Monday, August 26, 2013

Durango, Colorado - Summer 2013 - Part II

Once we all arrived at the house, we just hung out and caught up with one another. I got to share the news of Baby #2 with everyone in person this time around which was so exciting! It's not often that we are all together, given that we live in 3 states spread across the U.S. The next morning we all got up and went for a hike in the mountains (really, it was actually our backyard!).

Cousins! Aidan, Oliver and Finley
Hiking up the mountain
Oliver was intrigued by everything!
Most of the gang
Awesome views
I was surprised my little monkey made it as far as he did!
My two favorite guys
Views like this remind me that God is so much bigger than us.
The house sits right on the boundary of a national forest.
A tad bit sweaty but still chuggin' along
Beautiful!
Aidan and Brock...right after one of them jumped/fell off the rock
Don, Baby and me
With Oliver in tow, we didn't make it quite as far as some :)
Oliver and his Uncle Noah...these two are buddies :)
We found an animal home...I really didn't want to find out what lived in there.
Oliver, however, did...so he started poking at it with a stick. Luckily, nothing came out!
Finley getting a ride from PawPaw
Heading back to the house
Pretty rock...that Oliver wiped out on. We ended the hike with blood running down his leg and a big gash. He still talks about hurting his knee while walking at PawPaw's house. :-)

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Durango, Colorado - Summer 2013 - Part I

Back in July we headed to Durango, Colorado to meet up with the rest of my family for vacation. It was the first time Oliver had ever traveled by airplane and the first time we had gone on a "real" vacation in quite awhile. We had the most fabulous time. Despite being a few months pregnant and sick all the time, I was able to do way more than I thought I would. I swear the elevation helped me feel better! I was rarely sick the entire week! We got to do and see so many new things, and we stayed in an amazing house with my entire family. Since I took so many pictures, this will be the first of several parts :) Stay tuned for Part II!

This was our first view of Colorado as we left the Durango airport and headed toward town. It's amazingly beautiful here!
We were the first ones to get into town so we headed to Durango Mountain Resort to take a look around. I'm sure this place is unbelievable in the winter, but they had some pretty awesome activities for summer visitors as well! It was sort of like a very small Vail.
Cute hotel, lots of fun shops and restaurants and really cool activities for older kids.
We had a great time just walking around and checking everything out!
Lots of space for Oliver to run around after being cooped up in airports and on planes since the crack of dawn!
This is just one of the ski runs that they turn into a mountain bike course in the winter.
Of course, we had to stop in the ice cream shop! Yum!
Then, we headed to the house we were staying in. It was nestled right into the mountains. This was our view from the beautiful front porch!
Another view from the porch
And another...
This is looking toward the house next door.
The mountains right across the road
We had daily visits from several deer. 
They usually came right up by the house every morning to eat breakfast.
Our view from the back porch
The awesome house we stayed in
Another look toward the neighbors
The front of the house
The outdoor porch where we spent a lot of time.
We spent tons of time out here and had a fire going every night. There was also a beautiful, huge table that we ate meals at.
The living room...loved the furniture and decorations in this house!
Kitchen
Several times a day, we could see and hear the Durango Silverton train on the mountain across the road. The kids really enjoyed watching it and hearing the train whistle.
A closer view of the train