This past weekend, we decided to brave the wilderness....WITH THE KIDS! Dillon lifted their fire bans the day before we had planned to go camping. Overall, it turned out to be a really great camping trip and we are eager to do it again. With all of the coverage of the movie theater shooting, I think that we were all eager to get away from the media. We decided to go to Dillon Reservoir for one night.
We stayed at the Lowry Campground where we all pitched our tents and set up shelter! There were four families, but due to car troubles, Jeremy and Lindsay had to turn back at Floyd Hill to trade the Jetta for Bruce's car. It was a hot drive and all of our vehicles were on the verge of overheating. They made it up about two hours behind us.
Julie took Elizabeth and Caleb up to a ridge about our campsite!
Henry did really well attached to Mark for the first few hours. However, after dinner, Jenn took Henry and Cora to a hotel in Dillon. They called five hotels and only found one room, so Jenn had the luxury of a three bed room all to herself for the night!
Caleb did so great on his first camping trip! Here is picking wild flowers (although, now that I think about it, that might be illegal) and handing them out!
Miles, Elizabeth, Shae, and Riley all had a really great time climbing the ridge and the large space that we had behind our tents!
Elizabeth had been camping before when I was pregnant with Abigail. This, however, was Abigail's first camping trip and she had a BLAST!
We all think that the kids are geniuses because they figured out, all on their own, how to make a teeter-totter out of a fallen tree and a large rock!
Jude had a lot of fun walking around in the open as well! This was also Jude's first camping trip and he was such a good boy!
We were all very glad that Chris was with us! He was the only one that thought to bring a shelter and it rained for about three hours! He was very innovative and made a spaghetti dinner for Shae's Birthday! They also brought a cake to share! We sang "Happy Birthday" to Shae!
The rest of us grilled hot dogs, veggies, and beans on the propane grille. We had such exquisite plans to cook our dinner on the campfire, but the rain wouldn't let up.
Aunt Lindsay brought up marshmallows for the kids to roast...
...and roast they did!
Elizabeth and Abigail took a minute to pose with their Dad.
(This is my favorite picture from the camping trip!)
Dan, Caleb, and Julie! The kids ran around for a while with glow sticks and it helped us parents to see them in the dark.
Elizabeth Kay.
Uncle Dan and his nieces.
Elizabeth with Uncle Jer, Aunt Lindsay, and cousin Jude (through a smokey campfire haze).
Jude sat in Lindsay's lap for most of the evening. He was enamored by the fire and then fell asleep and let his Mom and Dad enjoy the campfire for a couple of hours.
Nathan and I enjoying the campfire.
Jeremy and Dan. Because of the rain and the kids, the guys never got around to playing a game of boccie ball. Maybe next time.
After a late night of campfire and conversation, we all rose at an early hour. The kids were eager to get up and get out of the tent to enjoy some more nature. Check out time wasn't until 1 p.m. so we were able to cook breakfast burritos and then spent the rest of the morning cleaning up the campsite! It was a really big mess to clean up and a lot of work for only one night, but we had a lot of helping hands.
Riley is kicking back in her swimsuit and camping chair! Mark sent the older kids on a wild goose chase for "marments". He told them that they may be able to catch one if they set an avocado trap. The kids put their brains together, set traps, waited....and waited....and waited....and waited. Maybe they will have better luck next time!
Abigail and Cora found a log (or whatever else) and made themselves comfortable! These two were attached at the hip for most of the trip! They are such great friends and the Amanns are equally afraid of all of the trouble these two are going to find as they get older!
We had a boat reservation, but much like Saturday, the storms were rolling in on Sunday as well. We cancelled our boat reservation and joined the Amanns for a lovely lunch in Idaho Springs!
It was such a fun trip and even though it rained, everybody had such a great time. We planned a shorter trip because none of us were quite sure how the kids would do in the mountains for more than 24 hours, but they all did soooooo great! We look forward to planning another trip, maybe towards the end of the summer when we can all stay an extra night!
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