Colorado - a Stone vacation

Oh I'm sorry. This is over a month old. What's worse, is that I started it so long ago, and thought I finished it, and never looked back....so sad. So where the beginning and then where I left off...

Like we do, we were home for two days between the Reese family vacation and leaving for the Stone family vacation. We were home long enough to unpack, do laundry, and pack again.

This trip was Eliana's first trip on an airplane. And she was such a champ! We were more nervous. We had a second diaper bag packed with us in case we were stuck on the airplane, but we didn't need it. Our flight out to Colorado was about 4 hours and left at 11 so we kept her up all morning and she fell asleep as the plane was boarding. She slept right through take off. At dinner point she woke up and played with us, ate, then fell back asleep. We fed her again during landing. In case you're curious, yes the front bathroom had a fold down thing to change her diaper. However, if she was any longer she would have been touching both walls.

So Colorado. Matt wanted to drive over Independence Pass. It is beautiful but scary. It is a two lane road, most of the way, that hugs the side of the mountain. And our ears popped a few times on the way up, which made it hell for Eliana. She was fussy the whole way. But it was a beautiful drive, and less scary than I remember it from my childhood. 

Ashcroft - a ghost town

While we were in Aspen we had a wonderful time. The whole family was there. We went to the music a few times, took some nice walks and hikes, went out for Sarah's birthday dinner. (see this is where having done this a month ago would have been helpful - good thing I have pictures!!!!)

We went hot air ballooning for Sarah's birthday

And we listened to music on top of Ajax Mountain. 

And we went on the swing for the first time. It was a hit!

West Virginia - a Reese vacation

Another summer of travel and family. Our first trip this summer was new for everyone. For the first time we were able to travel with the Reeses.

We spent just under a week out in the hills of West Virginia. We were able to explore the surrounding towns and eat wonderful food. We saw some beautiful waterfalls and spent a lot of time playing games together.

But my favorite outing was in memory of Gerry. It wasn't entirely apparent at the time, but it was in retrospect. We spent an afternoon riding the train. It was a two hour trip and we spent it playing with Eliana and taking lots of pictures.

All in all it was a wonderful trip. And we are looking forward to our trip again next summer. Who knows where we will go next year?!