First Day of School

It was hard for us to believe that summer break flew by so quickly.  We had a great vacation and were all a little sad that it was time to head back to school already.  It was also hard to believe that Hayden was now officially a middle-schooler and Rian was a first-grader! 

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Ready for 6th grade!

Excited for the first day of 1st grade.

Waiting in line with the rest of Ms. Hall's class.

Jessie and Kaia- who will both in Kindergarten together next year.

Telluride, CO

We were excited that the Doningers chose to come out to Colorado for their summer vacation this year.  They came over for dinner the day they flew into Denver, and the kids had a great time playing and getting to know each other again.  The next day we hiked to Horsetooth Falls in Fort Collins and all the kids were troopers during the 2.4 mile hike and had fun playing in the water once we reached the falls.  After a picnic lunch at Spring Canyon Park and some playtime on the playground, we headed to the grocery store to pick up some items to bring to Telluride with us.  We had a nice dinner at Austin's in Old Town and then Anna spent the night at our house, much to Hayden's delight.  The next morning, the girls and I loaded up my mini-van with coolers, suitcases and activities to keep everyone busy during the car ride, and then we met up with the Doningers to begin our 8 hour drive to beautiful Telluride!

I was impressed at how well my girls handled being in the car ALL day.  We had never really travelled more than a couple of hours in the car at a time, and we made it through with minimal complaining and only about four bathroom breaks! The drive went by fast because of all the beautiful scenery along the way.

The view from the top of the mountain between Mountain Village where we stayed at a luxury 3 bedroom condo (thanks to the Doningers!) and downtown Telluride.

Jessie took to Courtney right away and wanted to hold her hand, sit on her lap, and be carried by her every chance she got!

We did a hike at the peak of the mountain (Coonskin Trail) and the first half was nice but the last half was uphill at a hard incline and I think we ALL were complaining by the time we made it back, huffing and puffing.

A good-looking group of girls.  Where is Will???

Rian and Elle read the map to make sure we were going the right way.

Hayden really enjoyed hanging out with sweet Anna all week.

Everywhere we went the view was gorgeous.

Jessie played camera girl for awhile.

 

One of the favorite things for the kids was riding the gondola up and down both sides of the mountain.

 

 

Mountain Village had two great playgrounds for the kids.  They loved the teeter-totter and the rock climbing wall.

There's Will!!!

 

 

Here we are buying mini donuts from the donut lady who has a stand located right where you get off the gondola in downtown Telluride. Of course we couldn't pass by without buying some.

Happiness in the form of sugar.

Downtown Telluride was beautiful and had all sorts of quaint shops and restaurants to puruse. 

The town feels very secluded and safe with mountains all around.

 Anna, Courtney and Steve.

The girls had fun playing in a little stream of water near a park in downtown Telluride.

 

We spent one of the days in Ouray and toured an old silver mine. It was chilly and a muddy walk through the mine, but interesting just the same.

 

 

Despite a good effort, none of us had any luck panning for gold and silver.

We did a short hike to a waterfall in Ouray.  The weather was perfect and the kids were all in good spirits.

We also spent a couple of hours at the hot springs in Ouray, and the water and ambiance were incredibly relaxing.  I think it was my favorite part of the trip.

Our last night there, we went out to a nice dinner in Mountain Village.  It was so nice to be able to either walk or take the gondola wherever we wanted to go. 

Rian really adored Elle and loved spending every waking minute with her.

Thanks everyone for a wonderful trip, visit and world class accommodations!