A Mountain Holiday!

What a weekend we had a few days ago!  We simply could not wait for the July 4th weekend this year because we just knew it was going to be an adventure.  Grandma and Grandpa Longmire decided to come to town and we all headed up for a weekend get away in the mountains.  

On the 4th we met G and G up in Breckenridge for some holiday festivities including a parade......

seeing the big Budweiser Clydesdales........

sitting on the biggest, shiniest, brightest red fire rescue truck ever.....

and a FIRST Gondola ride!  What a blast going up the side of a mountain in the Summer.  Lily and Evie LOVED every minute of the ride up the mountain and Lily kept asking, "Mommy when are we gonna ride the granola again?"  

Some people think that Ski resorts are only focused on the winter sports, but such is not the case.  At the top of the Gondola ride, there was an entire activity park. Lily, Bob and Grandpa got their lift tickets to ride the alpine slide and we all tackled a game of miniature golf.  

 

When we started our golf game we were all trying to wrangle the very active baby in the stroller.  By about the 3rd hole we decided to just let her chase the balls.  What ensued was a picture worthy mini golf game.  The girls had a blast!  

We made it to our cabin destination outside of the tiny town of Twin Lakes CO amidst the pouring rain and bad directions.  The cabin was perfect, right at the base of one of CO's fourteeners, La Plata.  The cabin came complete with a fire pit, bear door and instructions for mouse defense.  Our night was wonderful and spent in good company eating smores, snuggling in the cold and gazing at the moon.

Saturday took us to Leadville for a trip on the Railroad.  What a gorgeous trip and such a fun experience.  Bob and Grandpa got off half way and went zip lining (so fun).  The trip was beautiful and such a fantastic way to spend the morning!

Sadly the day ended with Lily getting food poisoning and poor Little Evie having explosive diarrhea from a virus she had been fighting.   It put a bit of a damper on the afternoon, but Bob and I managed to go for an hour and a half bike ride and get the girls comfortable and sleeping.

Sunday was a great day.  We started with a hike up to a waterfall right outside of our cabin.  The climb was perfect and short, even if I did end up with 2 ticks on me (so GROSS!!).  The weather was perfect and such a relief from the heat of the city.  

Here is the crew....all together!

We got all showered and packed, said goodbye to our cabin and headed on a road trip to Aspen, CO. 

The road to Aspen was breathtakingly beautiful and a fun drive complete with several sections of road with no guardrail and single lane driving.  It was very cool!

I wanted desperately to go to Aspen to see for myself this gorgeous area called Maroon Bells.  It is one of the must see sights of Colorado and it took me 31 years to get here!  But man was it worth the wait.

We spent a couple of hours hiking around the base of the bells and taking as many pictures as possible.  It was so peaceful and lovely.  The lake was filled and the rivers were running high.  Wonderful to see the colors and the life that water brings!

What a place!  Grandma and Grandpa loved seeing the mountains and the girls soaked up every minute with them.  Even though they both were not feeling all that well, they were precious and I am so glad that I could take them to see such a glorious place.

We finished our hike and headed back down towards the city.  It was a wonderful weekend spent having adventures and making memories.  It must have been fun because the girls slept nearly the entire 4 hour trip home.

We loved having Grandma and Grandpa Longmire here and enjoyed every minute exploring our mountainous state in this America we call home! Happy 4th of July!