We left on Friday morning for another wonderful Colorado adventure with the Arbons! Last year we vacationed with my family in Colorado and visited three cities: Estes Park, Granby, and Steamboat Springs. This year we spent the entire time at Granby due to the large and beautiful suite we enjoyed the previous year. We also wanted to take advantage of the ATVing.
Everyone met at our house before caravanning to our destination. The boys did really well, which is always such a shock! We had a seat organizer for both of them, two iPads (one borrowed from my dad), the purple VTech pad, and lots of good food and snacks. We stopped in Vernal for lunch at Cafe Rio and arrived in Granby by 6:00 pm. We were disappointed to find that the big unit wasn’t ready for us (though it should have been ready by 4:00 pm). Luckily, we had another smaller unit (although it was quite a walk away from the suite). We started making dinner at the smaller unit and walked around the lobby area. They finally let us in the suite and were able to have dinner there. The hold-up was the cleaning of the hot tub.
That evening my mom gave all of the guys an early Father’s Day present: inflatable loungers! Such a fun idea and a fun thing to have in Granby. It was seriously hilarious watching everyone try to inflate them! They definitely aren’t as simple as the ads make them appear. It was so funny. Eventually, we had them all filled and we put them in the front room of the suite. We watched Remember the Titans lounging in comfort and colorful style.
On Saturday, we rented two 4-seater razors. My mom, Charlie, and Colson went for a short ride first and then she took them back to the condo and tended them the rest of the day while we explored the mountain! It was very generous of her! We had a blast and got lots of GoPro and drone footage. There was a point that the drone hit a tree, but we were so lucky to have it still working fine. We also nearly lost it as it was running out of battery; it started heading back for “home”, so Jason had to chase it down and found it hovering above from where he launched it. Again, another very close call! My mom spent the day driving around the Grand Lakes with the boys, doing sticker pads, making play dough, and swimming in the balcony hot tub. Right at the very end of ATVing, we got a flat tire in one of the vehicles! No!! So we had to spend some extra time dealing with that.
Sack lunches
Pretty photography by Camry:
The aftermath:
That night we had a great time just hanging out, eating lots of good cookies and ice cream. Somehow we forgot to take our games! Rats! But I’m sure some of my siblings were relieved to get a break from games.
Our room during the stay had two queen beds. We would put Charlie and Colson down in separate in beds. Colson would go down first, and once he fell asleep we would put Charlie down in the other bed. When we were ready to come to bed, we would move Charlie into the bed with Colson for the rest of the night. It was quite a process, but it worked well. We put long narrow pillows under the fitted sheet on both sides of the bed to keep them from rolling off.
Sunday came and it was Father’s Day. We had a German pancake breakfast and then went to Sacrament Meeting. The afternoon was spent at Rocky Mountain National Park where we did a couple of leisurely hikes. We stopped at some historic cabins and saw several moose nearby. Other wildlife we saw were elk and a fox. After leaving the National Park, we did a hike to Adams Falls near the Grand Lakes. The boys LOVED that. It was easy and had lots of big rocks to climb. Jason flew the drone and got some cool footage of the waterfall. Then we went into town, sat on the small pier at one of the lakes, and then got some amazing ice cream. The ice cream was delicious, but not cheap in this town. It was $4 for a single scoop! Geez. However, it was such a fun evening walking around this quaint town and enjoying the perfect weather. We even found a small park on the walk where we played some spike ball. It was really fun.
Adams Falls:
The exciting fox encounter
When we got back to the condo, we opened presents. I got Jason a paintball gun and then gave my dad the “unveiling” of the videos to the last Colorado photo book. We had a good time watching them.
Monday was Charlie’s 5th Birthday. It was another big day! We had Belgian waffles for breakfast then everyone (except for Kim and Kyle) went to Snow Mountain Ranch where Dad, Camry, and Bryan went horseback riding. The rest of us watched the boys do the “Paint A Pony” and ride huge ponies for 10 minutes. The landscape and view were gorgeous! So picturesque and such a fun activity. The boys loved being on the “big horses”. After horseback riding, we met up with the Hansens at the Winter Park Resort to do the Alpine Slide. This resort was quite the hopping place. It resembled Park City a lot. Again, the boys had a blast doing the slide.
Once we got back to the condo we had a good time swimming in the pool. Hansens had to start heading back to Utah because Kyle had school. For dinner we grilled some BBQ chicken and then went to a couple of parks to play. The first one we went to had a fishing pond. Jason caught one, but we quickly found there were way too many mosquitos at this park. So we went to a huge wooden park that was attached to a school that was absolutely amazing! It was so much fun. Wow what a day! Charlie certainly had a dream of a day.
Tuesday was the day of traveling home. We packed up and started the drive. We stopped in Steamboat Springs for lunch. We picked up McDonalds and ate it by the river. We lounged there for a bit in our new blow ups. Jason caught some fish. Then it was time to drive again and we finally got home. Again, the boys did surprisingly well on the drive. Thank goodness! It was such a fun trip! So many great memories. Colorado will always hold a special place in the heart of our family.
A beautiful, familiar sight...
Everyone met at our house before caravanning to our destination. The boys did really well, which is always such a shock! We had a seat organizer for both of them, two iPads (one borrowed from my dad), the purple VTech pad, and lots of good food and snacks. We stopped in Vernal for lunch at Cafe Rio and arrived in Granby by 6:00 pm. We were disappointed to find that the big unit wasn’t ready for us (though it should have been ready by 4:00 pm). Luckily, we had another smaller unit (although it was quite a walk away from the suite). We started making dinner at the smaller unit and walked around the lobby area. They finally let us in the suite and were able to have dinner there. The hold-up was the cleaning of the hot tub.
That evening my mom gave all of the guys an early Father’s Day present: inflatable loungers! Such a fun idea and a fun thing to have in Granby. It was seriously hilarious watching everyone try to inflate them! They definitely aren’t as simple as the ads make them appear. It was so funny. Eventually, we had them all filled and we put them in the front room of the suite. We watched Remember the Titans lounging in comfort and colorful style.
On Saturday, we rented two 4-seater razors. My mom, Charlie, and Colson went for a short ride first and then she took them back to the condo and tended them the rest of the day while we explored the mountain! It was very generous of her! We had a blast and got lots of GoPro and drone footage. There was a point that the drone hit a tree, but we were so lucky to have it still working fine. We also nearly lost it as it was running out of battery; it started heading back for “home”, so Jason had to chase it down and found it hovering above from where he launched it. Again, another very close call! My mom spent the day driving around the Grand Lakes with the boys, doing sticker pads, making play dough, and swimming in the balcony hot tub. Right at the very end of ATVing, we got a flat tire in one of the vehicles! No!! So we had to spend some extra time dealing with that.
Sack lunches
Pretty photography by Camry:
The aftermath:
That night we had a great time just hanging out, eating lots of good cookies and ice cream. Somehow we forgot to take our games! Rats! But I’m sure some of my siblings were relieved to get a break from games.
Our room during the stay had two queen beds. We would put Charlie and Colson down in separate in beds. Colson would go down first, and once he fell asleep we would put Charlie down in the other bed. When we were ready to come to bed, we would move Charlie into the bed with Colson for the rest of the night. It was quite a process, but it worked well. We put long narrow pillows under the fitted sheet on both sides of the bed to keep them from rolling off.
Sunday came and it was Father’s Day. We had a German pancake breakfast and then went to Sacrament Meeting. The afternoon was spent at Rocky Mountain National Park where we did a couple of leisurely hikes. We stopped at some historic cabins and saw several moose nearby. Other wildlife we saw were elk and a fox. After leaving the National Park, we did a hike to Adams Falls near the Grand Lakes. The boys LOVED that. It was easy and had lots of big rocks to climb. Jason flew the drone and got some cool footage of the waterfall. Then we went into town, sat on the small pier at one of the lakes, and then got some amazing ice cream. The ice cream was delicious, but not cheap in this town. It was $4 for a single scoop! Geez. However, it was such a fun evening walking around this quaint town and enjoying the perfect weather. We even found a small park on the walk where we played some spike ball. It was really fun.
Check out the stache on that one!
Adams Falls:
The exciting fox encounter
When we got back to the condo, we opened presents. I got Jason a paintball gun and then gave my dad the “unveiling” of the videos to the last Colorado photo book. We had a good time watching them.
Monday was Charlie’s 5th Birthday. It was another big day! We had Belgian waffles for breakfast then everyone (except for Kim and Kyle) went to Snow Mountain Ranch where Dad, Camry, and Bryan went horseback riding. The rest of us watched the boys do the “Paint A Pony” and ride huge ponies for 10 minutes. The landscape and view were gorgeous! So picturesque and such a fun activity. The boys loved being on the “big horses”. After horseback riding, we met up with the Hansens at the Winter Park Resort to do the Alpine Slide. This resort was quite the hopping place. It resembled Park City a lot. Again, the boys had a blast doing the slide.
Once we got back to the condo we had a good time swimming in the pool. Hansens had to start heading back to Utah because Kyle had school. For dinner we grilled some BBQ chicken and then went to a couple of parks to play. The first one we went to had a fishing pond. Jason caught one, but we quickly found there were way too many mosquitos at this park. So we went to a huge wooden park that was attached to a school that was absolutely amazing! It was so much fun. Wow what a day! Charlie certainly had a dream of a day.
Tuesday was the day of traveling home. We packed up and started the drive. We stopped in Steamboat Springs for lunch. We picked up McDonalds and ate it by the river. We lounged there for a bit in our new blow ups. Jason caught some fish. Then it was time to drive again and we finally got home. Again, the boys did surprisingly well on the drive. Thank goodness! It was such a fun trip! So many great memories. Colorado will always hold a special place in the heart of our family.
A beautiful, familiar sight...
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