Steamboat Springs

First Family Vacation

 

John and Laurie bought a week's stay at a condo in Steamboat Springs at a hospital fundraiser last year.  They asked all of the kids to join them for their vacation and we gladly accepted. "Vacation" felt like a foreign word to Mark and me after waiting two years to take one.  (Side note: I mentioned this to a male coworker who said, "Well, you took 12 full weeks of vacation last summer when you were on maternity leave with Elliott."  To that I say, someone who puts vacation and maternity leave in the same sentence has never done it.)

We fought (sorry, "discussed") for several weeks on whether to fly or drive.  Mark's worst nightmare was being stuck on a plane while Elliott screamed his head off, so we decided to drive the 15 hours.  Well folks, we got 15 hours of screaming in the car instead of 1.5 hours on the plane.  Elliott isn't necessarily fond of cars and slept a total of 4 hours on the drive.  What a nightmare!  We were already researching flight options for the travel back home before we even arrived in Steamboat.

The five days in Steamboat were absolutely amazing.  The weather was gorgeous! Eighty degrees in Colorado actually feels like 80, unlike Kansas City where 80 degrees leaves you with frizzy hair and sweaty shorts.  We decided not to move Elliott's schedule to Colorado time so we were up bright and early at 5:30 am MST most mornings.  I know, 5:30am wakeup calls are not on my list of vacation to-do's either.  Due to the early wakeup calls we spent most mornings going on long walks so we wouldn't wake up the rest of the house. We found a really cool stream/wading pool the first morning.  The water was numbing cold  but Elliott didn’t seem to mind!  

Hiking Fish Creek Falls

 

Swimming

 

Whitewater Rafting in Glenwood Springs

Thanks to Laurie for staying back with the little rugrat so we could enjoy an adventurous day on the river.

 

Night Out on the Town

 

 

Rodeo

 

Hahn's Peak ATV Ride

Unfortunately these things don't have car seats so Laurie got the short end of the stick and stayed back with Elliott again.

 

 

Strawberry Park Natural Hot Springs

 

Gondola Ride to a Restaurant on Top of the Mountain

 

Elliott and I ended up taking a flight home.  He actually did very well for his first plane ride, despite Southwest's requirement that I purchase a ticket for him because I didn't have proof of his birthdate. They promised me they would refund the ticket if I sent in a copy of his birth certificate when I got home.  I'm not keeping my fingers crossed!