I Love Summer

Summer means paddle pools, sleepovers with cousins, facepainting, and really cool finds at thrift stores... He'd follow cousin Ryan to the end of the world,

or at least the edge of the playground.

The special request purple horse face paint,

from the book 'Clarence Goes Out West and Meets a Purple Horse.'
Popsicles with the boys
Storytime at the big sleepover.

Overheard at the thrift store, "Momma, I'll trade all my big trucks for the fire ladder truck!"

My Crazy Suburban Life

I went to book club tonight which meant Travis was in charge of dinner clean up, bath, bedtime, and all the other end of the day house round up chores. I came home from a lovely evening and found him mowing the grass in the dark. Yes, that is a flashlight magnet-ed to the lawnmower. (Thanks to Denise who reminded me to get flashlights last October when the blizzard was on it's way and the only ones at the grocery store were little cute ones with magnets on them which have been insanely handy!)

The 4th of July on the 3rd and the 3rd of July on the 5th

Our family vacation spilled over into the 4th of July holiday weekend. Beaver Creek and Avon coordinate their firework displays Avon does theirs on the 3rd and Beaver Creek does theirs on the 4th. Avon's is known far and wide for being superb, and for the first time in over 25 years of summers in the valley instead of watching them from up at the house (we can see the valley from up there) we braved the crowds and went into town.

What a blast! Of course there was a festival, and of course it was totally packed. Of course I knew the best place to sit and it wasn't nearly as crowded since only locals headed over that way. We plopped down our blanket and chairs and joined in the kid's part of the festival. Getting a little hand up...

We packed a picnic dinner but roasted corn and spiral cut fried potatoes are 'fair' food that's hard for us to resist!

FFM turned out to actually be a pretty patient kiddo. A timely purchase of a light up do-dad helped pass the last hour of twilight while waiting for the show to start. Plus a mom with another three year old sat right next to us and the kiddos played exceptionally well together. We should have exchanged numbers!

What a show! FFM was impressed that we both got all these nifty fireworks for our birthdays (his on the 29th, mine on the 3rd, the actual day of the fireworks).

The 4th was a monsoon of a day yet the fireworks at Beaver Creek went on and we watched them from the nice dry confines of our deck :) On the 5th of July we celebrated my birthday by going out to dinner at a very nice tapas restaurant, Dish. FFM dined like a champ, digging in to everything including the garlic whistles, black truffle oil seasoned popcorn, and blood orange ice cream. We took an entire bag of kid entertainment so our three hour dinner passed in a flash. We are SO proud of our kiddo, even the table next to us commented on his excellent dinner behavior! I'm not sure what's happened since then since he's become intractable, but my birthday dinner was divine.

The Great Big Hike

After all the years of working in Beaver Creek, living in Colorado, and vacationing here, I'm not sure I've ever actually ridden the lift in the summer. Boy, have I missed out. I think (gasp!) this might actually be as much fun as skiing. Not only because it's warmer, but there are ZERO people around, and the scenery's still fantastic. This was FFM's first chairlift ride. He's ridden gondolas, but only seen chairlifts, and like all things mechanical (and with wheels) he's totally obsessed. Travis and I both got shushed on the way up so he could study the wheels as we went over the towers.

Once at the top we started a long hike down. Some people hike up and ride the chair down but that sounded like way too much work to us. It turned out to be a five mile hike and FFM was a super trooper and made it nearly all the way on his own. We stopped for a picnic lunch and a lot of snacks and Daddy hauled him on his shoulders for a little bit toward the end.

Lo and behold! Our hike takes us back under the chair! HOORAY!!!
The wildflowers were nearing peak, and it was gorgeous. Here we are at the top of Redtail, looking over at Larkspur Bowl and Grouse Mountain.

Heading down the 'blue' rated trail. We picked the blue one as 1) it wasn't the road and 2) it didn't allow bikes and 3)based on it's location we would meander through trees and then across some of the ski trails which meant we'd see more wildflowers. You aren't supposed to walk down the ski trails as it creates undue erosion so there are dedicated hiking trails instead.

Some columbine peeking out (our state flower).

The trail ended at the Chapel where Travis and I got married (yippee!) and we all sat to take a break by the creek. Finn hung out in the bendy tree.

It was a great day, including a stop for a family happy hour at an old haunt of mine. My favorite bartender who used to only charge me for one out of every three or four drinks is long gone, but that's OK, it was still a (as FFM says) STUPENDOUS day anyway.

Alpine Coasters and Fairy Caves

During our Colorado Vacation we headed west to Glenwood Caverns and Adventure Park. Just before we left for our overseas jaunt this little park started up and has been adding stuff over the years. At first it was just the caves at the top of the mountain, then they add a gondola ride up to the caves, and now there's a whole theme park (western themed of course) so you can spend the entire day wandering about doing fun things.


We went the actual day FFM turned 3 which meant he was eligible for a lot more of the rides, including everyone's favorite, the alpine coaster! We rode it so many times that the guides stopped giving us instructions on how to do it, they just recognized FFM and waved us on through. The coaster started at the top of the mountain and whizzed down in twists and turns, all while attached to the track. Then when you got to the bottom of the track a belt on the track pulled you back up. The cars have brakes so you can control your speed, and the first run I took FFM and we started out a bit mellow. After shouts of 'FASTER MOMMA FASTER!' I just let 'er rip and we hooped and hollered all the way down the track.

Next up, the bungee trampoline. All of the jumping, falling, up and down 'rides' are strategically placed where you get great views down the mountain into the valley so you feel like you are jumping very high, falling way down, etc.

The cave tour was fun, too, although we ended up aborting mission right before the very end because a potty break was needed for Mr. Man. Travis went ahead and finished it off and says that we didn't miss too much.

While we were waiting for Travis to catch up, we panned for 'treasure'. Kids get buckets full of sand and as they sift it out in the water shiny rocks appear (real rocks, sort of like the ones you buy by the bagful at gift shops everywhere out here). Big hit for us. There was even a maze, finish within a time window, get a prize! I think we sort of cheated since Travis could see over the dividers...but we'll let FFM lead next time.
This is the insane swing my darling husband did. The whole time all I thought was, I sure hope someone checks the screws that hold that thing together every single day. Travis was on the side that looks DOWN the mountain, so you look ALL THE WAY DOWN TO THE RIVER and he said it was freaky. Mr Iron Stomach was a bit wobbly kneed when he got off.
If you live in Colorado or come to Colorado you've got to visit this place, I was SO surprised at how much fun it was. They're open year round but the rides only run seasonally. They showed photos of the alpine coaster running in the snow, but I bet it's only if there's a little snow. There were plenty of rides to keep us busy all day, and if you had younger kids there are a few things for them, too.

Now, if we can just figure out how to get an alpine coaster into our back yard, do you think our neighbors would mind? Probably not if we let them ride it...