Kings Staycation

Kingston had his own vacation on the farm, I don't think it was quite a vacation for Grandpa & Grandma:) He was too busy riding the tractor, the 4 wheeler, & the skid loader to talk to his mom. Vacation couldn't be complete without one getting sick, poor Grandma had to deal with a puking babe in her car & her bed.

Alberta Falls

 Alberta Falls, a must if you go to Estes, a little more than a half mile up and completely gorgeous!

 I love these 2 little explorers!

 stronger than I thought:)

 to infinity and beyond!

the water is so cool and refreshing, rocks are definitely slippery when wet!

Bierstadt or Bust

The hike to Bierstadt Lake was one of the best for me, we were by ourselves for a lot of the hike and made it a little adventurous. It was beautiful and shaded on the way up and Sarah was back on the trails after being under the weather the day before. 

 It's all about finding the perfect walking stick:)

 Bierstadt Lake was beautiful and we had a picnic area to ourselves on the lake, with no leeches to be found.

We did a switchback down the mountain, it was a narrow path with gorgeous views.

It got a little toasty on the way down our water backpack (aka bladder) ran out of water.

A hiking we will go, day 2

 2nd day in RMNP we did a more popular hike up to Bear Lake, full of leeches that Levi found for us, & Nymph Lake (pic above)

 Next stop Dream lake, handstand on a log:)

 Emerald Lake, Jude was having a breakdown so not pictured, b/c he couldn't find 2 ant sized mountain climbers towards the tip of the tallest mountain peak, yikes!

 see the mountain peak above these guys?

Trav found these climbers on it that seriously looked like ants, it was a little unbelievable, can you spot them above? one has a reddish and one has a blue shirt, towards the middle.

 J is for Jude

 King and Queen of the mountain

Alluvial Fan

the Alluvial fan in Estes was formed in 1982, it is AMAZING!! 

 Poor Sarah had a 102 temp by the time she got back to the house, thankfully her bug was short-lived.

 It is made up of these huge rock boulders, that the kids loved to climb and climb and climb, I felt like it was a broken extremity waiting to happen at times.

this ranked Xander's 2nd favorite hiking adventure for the week

It was safest to slide on your butt back down the steep boulders, I had to get a picture of this.

Rocky Mountain High

 Gail & I found this Blue Spruce Splendor VRBO, it was such an awesome retreat, with all the upgrades, amazing views and a shower that the owner says he had to pull his wife out of. I had to chuckle because I set the smoke alarm off while I was in it the first morning.

 While my 2 older sisters & fams are with my parents partying it up in Disney World, we opted for the more economical vacation to Estes Park. I have to admit, I missed nothing except for my family by going to Estes, there is something that makes my heart sing about being active and enjoying the outdoors with my kids, LOVE IT!!

One of the bad things about going without the rest of my family on our summer vaca is Im not the planner in the family, so Gail & I had a very laid back approach to our week.  

 Monroe said it was the most excited she had ever been to go on a vacation, I felt a little sad because Kingston stayed back at camp Grandma & Grandpa's farm. He only talked to me about 8 seconds the first 2 days and didn't want to talk to me the last 3, I was a little 
lot sad, but thankful at the same time.

 Our first evening we just checked out the town, Barlow Plaza

 a little music festival going on & Big Poppy's Pizza where we had a star spotting by Gail & Travis.  I decided that Gail competes with Trav in the socializing department she of course asked Mr.Jemison? if he was famous, if he was in a lot of movies, and then what his name was, Im sure that boosted his ego. I honestly had never seen the dude in my life.

had to stop at the carousel in Burlington on way

Frog and Toad

We went to the Frog and Toad performance at MHS Friday night, it was soooooooooooo great, we could have gone back for round 2 Saturday night. 

 Xander with Levi, the frog. He did such an incredible job, loved watching him!!

 Jude with Jason, a turtle. (He had lost part of his costume by this time after the play)

 Sarah the turtle, Avery a bird, & Miss Wesley, also a turtle.

 Crystal snapped some pictures of Jude leaving the performance, sunburnt eyes and all they turned out so great, wanted me to stop using my cell phone and bust out my camera to take pictures again, thank you for sending me these!!