A Day with the Mattern family

Robb and I went to Mary Lunds moms funeral and we didn't really want to take the kids so we asked dad and Cindy to watch them. Our 4 kids vs them is a bit much but they assured me that they were happy to do it and they were looking forward to it. They took the kids to Ashfall Fossil Beds by Orchard, they went out to eat and they even went to Grove Lake and got to climb chalk mountain. The kids informed me that chalk mountain wasn't as impressive as I had described so it must be deteriorating over time (Ha Ha). The big Grosse family reunion was also this weekend so we met up with them there later in the day. It was fun to see people that I haven't seen for years. Thanks Dad and Cindy for babysitting for the day! The kids had a blast!

Green Thumb

I am pretty proud of the garden this year. Robb is helping with it this year so it has been a little easier to keep on top of. We laid down black fabric to stop the weeds in between the rows and put railroad ties around the edge to keep the grass out. We have already had a ton of cucumbers, beans and we are anxiously awaiting tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, broccoli,  and onions.

Day 5 Rafting Down the Colorado River

When we had decided to go to Colorado for vacation, we had started to research some fun things to do. We decided to check into whether or not there was a family friendly float trip available. Robb found one outfitter that did a float trip that was appropriate for all ages and that didn't require us to do any of the paddling (Robb and I think that would be fun) but with Abby and Emmy we needed ultra tame! We had to meet at the drop in point about 2 hours away. We soon learned that there are still a lot of areas in the mountains where your phone doesn't work as a map and we struggled to find it a little bit but finally made it. Our guide was a guy about our age and he was nice but he didn't really seem like a kid person, which made me a little nervous. He fitted us all with life jackets and ran through all the safety rules. We had to learn what to do if the raft flipped or we fell out. Yikes! We also had to sign that we wouldn't hold him or the company responsible for injury or death. Great! He did reassure us that this trip was very tame and that none of those things would happen. We got in his old beat up van and headed to the water.

He brought a little inner tube that he tied behind the raft. He called it the time out tube but really he just thought the kids would think it was fun. I was liking him more already.

The kids were dying to get into the water until they felt how freezing cold it actually was. There was still snow in areas on the upper part of the mountains. It was beautiful as we made our way down the Colorado River!

We saw some paddle boarders taking the same route we were taking. I was impressed that they could stay up on paddle boards when some areas were a little bumpy from rocks. Not to mention, if you fell you would land on some pretty rough rocks!

All the kids really enjoyed it. The guide even let Emmy have a paddle and pretend to help him.

We got off at one area where an old cabin had once been. We looked around for a while and the kids collected fools gold rocks from the water.

Nick, our guide in the background.

Right after we say this cool rock formation we went around the next bend and Nick said to look for the hot springs that were coming up. We got more than we bargained for because as we found the hot springs we also saw a guy skinny dipping in it. The kids of course thought this was hilarious.

Caleb wasn't afraid to the cold water. He was going to ride in the time out tube.

We had a blast. The entire trip lasted about 4 hours. Nick showed us a great time and even though we found out that he didn't have kids and wasn't interested in having kids, he was really great to our whole family. We had a blast. This was probably my favorite thing that we did! When we were headed home we stopped in a tiny town at a café to eat before we headed home.

Day 4 Fishing and Shopping

We woke up to a chilly day on Sunday. We stayed it the condo and hung out for awhile because everyone was tired. The night before we had lost internet service during a storm. We also didn't have any working DVD player so things got a little dicey. Everyone was a little grumpy. We headed to the outdoor mall which was about 45 min away. It was rainy and freezing and we found out that the awesome outlet malls that we had remembered from years ago really weren't that nice anymore. We got a few things and headed home. Emmy and I took a much needed nap and Robb and the big kids went to scope out a place to fish. Caleb has been really interested in fishing this summer and he wanted to catch something on vacation. From watching other people fish in the area, I think he would of needed to be fly fishing to catch something but it didn't stop him from trying. 

They found a pretty cool playground too.

Bryce found a basketball court.

Caleb giving fishing a shot.

That night we walked around downtown Breckenridge. It is a cute little town.Abby got a sweatshirt, Caleb got a pocket knife and Emmy got a snow globe. Bryce had already bought his item at a gas station on the way to the mountains he had bought aviator glasses.

We ended the evening by eating at a Mexican Restaurant. It was delicious.

Day 3 Hiking

On Day 3 the weather was nice and we decided that we would try our hand at hiking. We packed a lunch and snacks and headed out with our hiking map. We asked around and found a trail that was easy enough to hike that we would all be able to manage it but still had pretty scenery. Bryce was all about hiking, Caleb had heard us say that the air was thinner in the mountains and he took that to heart. He said it was hard to get a full breath and he didn't love the hike. Abby would like it for a little bit and then she would get tired of walking and want to head home. Emmy rode in the carrier on my back all the way up and then on the way down we switched and Robb carried her and I carried the backpack. We made it just a little over 4 miles. The trail was beautiful and it had a creek running through it so there were a lot of fun spots to stop and find rocks and look around.

Robb and the boys.

The girls

Stopping to have lunch

We had to get a tree picture! We have this same picture from when about 5 years earlier and no Emmy.

Caleb kept finding cool rocks and putting them in his pockets. By the time we were headed down the mountain, he had to hold up his pants because the weight of his rocks was pulling his pants down.

Playing in the stream.

Day 2 Epic Adventure

Day 2 we went to Epic Adventure which was at the peak of Breckenridge. We rode the gondola up the mountain and the kids thought that was pretty cool!

Riding the gondola.

Epic Adventure here we come.

We got there right when it opened and we rode rides and did activities until they kicked people out at 6pm. This was on the top of everyone's list when we asked their favorite thing at the end of vacation. It had a lot of activities for everyone. It was one of our most expensive days but well worth the fun and memories. They had a little adventure area that Emmy loved. She got to zip line, tube down the slides and she almost got to do the ropes course but the only shoes she would wear weren't closed enough for them to let her on the ropes course. 

Abby also zip lined. She had a blast!

The mountains are equally beautiful in the summer and the winter. I love that in an 8 hour drive you can feel like you are a world away from home.

The roller coaster was a hit with everyone in our family. Emmy could ride double with a parent and she would scream, "FASTER FASTER"! Bryce and Caleb liked the challenge to see if they could do the entire roller coaster without ever using the brake. It wouldn't let you go over 30mph but you had a break to slow yourself down if you chose to. I am a wimp and I usually used the break. I think Abby probably used hers too. We all went on the coaster about 10 times that day.

Emmy has a low tolerance for walking so this toddler carrier came in very handy! I had bought it when we went to Disney and since she really hasn't gained any weight since last year we were still able to use it. Robb is curious how long I plan to let her get away with using the carrier. I think by weight limit I could technically carry Abby. Ha Ha. Hopefully those little legs can keep up next year. While the carrier is so much easier than holding her, she is still heavy!

The other thing that was super fun was the Alpine slide. For the slides you ride the ski lift all the way to the top. The boys had done that with us when we went skiing but it was new to Abby and Emmy. Truthfully it made me terribly nervous having them on the ski lift. Emmy wasn't allowed to sit on my lap but her butt is so tiny that I worried that she could slip through the back of the lift and of course I worried about her falling off the front. It was a little bit of a tense ride while I held onto her for dear life all the way up the mountain. At about midway up we also realized that even though it was summer, Colorado is cold in the summer in the mountains. Actually, the entire time we were there it was fairly chilly. I had not packed appropriate clothing for anyone for our trip. It ended up ok because we had a washer and dryer in the condo but we had to wash pants and jackets daily. We had packed plenty of tank tops though! So, back to the alpine slide, there were signs all the way up the lift cautioning riders that you were in control of your own speed and that going too fast could cause serious injury. Do you think the boys and Robb read any of those or took that advice? Of course not! About halfway down, Robb was going so fast that he lost control of his sled and feel out of it. He held onto the sled but scraped up his knee and elbow pretty good. We all got a good laugh out of it. To make it even better they take pictures as you go down and managed to catch his mishap on camera. It was $30 a picture and we are too cheap to purchase that but it was a hilarious photo!

Bryce flying down the Alpine Slide

Emmy was really brave all day and wanted to try every activity that she could do for her age and height. It was adorable watching her zipline!

I love this picture of our family! A vacation with 4 kids (one who is 4 especially) has its challenges and its not perfect. People still fight and whine and get crabby and don't feel good but I am so glad that we pushed through and did this! 

Bryce and Caleb looked a little nervous before starting the elevated ropes course but once they were up there they had a great time! They showed off the monkeys that they truly are.

Abby and Robb also did the ropes course. Abby got really nervous when she got up there and had a few tears but once the guide walked her through a couple of the challenging spots she didn't want to come down. I was glad that Robb wanted to do this because truthfully I was a little too scared to do it!

Caleb and Robb passing each other on the ropes course.

The last activity of the day that we did was ziplining. Bryce, Caleb and I did the adult zip line. I knew I was a little afraid of heights and Bryce learned that he was afraid of heights on the zip line. Caleb was the only one that wasn't completely freaked out by it. Glad that we did it though. We were all exhausted when we left for the day! Emmy fell asleep on the gondola ride back to town.

Day 1 Poor Boys Mine

We all slept in a little trying to get used to sleeping somewhere new and the time change threw everyone off. We drove into town to get donuts. Our plan was to cut a lot of cost of the this vacation by grocery shopping and making most of our meals but that meant we had to find the time to grocery shop. Robb and I also decided what our plans would be each day that we were there but we didn't tell the kids until the day of. This gave them something to look forward to and that way if we did have to change the plans based on weather etc we wouldn't have disappointed kids.

Our first outing was to a mine that was at the edge of Breckenridge. They had a burro to play with, mine tours, a slide that went through a hill and panning for gold.

Emmy loved the slide and Bryce was a good sport to run up and down the mountain to help her back up.

They all enjoyed panning for gold, although Caleb really had thought that he would strike it rich and was a little disappointed to find out that most of what he found was fools gold.

Next was the tour of the mine. It was pretty dark and we all had to put a helmet on. Emmy wasn't so sure we should be doing this! It was pretty neat to see. They had mined about a quarter mile into the mountain. They still had some of the areas knocked out that they had blasted and it showed how they would have taken carts in and out of the mine to get the rocks out. At one point they shut off the light for us to see how people would have worked back then. It was amazing the conditions that they worked in. All the kids thought it was pretty cool!

We spent the afternoon panning for gold and looking around there. I love the mountains of Colorado! Everything is beautiful here.