The Rest of Our Time in Vail

On Sunday, we allowed the kids to sleep in but of course they woke up early. They were ready to start the day! We were going to go hiking, but there was a thunderstorm looming, so we spent a relaxing morning at home. In the afternoon, the Fenley's club was having a summer party at a restaurant. We took a gondola ride up to the top of the mountain where the restaurant was located.

These are the Fenley's boys. Such sweet kids! Two little girls may have had a crush on them... It was fun to watch during our time there.

We saw deer on our way up and on our way down.

At the party, there was a huge buffet, drinks and dessert. They had a kid section where they had crafts, face painting, a balloon artist, and games. The kids had a great time!

There weren't that many kids there so Makena took advantage of that and went back for more and more face painting. She loved it!

It was a fun treat to attend the part and we're thankful that the Fenley's invited us as their guests.

Monday was our last full day in Vail. We went on a hike right behind their house.

Kyle did great on the way up, but was done once we got near the top. 

The girls made it to the top to see the waterfall. 

I decided to stay with Kyle just below the waterfall, so we didn't quite make it up to the top. 

The girls loved the hike and felt it wasn't long enough. They wanted to do another hike.

Ryder loved running up and down the mountain on his own. He blazed the trail for us. Here is our first family photo with the dog. 

Since the girls wanted to do more hiking, we went to the Village and took a walk to the Nature Center. Right when we got to the Nature Center, it started raining. We hung out until the rain passed. 

Then we walked around the Village to get some ice cream and souvenirs!

The Village had small play areas scattered throughout. Little stinker wouldn't cooperate with my photo taking!

 

We had dinner in the Village and then headed home to watch a movie. 

We drove to the Village but the kids wanted to ride the bus one last time! Kyle kept calling it a "school bus."

Early Tuesday morning, we were back on the road after breakfast!

4th of July in Vail

We woke up early on the 4th to have breakfast at the club and scope out a spot to watch the parade in the Village.  This was the first time the kids had seen a live parade!

Makena saw someone with a flag and said she wanted one. Kathy left to look for flags and came back not only with flags but also t-shirts for all of them.

The kids loved collecting the candy!

After the parade, the kids took a break in the shade. The sun was hot!

We had lunch in the Village and then came home to relax. The weather was cool and perfect. 

The view from the backyard. 

The Fenley's 6-year old dog, Bailey was a fun playmate for Ryder. They played together all day. 

We were glad we brought Ryder. He had a great time and was no trouble at all. 

The dogs provided fun entertainment for everyone!

Silly dogs were running around the yard together like this. Neither one dared to let go of the toy.

The kids had a great time whenever we were at the house. Kathy had some things for them to play with, they watched TV, played in the game room, and played with the dogs.

That same day, we walked down the street to the playground and dog park. The dog park was an open area (no fence!) with a pond for the dogs to jump in. There were plenty of dogs for Ryder to play with. 

And then it was finally time to head back to the Village for fireworks!

At first Kyle didn't like the fireworks and declared he wanted to go home in the first two minutes. Thankfully, Kathy brought ear plugs and it made a huge difference. Kyle enjoyed the rest of the show. 

Off to Vail!

We took a road trip to visit our friends, the Fenleys. Derek met John when they were in their 20s and have kept in touch ever since. They have been wanting some face time with each other for a long time. The Fenleys live in Denver but were spending the weekend at their vacation home in Vail. So we were off to Vail! 

It took us about 16 hours to get to our destination. We would have made it in 15 hours if we didn't hit rush hour and holiday traffic in the last stretch. The traffic was frustrating but the views were beautiful!

The kids did great in the car! Usually on our road trips, I sit in the back and I'm constantly handing out snacks, picking up things that fell on the ground or passing around different toys. I did things differently this time and it made the trip much easier and enjoyable for me... and for all of us. 

We borrowed DVDs from the library before we left and they watched a whole slew of them. It was a lot of screen time, but hey, we were on vacation and everyone was happy! Each child had his/her own backpack which included individual ziplock bags with snacks, toys they chose and a few new things I bought for them (i.e., coloring books, stickers, etc.). They were all pretty self-sufficient. Kyle needed some help but Makena was there to help him. 

We had an extra passenger in our car. Derek and I went back and forth on whether to bring the dog. Our friends said we could bring him, but we didn't know how Ryder would do on such a long car ride, how he'd adjust to the high altitude and if it would be really inconvenient to have him while on vacation. But we've only had our dog for less than four months and we didn't want to cause separation anxiety or distress to our pup if we left him at home. Finally, Derek made an executive decision and said we're bringing the dog! Ryder did great on the car ride. We took one of the car seats out and he sat in the area next to Karis. He slept most of the time and the altitude didn't seem to affect him as far as we could tell. 

We were happy when we finally got to Vail! It was beautiful! 

We spent most of our time in Vail Village where the Fenleys were members of one of the clubs. The Village had shops, restaurants, small play areas, etc. On our first full day, we went swimming and had lunch by the pool. The girls loved the waterfall and Kyle loved the separate kiddie pool where he could walk around and play with his toys. 

It was a nice relaxing first day!

Summer Rewards

The girls have been reading this summer. They are earning stickers for each book they read, which they can turn in for money. Karis learned how to read last summer by doing this since she is very motivated by money. She begged to read every day. Money does not motivate Makena as much so it's been a little slower for her this summer. But they have both earned one toy each so far!

When we started this, Makena told Kyle that he needed to write his name and practice using scissors so he could get a new Mickey Mouse toy (something she decided, not me). A couple weeks went by and Kyle asked where his new Mickey Mouse toy was. He didn't understand that he had to earn it...or so I thought. 

I guess he got tired of waiting for his new toy, so one day he came to me with an alphabet workbook and told me he was going to do it so he could get an Octonaut toy.

I thought it was cute and didn't pay much attention to him. Little did I know, he would sit at the table and go page-by-page and trace all the letters. The boy was determined!

I had never seen him sit and do one thing for so long!

It was the cutest thing! He soon said he was tired but kept on doing it. He made it through the whole book! Of course, Makena was encouraging him along the way as she always does.

After he finished the book, we went to the toy store to get him the toy he wanted. How could I not?!