Mountain Vacay!

In mid-July we headed to the mountains for a little staycation with some of our Oklahoma family.  We found a big house in Carbondale that would fit all of us and we loved that the location had plenty of activities to please everyone. There was whitewater rafting, golfing, hiking, picnicking, gondola rides, swimming in the hot springs and playing in freezing cold streams, roasting smores on the BBQ and just having fun with our family.  It was an awesome getaway!

 

 Riley was soooo excited to have her cousin Reese here and the two of them had so much fun together! 

  This is was the first time that we had gotten Piper and her cousin Nate together since they were just newborns and it was so cute to watch them together.

We took a ride up the gondola at Vail and did some hiking around at the top. 

                Blowing dandelions actually ends up being more like eating them in Piper's hands....

We were so close to Aspen that we did a girls day while the guys played golf.  Our first stop was Maroon Bells for a picnic and a hike.  Riley and Reese's favorite spot was anywhere near the freezing cold water.

 

Piper loves, loves, loves water, but this was a little bit too cold for her taste.

 

And then into Aspen for a little window shopping



 

 

 Bunky Ry and Pop got a chance to take Riley out for one of their favorite mountain activities...fishing!  It was just too bad that the fish weren't cooperating that day. 

On our last day, we stopped to hike up to Hanging Lake on the way back down to Denver.  It has been years since I have been up there and I so wanted to go back with my girls and Kris.  So I hauled myself and my giant belly up the mountain while Kris and Ryan took turns being Piper's Sherpa and Riley bounded up the hill like a mountain goat with no problems.  Despite the fact that the hike felt like it might kill me at times, the payoff at the end is the gorgeous lake.  I'm so glad that we did it!

 

Clearly, it was an exhausting day for Pipey too, this is how our tired little hiker looked when we got down off the trail.



We are so grateful for our family and the fun time that we get to share with them and we are especially thankful for cute cousins who have so much fun together!