Vail/Gypsum/Sylvan Lake

Holy Picture overload! I didn't realize I had so many pictures from camping! I didn't even include all of them :) ha! I guess it is me we are talking about, I shouldn't be surprised :) After leaving Boulder we continued our trek west to visit our friends in Vail! They actually moved just outside of Vail to Gypsum, Co and it is beautiful! It is a cute little town and they have a cute little house! Before we made it to the mountains though we had to stop at The Sundance in Nederland. It was one of our favorite breakfast places and it was delicious! Connor loved it and ate all of his plate and part of mine!

This was the only time he fell asleep in the car on the whole trip, I couldn't believe it! I knew he was tired and had a full belly so I turned off George and he was OUT! Sidenote, I think he may have watched 2,340 hours of Curious George with a few Cars/Monsters Inc in there, it worked! He woke up right before we got to our destination and loved looking at the "beautiful mountains." Our plan was to spend a few evenings with the Fernandez's and then we were all going to go camping. We love camping with Angelo,Erin and Blu - they always come up with the best places!

 We stopped and had a little picnic lunch about half way up and it was so nice! We took a little walk and explored - it was a little chilly and perfect! We came across some animal bones and C and Blu had so many questions about why they were there, how they got there. It was fun to listen to them!

 We stopped at a picture point - Angelo said we should all get out and get our picture taken! I just wish the pictures did it justice, it was just beautiful! I really wish someone would have said something about my hair and this could have been a half way decent family picture :) Connor was making us laugh he had to have a picture taken with baby over his face and without!

 They had so many Aspen trees on the way up, I love Aspen's - I think they are my favorite. Every one we passed Connor would go "Look Momma, it's one of your favorite Aspen trees!" it was pretty cute.

 We did some fishing while we were there and Connor loved it! He even caught a fish :) Bj's grandpa passed him down lots of fishing gear and I know it was really special for him to use it with Connor.

 C loved casting the line and waiting - he really fished for a lot longer than I thought he would have, he wanted to do everything by himself and he was pretty good. He would reel the line in really slow and listened really intently to everything Daddy had to say.

I just loved this one of him sitting there fishing away - he reminded me of the little boy on Forrest Gump! He was so funny, he had a great time and he insisted upon wearing his "camper" shirt when we went camping, he is pretty precious!

No camping experience is complete without smore's - I couldn't wait for Connor's first experience with the smores, he loved them! He set up a little "shop" while we were cooking them, he had an assembly line, gave you your marshmellow on the stick so you could roast and then you had to come back for the graham crackers and chocolate - it was cute and he and Blu had fun!

We had the best time camping, it made us remember how much we miss it! It was such a fun first to have with Connor, we already can't wait to go again. He keeps asking about the smores and when we get to make them again. He has also been playing pretend in the dirt that he has to catch some worms so Daddy can go fishing, sweet little boy.

Daddy caught some fish too! He was pretty proud of his catches, I think he caught about 6 or 7! After we left camping it was off to Steamboat to get ready for a new place and Adam and Laura's wedding!

Boulder Cafe/BJ's

After spending the day in Longmont/Lyons we were off to Pearl Street and Boulder to see more friends! It was so fun to pull up to Pearl and see everything looked the same and stuff that we used to love doing! We were always down on Pearl so it was just so fun to bring Connor and see him running around. He was such a trooper - the poo guy had to sit through Happy Hour with a bunch of people he didn't know and then head over to dinner, but he was awesome and really hung in there! We ran up and down "the mall" before sitting down to dinner - he loved this fountain.

 The Boulder Cafe was probably my favorite place in all of Colorado. I spent many an afternoon in this same spot enjoying 1/2 price appetizers and drinks - does it get much better than that?! I plopped myself in that empty seat and proceeded to eat two appetizers to myself and loved every minute of it :) My sweet friends from work came to visit and it was SO fun to see them and catch up. It really just felt like old times - hanging out and catching up. I loved it!

Connor got a little tired of dinner so we went over and watched the street performers. Connor couldn't get over what he was doing and watched so intently! He didn't want to get any closer, but had fun watching the magician and man on stilts. He started tossing flaming batons up in the air and C was amazed! After happy hour we moved on to our other favorite place, BJ's! We definately stuff ourselves with everything we hadn't had in awhile. Connor loved his first pizookie and it was so fun catching up with even more friends! The next day we were off to the mountains!

Colorado, pt. 1

We left in the evening Saturday night before Father's Day to head out to Colorado to visit friends and end off the trip with a wedding! It was a WHIRLWIND of a trip and we had the best time! We calculated that we drove about 2,340 miles -- and 600 of those miles were in Colorado. It was crazy and I am not exaggerating when I say that Connor was amazing! This was the longest road trip we have ever done with him and he was awesome - totally went along with the flow and I will willingly take him anywhere in the car again. He fell asleep one time, after we had breakfast and were on our way to the mountains - we turned off the dvd player and he took a little snooze until we got to the "beautiful mountains". It was such a fun trip, we did so much I had to break it up into parts! Ha!

 Our sweet friends Jason and Sally were so kind to let us stay at there house - on Father's Day and with a new baby! Our friends Josh, Stacey, Doug and Monica were all able to come and have a cook-out Sunday night. It was so fun! All of the kiddos got along so well and it was so fun to catch up with everyone! The kids were running all over the place and I don't even know if I got one picture of them, ha!

 After Lyons we drove by our old house - we were so excited to see what all they had done to it. Um, we pulled up and they have let it go, it's like they don't even care about it! I just couldn't get over it. The backyard looks like it hadn't been cut since we moved (we peeked over the fence, haha!) and the front was dead. They had put in a few garage door and driveway but that was it. Thank goodness the curtains were closed tight, I don't know if I could have handled peeking in the windows and seeing what they had done to the inside :) We kept telling Connor this was his first house and he was like "oh yeah, I remember that!" Ha!

 Monday we took Connor up to Lyons to splash around in the river and play on the playground. The river was FREEZING! We could put our feet in but that was about it - apparently they haven't had the heat we have been having in St. Louis making all water the temperature of bath water :)

 We had fun splashing around and playing on the playground - Connor loved the slide - it was hot but fun!

This is the typical face you get when you ask C to get his picture taken, haha! Its a good thing I just follow him around with the camera so I am able to get a few face shots now and then :) After playing in Lyons we hung out in the pool with Sally and Elsie, and then it was time to get ready to head down to Pearl Street for Happy Hour and dinner!

Week at the Lake!

We spent our 2nd annual week at the lake in the beginning of June and we had the best time. We had wonderful weather and it was so nice to just hang out and enjoy it! Debbie, Connor and I left on Monday morning and had a few days to ourselves before the boys arrived. We made the most of it by heading to Big Surf and eating at our favorite Backwater Jack's.

 Connor loves to feed the fish. He has now decided that he likes to save his quarters and buy the fish food instead of bringing our leftovers. He just thinks its amazing how they all swim up and fight over the food, we love watching him too :) He is so cute with the quarters he puts them in the machine, turns the knob and gets all the food out. Sweet little man.

 We seriously had the best time at Big Surf. Connor and I spent about 3.5 hours in the wave pool - he was HOWLING with laughter and I just couldn't stop smiling. I think my arms almost fell off from throwing him in the waves but he was having so much fun I just couldn't stop. He is at such an awesome age and I love his sense of adventure. He was devastated that he wasn't tall enough to ride some of the slides, we told him maybe next year!

 Enjoying his morning breakfast and chat with Grandpa, I think they were talking about how excited they were to go on the boat :)

 He takes driving the boat very seriously and he just loves it. I think he sat up on Grandpa or Daddy's lap the entire time driving the boat. He also discovered the cabin below deck and had fun looking out the portholes. He is so funny too he just hops in the water and swims around with his little life jacket on. He knows when he gets down to the dock that he needs to put his life jacket on "because it keeps me safe and floating in the water momma." Sweet, smart little boy.

We just had the best trip, we just love having the lake so close. I think we have used it three or four more times since we were there in June. We can't get enough :)