Daddy-Daughter Time

Micah's Birthday

Bryce and I took our kids hiking on part of the Greenbelt in the morning and we headed to Brad and Megan's later in the day to celebrate Micah's 5th birthday.

Daphne is always ready to get in water.
Thank goodness for hardy water shoes!

The kids always love hiking anywhere
that they can climb on rocks.

Noah and Tyler

Daphne and Damon

Micah

Singing Happy Birthday to Micah

Rough housing with Uncle Brad (on bottom) and Uncle Bryce

Independence Day

We spent July 4th swimming at Krause Springs with the Hulett cousins. Because it was overcast and eventually rained later in the day, it wasn't as crowded as it probably would have been. The kids had a blast hanging out in rafts, touching the mini waterfall, swinging on the rope swing, and jumping into the super cold spring fed pool at the top of the hill. We skipped fireworks this year since it was raining pretty good and decided to stay in and play games instead.

Damon, Daphne, Noah, Penny, Hazel, Micah, and Tyler

Uncle Bryce brought the best rafts

You know they had fun when
they can't stay awake on the ride home!

Heading Home

Heading home after a great trip to Colorado

Colorado- Day 6

Hands down we all agree that white water rafting was our favorite part of our Colorado trip! On our last day there we went rafting on the Arkansas River in Browns Canyon with the Eaves family. The trip we took was great for families with a mix of tame Level 2 rapids plus some Level 3 and 4 rapids. Daphne was the only one who didn't paddle. She sat in between Martha and I in the middle of the raft and. She was also the only one with a yellow helmet because the small ones don't come in red. Andrew loved that the guide called her a lemon head! Tyler rode in the back of the raft with our guide Chas for the first half of the rafting trip. Since the back of the raft doesn't get as wet Chas took us through one of the rapids backward so that Tyler could get splashed more. Tyler thought that was pretty cool. During the trip there was one rapid you could swim through. Daphne was the only one who wanted to do it, particularly since the water so cold. Since she's so little, instead of letting Daphne swim the rapid Chas dipped her in the water by her ankles and pulled her back in. Towards the end of the trip Chas let Daphne go up to the front to "ride the bull". She stood in the front of the raft next to Michael and Brad and held on to to a rope while we went through tame rapids and she loved it!

The kids loved getting splashed!

L to R: Michael, Lydia, Renee, Chas (our guide), Daphne,
Tyler, Martha, Andrew, and Brad

Poor Andrew got a nose bleed due to the altitude and all the
photos were taken while he had a tissue in his nose.

A little fun back at the rafting outpost

Exploring the town of Buena Vista

Colorado- Day 5

We spent a day in Breckenridge. There were a ton of fun alpine activities on the mountain and shopping options in town. All the kids wanted to do different things so we had to divide and conquer.

There was a fun area at Breckenridge designed
for the little ones like Daphne, who is still under
the 48" height benchmark for other activities.

Bungee trampoline

Daphne looked so grown up in her gear for
the ropes course, which she conquered
quite fearlessly.

Alpine slide

Selfie on the chair lift

Tyler tries to best his time on a mini obstacle course.

Elevation 11,059 feet

Goofing off walking to dinner back in Keystone

Colorado- Day 4

We spent a day exploring Keystone: swimming, kid's activities in town, kayaking/paddle-boating, and hiking.

The pool was a little cold so we
alternated the pool with the hot tub.

Martha and Lydia both vied to do Daphne's hair.

Showing off her lizard arm art

Renee and Tyler

Daphne and Michael

Brad and Andrew

Lydia and Martha

Cold water!

Watching the sunset from our balcony