Family Vacation - Estes Park, CO - August 2009 (pictures galore!)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We THOROUGHLY enjoyed our family vacation last month to Estes Park, CO w/ my entire family. Mom, Dad, Steph, Aaron, Ayan and Lyla all joined us for an amazing week of gorgeous weather and as much relaxing as possible (...said w/ a smile on my face while referring to 4 young children under the age of 3).
But seriously...Kennedy, Will, Ayan and Lyla were all wonderful for us the entire week! Kennedy truly showed us how much she LOVED being outdoors for so many days in a row too. She kept asking where Colorado went after we got home and recapped several of our days there time and time again. We kept wondering how "possible" this vacation was when taking two 2 1/2 yr. olds, an almost 3 month old, and an almost 1 month old. However, the babies adjusted well to everything and obviously did a lot of sleeping. Will would stay wide awake if we were outside usually. He loved it! And we never went anywhere without the 2 chest packs to carry the babies around in. Fast & easy! The 70 degree temps and sunshine helped to make the week SO enjoyable! We only got a couple rain showers while we were there, and none were long enough to ruin any full day's worth of plans.
We spent our week looking for wildlife, visiting the sites around Estes Park, traveling into the Rocky Mountain Nat'l. Park, fishing, shopping downtown, cooking yummy food together each night, etc. Patrick and Aaron woke up early EVERY single morning to hit several fishing holes around town, and Dad joined them on several day adventures as well. All 3 seemed to thoroughly enjoy every minute of it...as you can imagine! Trout fishing on the CO river in 60-70 degree temps...really?! Thought we would NEVER get them to leave! : )
We spent a couple days around Lake Estes eating picnics, taking the kids on walks, watching the Daddies fish, riding pedal carts on their trail, letting the kids play @ the park, etc. It was definitely the highlight of the wk. for Kennedy and Ayan. We only went into downtown to shop one day b/c we had SUCH better things to see! We went to 'Fun City' near downtown one afternoon and had SO MUCH FUN w/ the big kids! It was Kennedy and Ayan's FIRST bumper boats adventure, go cart ride, and carpet slide. And they had a BLAST! Certainly didn't want to leave! We invited one of Patrick's cousins, Amy, and her sweet family over for dinner one evening to catch up (who live in a suburb of Denver). And it was the first time in years that they've even seen each other! We also had a picnic lunch @ Bear Lake up in the Rocky Mtn. Nat'l. Park. Steph and I had stayed home w/ the kiddos one day earlier in the wk. while the Daddies & Mom/Dad headed to the summit of the RMNP, b/c we weren't sure that the altitude would agree w/ them (esp. the newborns). However, Bear Lake wasn't too far into the park and we all really enjoyed ourselves once the mad rain storm ended. : O
Besides being out & about though, we loved simply staying back @ our cabin and letting the kids play together. It was FABULOUS and decked out w/ toys! A great CO vacation home rented out for families w/ kids! They even provided one crib, a pack 'n play, a tummy time mat, a bouncer, etc. Much help w/ the travel to and from! Kennedy & Ayan loved playing out on the back deck, drawing every day w/ sidewalk chalk, watching movies, and much more! Oh...and they JUMPED @ the chance to see ANY sort of wildlife! Even a rabbit! Ha, ha!

CAN'T WAIT TO GO BACK! It was very much needed b/f our crazy MBSF schedule got started back up, and we hope these pictures (and slideshow) help you share our love of CO just a little!