Colorado Part 3

 The next few days of our trip to Colorado consisted of a trip to Ouray Hot Springs (I didn't get a single picture :(.  Too busy chasing kids!), a shopping trip to Telluride for my mom, Aunt Debbie, and I, and then enjoying the Mountain Village concert.  My parents did some yard work and the kids wanted to help.  I realize this is an insane amount of pictures but I promise this is only half of what I actually took!

LOVE this pic of Mimi and her Ella Boo

Pops and Griff playing the guitar

 Griff helping Mimi and Pops shovel rocks

 Jason and I took the kids fishing, we didn't have much luck because it had rained that day but the kids loved it!

 Ella lost interest and decided mud is much more fun!

 Ella was determined to help Mimi and Pops too but kept getting frustrated when her rocks would fall out of the shovel.  Daddy stepped into help.

 The next pictures are from the concert in Telluride.  Ella was a dancing queen and quite the hit of the show.  She met another little girl and the two of them dance their little hearts out.  

 Pops took her up to see the band

 But apparently dancing is way more important...

 Griffin wasn't too into dancing, he wanted to ride the gondola (over and over and over)

 Fresh rainbow trout from the river

 LOVE this sweet little boy!!!

Worm Digging- Colorado Part 2

 Since I was a little girl coming to these mountains, my dad has always taken us to the "stock yards" to dig worms for fishing.  It's really just a place with very good dirt full of earth worms.  The kids LOVED it, just like I always did!

Doesn't get any prettier than this!

 There are always tons of daisies growing there and Ella loved picking them.  My mom taught her the "he loves me, he loves me not" petal picking game and she did it for the rest of the trip whenever she found a daisy.

 Absolutely love this little girl!

 Griff, Daddy, and Pops digging for worms.  Griff insisted on doing the shovel all by himself and he worked hard!

 Got one!

 Love this mountain boy

 Washing our hands in the creek when we're done

 Mimi and Pops gave Ella these cowgirl boots and she insisted on wearing them with her pj's every night

Living in Paradise (Part One)

We just got back from our annual vacation to Rico, Colorado.  This year we got to spend 12 days in the mountains and it was heaven, well once we got there it was!  We decided to try driving this year.  We drove the first 14 hours to Santa Fe and then 5 hours the next day to Rico.  All in all, the kids did great, but it was a looong way.
Once we got there, the drive was well worth it!  We took the first couple of days to just relax around the cabin and play.  We took lots of walks down to the river and explored the old mines behind our cabin.  Griffin has been really into Scooby Doo lately and loved exploring around all the "spooky" old mines and cabins. My dad and Jason started right into fly fishing the creeks and rivers around the cabin.  I feel like I say this every year, but this year I felt like the kids were at such a great age to really enjoy all that Rico has to offer.  Seeing them find joy in a place I grew up loving every summer was just awesome!

 One happy boy to finally be down at the river!

 Loving on his Pops!

 Ella catching a ride

 Our neighbors are remodeling their cabin and there was this rock/gravel pile right across from our cabin.  It provided endless entertainment for the kids!

 The mornings are very chilly (in the 40's) so we had to wait every morning for it to warm up a little before heading outside to play.

 Snuggle time with Mimi

 Enjoying their hot chocolate every morning

 Griffin loved helping Pops make the hummingbird food and refill the feeders

 Making brownies for dinner with our friends the Vandergriffs!