Rocky Mountain High

We returned safely from our vacation out to Colorado, to visit my sister and her family. We left last week Wednesday, and returned early yesterday afternoon; since my sister had a long weekend off of work it worked out great. The kids did a great job both on the trip out there, and again on the trip back. I'm sure they were both exhausted from the excitement and just lack of usual routine, so that helped them catch up a bit before having to go back into the real world today.

It's not that often you can go on a vacation with two young children, and seamlessly fit into another household; but that's pretty much what we did. Sure we had a truck full of suitcases, fishing poles, tools, etc; but my sister makes it pretty easy for us to move about our day. From a pak n play, to stroller, to monitors, to air mattresses, and an entire quarter of their house dedicated to us; we were able to just fit right in w/ out the caios of packing our entire house. Not to mention having to turn their house into a tornado as well. Those of you with children can appreciate when someone does this for you.

We have been to Colorado many times, with each trip very different as we get older and our lives change. We used to go there with flyfishing and a daily hike the only thing on our to do list. Now we go there to visit family, enjoy some scenery, and maybe be lucky if we head out to the mountains or foothills for a few hours. With younger children in tow that's perfectly o.k., they have some of the nicest parks you will ever see, and just getting outside to enjoy the fresh air is enough for my kids. It's not that often you can sit on your back deck with a view of the Rocky Mountain front range-on a clear day it's breath taking.

We did manage to make it up to Estes shopping, and for a quick loop around the park (in an effort to get Alex to fall asleep). Jason got the opportunity to fish a few times, and I got a little more time to myself this trip around too which was nice. We were able to be there for Ari's 5th birthday, and helped her celebrate her getting a cubbies patch. Ari's "been waiting to turn 5 all her life", so you can imagine how happy was to share it with some of her family. Alex got to swim with Maddie on her last night of swimming, even though they had to endure arctic temps. Ari loves horses, so she took us to the Anheiser Busch brewery where they house some of the Clydesdales filmed in their commercials. And those are just a few of the things that come to mind, but more importantly we just got to spend quality time with my sister and her family. I also have a few friends that live at far distances, so I know all too well how hard it is to divide your time between everyone when you are home-so it was nice to just have that time to ourselves with them, in their own element. It is just icing on the cake when you have a Rocky Mountain view!

Thanks Mischo Family.

If you'd like to view some photos of our trip, visit: http://picasaweb.google.com/dobiluvr/Colorado