Day 1: We drove to CO. Drives are always difficult. Packing 9 of us into a 12 passenger van even with the grate on the back for extra storage is always more difficult. But we did it and the drive there was less traumatic than usual:) I suffered with a terrible headache the first couple of days but my husband gave me some neck rubs and by day 3 I was better. Made for a not as fun as it could have been drive, but it was fine. We got to the 6 bedroom house and unpacked - extremely thankful that we could all spread out. Grace had her own room so she could have a place to calm down. Thankfully her behavior over the whole of the trip was at the max a 6 on a 10 point scale when usually she has several massive tantrums. So, it was good she had a place to calm and be away from us when she started to escalate. We also did not have 12- 14 hour days of being out of the house. I think that the extra time in the house just relaxing helped her a lot. I sure helped me lol!
Anyway, after we got unpacked we enjoyed some of the food that I had packed (we only ate out 1 meal). My husband and the older kids had gone out to buy milk, etc and brought back some Sunkist which JJ enjoyed 2 glasses of immensely. JJ had picked a room right next to ours that he wanted to sleep in. It was the first vacation since we have had children where my husband and I had a room to ourselves! Anyway, come bedtime JJ was not settling down. He finally fell asleep after 1:30 and I fell asleep in his bed with him before him so at 2:30 I woke up and made my way to my room. A couple of hours later he crawled into bed with us. The 3 of us did not fit in a queen bed so I left him with my husband and I slept very well in his bed thank you very much lol!
Day 2: We were talking over breakfast about JJ not sleeping the night before so Buddy pulled out the Sunkist bottle and read that there are 41 mg of caffeine per 12 oz of Sunkist!!!!!!! We usually don't drink pop but are still drinking left over cases of pop from the wedding - the cheap orange shurfine stuff has no caffeine so I did not expect that! NO MORE caffeine for JJ lol!
We went to Bear Lake to hike. It was cold and snowing on and off. The trail around the lake was packed with snow. Everyone else thought that I would, as the resident "fun sucker" as my family somewhat affectionately calls me, have us just go back. But I surprised them with leading the way to hike around the lake over sometimes several feet of packed snow. It was pretty, not as cold as one would expect given all of that snow, but definitely wet.
After hiking we went back to the house where I settled in relaxing with 5 kids (and hot chocolate and s'mores) and my husband, Beautiful, and her husband all went fishing:)
Day 3: Grace's 10th Birthday! Today we hiked around Estes Lake. I had seen a map and saw there was a walking trail all the way around it, but did not note that it was 3.7 miles. It was a pretty hike but a little cold in spots depending on the wind. We saw an Eagle and a lot of Elk. JJ made it a bit over 1/2 way on his own but needed to be carried the rest of the way. When we got back to the house we got out Grace's birthday cupcakes to celebrate. Our awesome friends also made a last minute decision to vacation in Estes and it happened to be the week we were there, so they came over for supper to help us celebrate! It was extra special.
Here JJ, my husband, and I bring up the rear of our group:)
Day 4: It was warmer today so we did some more hiking. We went to a lake that was flat and small. There was not any snow on the path:) The kids decided to play "statue" so we got some fun pictures of them. I have realized that I do a lot of group shots of the kids so tried, on this vacation, to do more singles for their scrapbooks (of which I am years behind).
Then we went over to Bierstadt Lake trail. We knew we would never make it all the way to the lake, but we wanted to hike a mountain so this was it lol! Everyone started up the mountain but JJ decided he needed to be carried. After some stern negotiation I finally got him moving. It was so beautiful going up the mountain. It started with tall trees, then we got above the trees and could look out at the valley and mountains. Breathtaking beauty:) I was able to coax JJ from one "big rock" to another where he would stop and rest. Then he realized that everyone else had turned around to come back so, the incredibly stubborn child that he is, he decided that he wanted to keep moving upwards. When we got to higher than the others had even gone before they turned around I finally told him that we could not go any further than "that tree" because "we didn't pay the money." Shockingly he turned around to go back. I took a picture of the 3 kids who were still with me as JJ booked it down the mountain with our son in law trying to keep up with him. It was hilarious lol! My husband and Buddy were already at the bottom. It was a narrow and rocky trail that wove back and forth to get up the mountain as going straight up would have been impossible. JJ was in his element though - silly kid. Later that night (after my husband, Beautiful, and her husband went fishing...again) he got this look on his face like he was imparting extremely important information ( his face is very animated when he is with people he feels safe with - it is adorable. However, he will NEVER let us capture it in a picture:( Again, very stubborn child) and said, "I am not afraid of heights anymore! I climbed a mountain!" It was extra precious that he said that because he is afraid of even being held upside down even at a slight slant. He also has always been terrified of being above the head of the person holding him. You know how little kids like being held up high or even tossed up gently? NEVER JJ. He will become absolutely hysterical. So, for him to say that was cute and sweet. Now, he still got scared later when I was trying to hand him out of the van over the top of me and his head got below his feet...but it is what it is:)
We went back home and...the oldest 3 went out fishing again:) They enjoyed eating their fish every night. Our son in law even made stuffed peppers on the grill with the fish one night. Beautiful came to me with some chips and left over "stuffing" encouraging me to try it. After my mouth stopped being on fire I asked what in the world was in it. She barely stopped laughing long enough to tell me "2 jalapenos." Troublesome child;)
Day 5: This was our last day there. In the morning my husband, Buddy, Beautiful and her husband all went on a 4 hour UTV drive. They had a great time and had some interesting stories of the terrain and closeness to steep drop offs. When they got back Buddy watched the Middles while the rest of us went downtown to do some shopping. I hate shopping...but we did find a toy store and bought JJ a bug catcher and us adults a trivia game that we later had tons and tons of laughs over. The carmel apples and homemade ice cream that we bought were also delicious (although JJ being JJ ordered a plain cone with vanilla that I had to finish for him - absolutely no culinary adventure in that boy - he is a lot like Buddy that way lol!)
After that we decided that our legs were all plenty sore from the preciously 3 days of hiking so we mostly drove around and enjoyed the scenery from the van. We drove a different road and it was just so beautiful!
Day 6: We packed up and drove home this day. The drive home was ok. No one fell asleep which was a testament to how much downtime we were able to have on the vacation to rest and relax, and not just run, run, run like every previous vacation. My husband is not one to sit still during a vacation so I am thankful for our son in law who is willing to go, go, go while I stay home with the other kids. I read a lot of books, the kids got to have a lot of Disney Junior watching and Kindle games (eh, we were on vacation, I allowed it for once;) I even slept well enough at night (after the first night) that I didn't even need a nap while we were there lol! We somehow managed to have more stuff to bring home even after eating most of the food we packed. We can't quite figure that out as we didn't buy that much there. I keep telling my husband that we need a 15 passenger van before the next trip...although maybe Beautiful and her husband won't want to take another vacation with us and then we will have enough room;)
Some random musings: I love the sound of water. I contemplated whether I prefer the sound of a mountain stream or ocean waves. Buddy and I decided that they are both nice for different reasons. I think the ocean waves are a little better...but then I realized that is probably because I was far more relaxed by the ocean only having 2 kids for 4 of the trips and the 5th trip was without the girls so it was easier (except that JJ was only 18 months old and was...JJ). Beautiful and Buddy just never caused any trouble on vacations and usually my husband went off with my step-dad to explore while the rest of us just sat on the beach and the biggest decision of the day was to walk to the left or the right along the shore;) It is just not the same with the other kids which makes me long for the days where life was easier...while I remind myself that easier isn't better.
Which led me to my last bout of musing...at what age is it easier to have kids on vacation? I mean, we look back on vacations and tend to forget the stress of it and remember the happy moments caught on camera (I will NOT show you the many MANY attempted "happy" family pictures that were taken on this trip before we got 1 that worked lol!). I wonder if it will ever be relaxing to have our kids on vacation. Someday my husband and I will vacation alone, it will be relaxing, but we will be lonely. I don't know what is better lol! Scratch that, when my husband I go on vacation he will be running around "doing" and I will be begging to stay back at the cabin "being." There will still be stress lol!!
