest summer they have had in at least 10 years.  Thank goodness for the pool that kept us nice and cool on those warm afternoons. 

That night, after we got the kids fed, bathed, and ready for bed, my parents treated us by letting us go out for a nice dinner without the kids.  We had a lot of fun hanging out with Meredith, Emily, and Jon.