Mountains

One of things we wanted to do on our trip was to take the kids (and ourselves!) into the mountains for the day.  Because of all the fires the week before our trip we had to alter our plans slightly but it ended up working out great.


My parents stayed home with Kellen and Toben and we got to take Caiden and Rylan for the day.  It was nice to go places and not draw so much attention for a change.  I didn't even realize how much I brace myself for the constant looks, conversations and questions about all our kids every single time we go out in public until we got to spend a day without it!


We decided to drive to Breckenridge and grabbed a treat at the Donut Mill on our way - yum!  (Did I mention how easy and not stressful it is to eat at a restaurant when you only have a 4 and 3 yr old with you?  Well, it was!)


I love being in Breckenridge in the summer!  It's fun in the winter too, but in the winter it's more like families on their ski vacations (perhaps a little stressed out and overspent?) and everyone clunking around the icy streets in all their ski gear.  But in the summer the town has a vibe of people just kicking back enjoying outdoor activities, eating on patios, strolling through shops, kids wading in the creek, and relaxing among lots of beautiful flowers and green.


We parked and first rode the "new" gondola to the base of the ski area.  (I think it was a good first step for our non-experienced chair lift riders)

Then we headed up to the top of the mountain on the chair lift.  Rylan loved it (and scared me to death).  She would have slid through those bars for a closer look at any second if we had let go of her - no fear here!

Caiden enjoyed himself but was much more cautious about the whole idea (that "smile" about sums it up).  He wanted to sit totally still and close to us and saved most of his talking for before and after the ride (which is saying something for that kid!)

It rained a little bit on the way up and Rylan was trying to block the freezing drops hitting us in the face.

Thanks to the change of plans we actually got to be a couple hundred yards from the spot we got engaged 8 years and 1 day earlier.  (Hiking up to the exact spot wasn't so much going to happen at 24 weeks pregnant!)

 (July 3, 2004)

It was strange to be back 8 years later feeling very pregnant with 2 of our four kids in tow.  Time flies!

 (Caiden got a splinter after being told to stop running his hands along the wood and couldn't quite let it go)

Heading back down - how pretty is that view?!  Love Breck in the summer!

Getting some grub (and sporting Dad's shades)

It started raining after lunch so we decided to start our drive home.  On the way we stopped in Evergreen to try some canoeing but missed the cutoff by 30 mins.  Oh well it was still a pretty place to get out and spend a little time.