Estes Park, CO

What's better then camping in late summer in Colorado, next to a river where you pull fish out by the bucket loads? Doing it in a cabin, with beds and running water! We spent an awesome 3.5ish days in Estes Park with Mike's parents in a cabin with a deck that hangs over the Big Thompson River.

Lucy loved fishing, well, she loved the fish.

 Michael did too. Mostly the fact that he caught a ton of them!

 Who needs toys? Lucy enjoyed the "amenities" of the cabin, the bucket, the cupboards, pots and pans...

 We met this guy in downtown Estes. Worst idea ever to let her pet him, from that moment on, anytime he was pulling passengers down the street Lucy would become insistent that we take her over to watch him. Until he was out of our line of sight. Yeah, she has a thing for animals.

 But then we distracted her with Blue bell ice cream, in a homemade waffle cone. never thought it possible to enjoy the cone more then the ice cream

 I wonder what he's looking for?

 Then Ethan fell and he and Pops had to walk it out

 The men. (all their idea)

 E was allowed to pick one toy during our shopping trip. At the third store he found a Police dress up kit, handcuffs, knife, gun, badge. The rest of the time we were shopping, he remembered that kit and we stopped and got it on the way out. We spent the rest of the trip taking turns being handcuffed.

 She spent much time in here, usually the rug and some teddy bears were in there with her

 There was only a shower so we improvised

 Then someone decided we should take this little box on this tiny cable to the top of this big mountain. we survived.

 and collected a few rocks to bring home

I took many, but the pictures of the view do not do it justice. It was beautiful

Ethan tamed a mountain lion

And waded into the middle of the river

Thursday was time to pack up and come home. Before we did, we stopped at Lake Estes. We saw a duck

And then out of nowhere, a herd of elk came splashing into the lake!

Then they turned and went straight toward Michael! Like they wanted to fish too.

They scared away the fish. It was AMAZING!!! We didn't expect to see any elk, it was still so warm and assumed they were all up higher in the mountains till fall.

But then it really was time to come home. We were tired

Buffalo Vacation 2012

Last month the entire family, Mom, Dad, Bri, Steve, Mike, myself, Ethan and Lucy, made the trek out to Buffalo, NY for the Csont family reunion. The trip started like many of our others, with a night in Denver before flying out.
 Lucy had a bit of a hard time on the way up, so we stopped for some refreshments. (As in, bribe them with sugary drinks to keep them happy)

 It worked. The hotel was great and the kids were beyond excited to have the whole family together in a hotel!

 The flight left early from DIA and we had a long layover in Minnesota. But there were restaurants, shops and a play area that kept us busy.

 Both flights out were pretty pleasant, they were each only an hour and a half and my darling girl slept through both of them! Ethan even crashed during the second one. Then both traveled well on the hour drive to the B & B. We stayed at the Marienthal Country Inn again and loved it just as much as the first time.

 It's always so nice to get away from the house. Not have to worry about cleaning and cooking and working and everything is new so the kids are easy to entertain.

 Fortunately, with the amount of people we had we(just barely) fit into a Nissan Armada. Next trip, if there's any new members, we may have to get a bus.

 The trip included many visits to the Babcock household, but there is a ton of land, a creek, golfing, kan jam, cards and family that kept us busy. I think E would've been happy spending every minute of vacation at Uncle Perry's house, they were buds.

A fort made by Mike and Ethan

Fudgecicle, I should've gotten an after shot of her chin

 Kan Jam Robots!!! (this game was new to us, but tons of fun, kind of like frisbee golf)

 decided to switch it up with some sideways shots (really, I just don't know how to flip them)

  We also managed to hit the beach (excuse me, LAKE, according to my husband) a few times. The water was fabulously warm, we just had to watch for those lake sharks that Papa warned us about

 And then, of course, the family reunion. 4 generations of outlaws, inlaws and family

 

  While the reunion was fun, the main reason for the trip was that they were honoring my grandfather's 90th birthday, which will be this December 11th.

 

The goodbyes were painful, we can't wait till June when they will come out here for a wedding!!
The trip home was slightly like the way out. We spent the night in a hotel close to the airport because I flight left at 6. IN. THE. MORNING. Not naming names but who booked that?? We knew morning would come too early when Lucy and Ethan were cracking us up at 11pm. But because of exhaustion, they both slept on the flight to New York City, and then we RAN (45 minute layover) to our next flight which brought us to Denver. Lucy, again, slept through most of it, I love traveling with that girl!! And then we were home and it was all over.