Michael and I, and now Ethan by association, are the type of people that need to take mini vacations once and awhile to keep our sanity. Sometimes this would be camping and for a few years it was Estes Park. Now that I am (very happily) not working full time, we had to look for something cheap and I am not quite brave enough to take Ethan tent camping. Some really great family friends of ours own a condo in Dillon (very close to some of the major ski towns) that doesn't get too much use in the summer. So with keys, directions, and about as much luggage as we took on our last trip to Florida, we headed to the mountains. The drive up was a mix between terrible (three long traffic jams) and awesome (spotting every tractor and train that we could and having Ethan shout "mo!", more, after every one).
Ethan LOVED the condo!! A previous owner decorated three and a half walls throughout the place with mirrors and that was a big hit (we used a bit of window cleaner before we left) Plus, the futons in the living room were just the right height for climbing. Along the side of the complex was a great grassy area with a small creek (more like a trickle) that we walked and played along. One thing not so great in Ethan's mind was having to go to bed. The first night was pretty rough. We let him stay up a little later and use up all his energy but it was still a new place. He stayed asleep once he was down but as you can see from this face:
we got up VERY early! 5am early. Normally I would leave him in bed for a little but since we were in the same room there was no chance he would fall back asleep, especially with all the exploring there was left to do. For breakfast we went to a little cafe and had a wonderful meal, including a happy pancake:
After a great nap, we headed over to the Dillon reservoir to cook up some hotdogs and play. They had some grills by this cool playground, Ethan only wanted to play on the spiny things
While Daddy was cooking we went exploring, there was some kind of fund raiser going on and they had a little radio set up and Ethan just started dancing!
The gorgeous Dillon Reservoir
The condo complex has a rec center so we headed over in the afternoon to swim. It was pretty chilly but we had a good time. Afterward we went outside to play on the playground but the mud was more interesting. Stomping in the mud, a favorite past time
"I've got a stick!"
That was the busiest of the weekend, mostly we hung around the condo, Ethan and Daddy found a ball in the creek, from the way he was playing with it you would think he didn't already have 2 at home.
This was during one of our walks. We now throw rocks into any water source we can find
That pebble didn't go quite far enough for Ethan, good thing Daddy was there to catch him as he dove in after it
"I don't know dad, that looks awfully heavy..."
"...but of course I'll help you try"
King of the Mountain!!
The second night went a lot better, we managed to sleep till 6:30.
On one of the boat docks at the reservoir before we headed home
I am so grateful that we had this opportunity available to us and am glad we took it to spend some time as a family.
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