Two Weeks in Colorful Colorado

So as I’ve been going through pictures, I realized I never put up all the pictures from our trip to Colorado last summer.  I even had the ones for the blog all picked out and in a folder.

I know what happened.

Every year, when our time is up in the Rockies, I drive home while Taido stays in Colorado for more adventures.  Our kids all start school just a couple of days after we get back.  We miss open house.  We throw together some school supplies and last year’s uniforms.  The kids go back to school.  We’re all exhausted, trying to get into a new routine and missing our dad/husband.  I console myself with a couple of posts about the lovely time we’ve just spent together camping which now feels like a million years ago before I crash.

I’ve been staving off that crash all week.  With ice cream and popsicles.

The combination of heat and exhaustion is not good for me.

Praise the Lord we’ve almost made it through the first week of school though!

Here are last year’s Colorado pictures.  Maybe next week I’ll get around to this year’s!

Two Weeks in Colorful Colorado in 2011

After a quick stop in Santa Fe, we set up camp in the valley just beyond Oh Be Joyful Campground, a favorite spot near Crested Butte.

We found the most beautiful empty field to spread out in and enjoy.

The views all around us were so lovely that we spent a good bit of our days just hanging in camp and enjoying them.

A few days into the week, our family and friends arrived to camp with us.

We did a favorite hike to Judd Falls.

We were all so grateful for Tony being around to encourage the hikers with shorter legs!

And our pal Bailey who has loved on our kiddos for many years now was rarely without a kid by her side.

I love these pictures of camp clean up and of hanging around in camp.  I find that usually I just take pictures of the tops of hikes or the mountains, but these pictures capture part of why I love camping so much.  There is a simplicity to the days during camping that makes me never want to come home.

Doing the dishes and playing games in camp chairs.  Everything takes longer, and most things have to be done together.

I love that my kids will have these memories of doing these things together.  Especially now as they get older and want to do everything on their own.

These guys played so hard all week long.  They dug in the dirt and stuck things in the fire.  They created all sorts of imaginary worlds.  Simon missed these guys terribly this year!

Peter and Whitney headed home a little earlier than us so we drove to a different campground near Creede, Colorado on the Rio Grande.

We stopped and saw these gorgeous falls on the way.

And we attempted to climb San Luis.  We made it pretty far before Taido turned us around because of approaching clouds.

Here is everyone standing on the Continental Divide, which is pretty much the top of the world to me.  MP is standing on both sides of the continent!

The hike was so beautiful.  And we even found some snow to touch.

We did hit some bad weather on the way down, so we were grateful to be below tree line.

We made it back safely to the van for lunch, and then we had ice cream in Creede.

We also hit the Sand Dunes and Whitewater Rafting last year.

Except for that exhausting drive at the end, I really do treasure each moment of these trips.

Note: Whitney took lots of amazing pictures last year on this trip too!  She did our family photos and Bailey’s senior photos while we were there.  And, her family stopped on the way home in Denver and had their pictures done as well!