Seattle Trip

We went on a glorious trip to Seattle this summer. It was quite possibly the most relaxing vacation I've ever taken. A million thanks again to Skye and Jon for letting us crash at their house, feeding us, giving us insider driving tips, and for generally allowing us to interrupt their lives for a week! I came home feeling more refreshed than I have in a long time. 

When debating road trip vs flying, it didn't take long to decide that the flying was the way to go. The kids were just as excited about the flight as they were the destination. 

In the airport... waiting.... and more waiting..... this was Nora's first airplane trip ever!

Just landed! It was a great flight! 

The kids got their wings. So exciting! And a source of lots of creative play all week long with their cousins.

Our first evening was spent at the Museum of Flight. There was so much to see and we could have spent many more hours there. The outdoor exhibits were my favorite. 

The kids wanted to spend all night in the kid's zone. 

Friday we helped clean house (it's incredible how fast you can clean when you have 4-5 adults all working together!) and put together a puppy birthday party. So fun to share that with Alyssa. I don't think we have ever been to one of her parties before. 

Saturday was Kylie's baptism ---- the catalyst for the entire trip! Again, something we weren't sure if we would be able to share with our out-of-state family. It was so lovely. And we discovered that family selfies are hard when we are all standing up!

We also got to picnic on the beach of the Puget Sound. I wasn't expecting sandy beaches in Washington state! So beautiful and calming. Throughout the whole trip I just couldn't get over how perfect the weather was (60-70 degrees, partly cloudy the whole time!) and how beautiful the scenery was. So many very very green trees and bushes, and lots of water. So different from Utah and just as picturesque. 

We also made a trip to the Seattle temple grounds and the family discovery center there. A very educational and fun trip for everyone. 

We spent one day in downtown Seattle and did the Space Needle tour. This was at the top of the kids' must-see lists. 

Holy cow look at those bolts! They are huge! Zeke was so impressed. He said it was a good thing no one had a wrench that big to take them out or the whole Space Needle would fall over. Side note: love how the other kids are climbing on it in the background. 

We also stopped at the Science Center after the Space Needle. We were all pretty tired so we didn't stay long. We did explore the space room and the butterfly house. Again, so much to see and not much time to do it in. We will definitely plan to come again when we make it back to the area. 

The best part of the trip for everyone was simply the downtime with our family. We had a great time helping with parties and doing touristy stuff. But the time for the kids to play and the adults to talk or just chill was what everyone really wanted out of a vacation. The last day of the trip the kids had a game of Star Wars going all day long, and we were happy to just let them run all over the house exploring the galaxy without having anywhere else to go. 

It's always bittersweet to come to the end of a fabulous vacation, but having another plane ride to look forward to helped! This time the kiddos got to see the cockpit and briefly meet the co-captain. This ride was just as fun as the first and they can't wait to fly again. 

Colorado Road Trip

We went to the Fort Collins area of Colorado before, about 6 years ago. For that trip, we took I-80 through Wyoming because it is the fastest. It wasn't bad, but it was boring enough that we decided we wanted to try a different route, even if it did take longer. We discovered US-40 goes over the top of the Rockies, while I-70 has almost a 2 mile long tunnel under the Rockies. At the mention of a tunnel, the kids were hooked and looked forward to that almost as much as staying in a cabin with their cousins. So, we took I-70 out so we could go through the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnel. It would cost us extra time, but we were okay with that. 

Aaron planned our route to include stops about every hour. At least every other stop was a park where the kids could play for a few minutes. This was the best idea ever! A few minutes at a park did so much to help the kids deal with sitting in the car for hours. There were only a couple of times where we went a few hours with just quick bathroom stops rather than park stops, and we could tell the difference. 

We stopped for lunch at an adorable pond-themed park in Meeker, CO.

We expected to reach I-70 within an hour after lunch. An hour or so later we realized that we were headed north rather than south and were about to join up with US-40 (again). We still don't know what went wrong. We were following google maps directions and the GPS and both of us thought we turned correctly.... but obviously we went the opposite direction after lunch! 

So, we regrouped. Aaron and I knew the kids' hearts were set on the tunnel, and we discussed whether to try to drop down to I-70 now or to go that way on our way home. Ultimately, Aaron set the GPS for Denver and we headed south yet again. We merged onto I-70 about 10 miles before the tunnels.

It's a very weird experience seeing this gigantic mountain towering above you and knowing you are about to go under it.

The tunnel was awesome. We all loved it.  I don't recommend zig-zagging across the desolation (and construction) of middle Colorado, but in the end it was worth it. I'm so glad we didn't skip out on the tunnel. 

On the way home, we took US-40 over the Rockies. It was so beautiful and, again, worth the extra hour or so compared to driving through Wyoming. The road was narrow and winding and I was glad Aaron does the driving. In addition to trees (many, many trees!), lakes, rocks, snow fields, and blue skies, we also saw this herd of elk right next to the road. 

After we got down out of the mountains, the road wound us through a string of small towns. This lake town was cute. Zeke loved the boats. It reminded both me and him of quintessential New England harbor towns. Aaron and I decided this trip that US highway driving is the way to go. You may not go as fast as you do on the interstate, but there is so much more to see as you pass through the little towns on your way. Also, it's easier to make a quick stop in town because you can see the park, grocery store, or gas station rather than trying to figure out which exit to to use. 

We went just slightly out of our way in Vernal to see the Vernal Temple. It was beautiful.

The kids really did great on the road. They colored a bit, watched movies, ate some fun snacks, and played 'I spy' or 'I'm thinking of something....' with us. And we're still playing the license plate game. 

One other funny thing we learned this trip is that our GPS can't be trusted. We set it to home as we left Estes Park. Of course it wanted us to go to Wyoming, so we muted the directions. We figured it would eventually decide to follow the route we were on. Well, that darn thing kept re-routing us to Wyoming until we turned off US-40 in Heber about 3 miles from home. We were in disbelief. But it definitely kept us entertained!

Colorado Scenery

Our first out-and-about trip of our vacation was a hike around Lily Lake. It was a gorgeous little lake with an easy walking path around. 

The first thing we saw as we got started was a duck family with mom, dad, and 4 little baby duckies. The kids were smitten. I should have been videoing all of the "Awwww, look! They're sooooo cuuuute!' But I got this cute picture instead. 

Most of us chose to extend our hike a bit and take the optional trail over the top of a nearby mountain. It wasn't too hard, although it let us know we were getting good exercise. All of the kids did great, and the views from the top were amazing. 

Once everyone had gathered at the end, we got a super nice ranger to take a group picture. 

There was beautiful scenery right around the cabin too. The Big Thompson River ran right through our cabin village. Zeke and I walked down to explore a bit on Sunday morning. And he added plenty of rocks to the river. 

And, when you get on the edge of the cabin complex, you realize you really are up in the mountains in the pines. 

Our drive out took us through Rocky Mountain National Park. Even though we didn't do any hiking or exploring, I count this as part of our sightseeing because it was breathtaking. We started out in dense pine forest, then gradually the trees thinned out. 

After that, the road goes above the timberline and it's just rocky, with a few low plants. And you feel on top of the world. I suppose you pretty much are -- we crested the mountain at about 12,000 feet! We feel like we live up in the mountains, but that's double what we are used to!

One thing I absolutely loved about this part of Colorado was the little lakes that seemed to just appear out of nowhere.  Zeke took this picture for me while we were driving home. 

Colorado Cabin Vacation

We took an end-of-summer trip to Estes Park, Colorado with Aaron's family. All 21 of us stayed in this group reunion cabin. The kids were so excited to go on vacation to a 'log cabin'. 

The venue had some amusing idiosyncrasies, like the super creaky floors and the crazy narrow (and low ceilinged) stairs. But- every family did have their own bedroom, and the bunkhouse had beds for all of the kids! They loved bunking with their cousins.  

The cabin 'village' had a bunch of amenities, including an outdoor pool. Nora declares this was her favorite part. We also tried to teach the kids to play ping pong (which didn't work out) and they spent some time on the playground.

Estes Park is a fun little town. There were lots of options for things to do. We couldn't resist mini golf for $3 a person. It was a cute 18-hole course and it looked like the nice older gentleman who took our money (cash-only) pretty much lived there and took care of the place. Our kids had never mini golfed before, although they were so excited to try. We spent a lot of time teaching them technique. Zeke had moments of frustration but really did catch on quickly. He was doing really well by the time we got to the end. Nora took a lot more coaching. 

We had such a blast at the golf course that our family of 4 went back again for another round the next afternoon. We played pool at the bowling alley had planned to go bowling after (which our kids have been asking to do for a long time!) but the kids wanted to putt putt again. The second time went a lot faster and Zeke is on his way to becoming a master miniature golfer. He even got a hole in one!

Sunday was our down-time day. We played a lot of games and sat around the fireplace and chatted. Here is Zeke's stinky garbage can he drew in Telestrations.

....And.... Sunday was Nora's 5th birthday! We made some donuts and sang happy birthday to her and she couldn't have been happier. 

After singing and donuts, we went out for a bonfire and smores and the kids put on a talent show. It was cute and fun and I think it very well could become a family tradition. 

The one thing I didn't do that I wanted to was go into the town to walk the main street and do some shopping. There were some fun-looking shops and those who did shop came back with some really unique souvenirs. It's okay though, because I traded shopping for more down time / cousin play time, which Zeke says is his favorite part of the trip.

Cousin Pals

We had cousins in town for 2 weeks in July and my kids were in heaven! They spent pretty much that whole two weeks at Grandma's playing. That is all they wanted to do, and they had a blast. I'm so glad that these kids love each other so much. I think they are at ages where they are creating wonderful memories and lasting relationships. 

Nora and Alyssa loved that they were twinners in fun new dresses.

We took the cousins with us to a library magic show and 3 of them ended up on stage with a variety of drinks poured from an orange juice container. Zeke really got root beer and Kylie really got strawberry milk. This wizard was pretty good, we couldn't figure out how he did his tricks!

Ashlynn's family got a puppy and all the kids were so excited to play with him. He's still a baby though - Zeke was bummed when the little guy zonked out right away.

I have no idea what game this was or why Nora thought it would be good to flop over the roof of the Cozy Coupe, but I couldn't resist taking this picture.

Everyone pile on Aunt Heather! Nora sandwich!

I love the cousin train. They're so dang cute. 

Our Summer Staycation

We planned a staycation this year to save some money, and to do some of those things around home that we say we want to do but never actually do. We had expected it to be several single days scattered throughout the summer, but it turned out that we were able to take a whole consecutive week!

Very conveniently, a B-25 bomber was visiting the week we were staycationing. We spent a very enjoyable morning at the airport with this beauty. 

Nora has never been on Trax before (it's hard to believe it's been 4 years since we last rode the train!). She absolutely loved it. On the trip back, we were in the first car, and Zeke spent the whole trip looking through the window to the cab so he could watch out the windshield like the driver.

They were checking tickets at one of the stops, and the kids got police badge stickers. They are showing them off in most of the pictures we have from our train ride. 

We spent another day at the Hill Air Force Base museum. This is another place that we love but haven't visited since Nora was a baby. 

We fit in lots of playground time too.

We tried to go flying on Flag Day, but it was super windy and cold. The only thing we flew was the flag! Still fun though.

It was so great to just be together for a whole week with a lot of free time to do what we wanted instead of our normal daily routine of trying to fit everything in. I took a whole bunch of pictures and we did a lot of playing. It was wonderful.