Well… I thought I’d check in with my dusty little old blog. As always, there is never the intent to step away for so long, but it’s really nice when I do. We’ve had a great summer so far, and if you follow me on Instagram, you’ve seen a good bit of what we’ve been up to. Lots of loving on James Walker, lots of swimming, a couple of camps, and we just returned from a family trip to Colorado.
We visited my brother in Vail/Beaver Creek, Colorado last week. Todd and I first visited this beautiful area when we were dating and were invited to go with a few other couples out there. And after that, my brother, Walker, moved out there.
Todd and I wanted to take the boys and meet my parents out there for a week to visit Walker and explore in the summer time. It was a nice escape from our heat and humidity here in South Carolina. I was a little nervous about the flight, but all the kids did great. James Walker fell asleep during take off for all of the flights and Hudson and Hayes played on their new Kindles.
On the way to Beaver Creek, we stopped and did the Georgetown Loop Railroad. It was a beautiful little train ride and the kids loved it. James Walker, though, completely lost his mind every time the train whistle blew. Poor baby!
Some friends of ours were very generous and offered for us to stay in their home out there, and it was so nice to have everyone staying in one spot for the week. We flew out on Monday morning and stayed for seven days. My cousin and her girls were also there and my boys loved having playmates for the week!
I’ll let the pictures do the talking, but we did a lot of fun things all week. I’ll post links to all the places we went and things we did. It was one of our great family experiences together and we just enjoyed every single minute of being there. I keep comparing it to how much fun we all had at Disney World. It was just so much fun to get out and DO stuff together.
This was the day we rode the gondola to the top of Vail mountain and participated in all the fun adventure activities at the top. The boys did the rock wall, the zip line, and the ropes course. While Hudson was on the bunjee trampoline, I was taking video and pictures of him and completely missed a huge rock. I stumbled over the rock and skidded across a bunch of gravel. We laughed about it later, but mercy! How’d I miss that rock?
We went white water rafting on a really tame part of the Colorado River. All the kids absolutely loved it! I’m excited about when they’re big enough to do a bigger trip!
We spent the day at Beaver Creek one day, too, just shopping and doing putt putt and the fun adventure stuff there.
It rained one day, so we went to the Avon Recreation Center to the indoor pool with fun waterslides for the kids. It ended up being a ton of fun and they didn’t want to leave! We also had the kids playing games of Still Mouse Quiet Mouse when we were trying to gather up everything to leave the house.
We went to the Beaver Creek Rodeo one night and we all loved it! I wasn’t sure if the kids would like it or not, but they were completely entertained and just watched in awe! We’d definitely do it again. Even James Walker liked it!
We went back up to Adventure Ridge for the kids to play, and for Todd, Walker, Carrie, and me to zip-line!
We all went bowling one night, and then on the last night, we went to see Pixar in Concert in an amphitheater. We packed a picnic and brought the selfie stick for a big group photo! That night was so much fun!
This family photo just makes me smile so big! I love these people so much! 
We got to spend a lot of time with my brother and his girlfriend, Carrie, and any time we get to spend with my mom and dad is a gift. We came home with recharged batteries (despite missing our flight due to bad traffic and less-than-stellar planning and having to take the red eye home) and full hearts. It sounds corny, but really, it was so much fun.
I’ve linked to almost all of the things that we did while we were there in case you’re planning a trip to the Vail Valley area.
Lionshead Village Playground
Timberline Upper Colorado White Water Rafting
Bravo! Vail at Gerald Ford Amphitheater
I always return from visiting family and friends with that “heart is full” feeling and mentality. There’s just no other way to describe it!
What a wonderful vacation!! I loved looking at your Instagram pics along the way. Everything looked beautiful! So much fun in this one post :).
It sure looks like y’all had a blast! I’ve never been to Colorado, but we have friends that moved their recently and I think they are in love with the state. So glad you enjoyed your family time. 🙂
looks like fun. Great spending with time with family is always nice.
It looks and sounds like so much fun! I’ve never been to Colorado like this before (just the Denver airport) and I think my son would love this. Thank you for the links, too! How did everyone, especially the boys, do with the altitude?
This looks like the most fun family vacation ever!! I’m totally jealous of the cooler temps because I’m just dying in the heat and humidity this week! I love summer, but eeesshhh! That’s awesome that your kiddos got to spend so much time with cousins – it looks like everyone had the best time!!
It looks like you all had an incredibly wonderful time! Colorado is so beautiful to visit in the summer time!
What an amazing trip! I have never been west of St. Louis and this definitely makes me want to take our kids that direction! I would have never thought there is sooo much fun stuff to do without the snow out there! I don’t know which picture I like best! The family pics are amazing, the one of you and James Walker at the rodeo where you are laughing is just pure joy! So happy you had a wonderful week with your mom and the rest of your family 🙂 xoxo
So much fun!! And a nice break from the crazy heat we’re getting this summer! Looks like y’all filled your days with all kinds of fun adventures. That’s my idea of a family vacation! I know y’all will cherish those memories forever 🙂
Erin, You look SO happy and full of life in all these pictures! Amazing with a newborn! What a wonderful trip. We spent 6 days last summer in Aspen celebrating my gram’s 90th birthday, and I felt exactly how you did. It’s just a wonderful trip with so many things to do. Plus, my hair REALLY loves Colorado weather 🙂 No frizz, no puffiness, just shinylocks every day 🙂