Ten On Tuesday: Mt. Vacation Recap

1. Our trip to the mountains was pretty rough. Zane decided to stop pooping in the potty, vomited at/on our terrible attempt at lunch, and Rowan refused to sleep on the plane, again. Total trip time from our house to our cabin was eight hours, probably could have driven it, but not sure it would have helped anything. When we finally arrived at our destination I felt terrible from the motion sickness/lack of food during our trip.

2. I spent the first half of day one feeling terrible and trying not to throw up. I think I'm blaming it on the new water, I don't do well with different water, and the altitude wasn't helping either. Everyone was terribly oxygen deprived, causing headaches, and generally not feeling great the first day. We did meet up with the whole family in the afternoon for lots of catching up, introductions of our children, and of course great food. Most everyone hadn't met my kids and Zane lived up to his reputation of a crazy man, with lot of comments like, "God gave him to the right person." I guess that is a compliment.

3. Day two was much more successful with everyone feeling better. We headed up to the top of the mountain in the morning to feed the chipmunks. It was a huge hit, riding the gondola to the top, finding and feeding the very friendly chipmunks, and climbing on rocks/hiking.

Couldn't resist this shot, so adorable, the hair sticking straight up really makes the look.

4. The afternoon of day two we headed up Rocky Mountain National Park to see a waterfall. It was a short hike up to the waterfall, then lots of fun playing in the stream. The weather there is amazing, no humidity, random short rain showers that clear up, then back to gorgeous temperatures in the 70s. Perfect for July!

 Yes, this is Zach dipping Zane's head in the water, obviously.

5. There was lots of time spent at the cabin chit chatting, holding each other's kids, playing, and having lots of fun. Rowan got cuddles from everyone, though he was staging a hunger strike while we were gone, too much going on to eat. There were twenty nine of us total, when everyone was there. Thirteen of those people were under the age of thirteen, so you can imagine the crazy!

 Kira and Ro

 Sophie and Juilanna playing with Everett.

Jess and Rowan

6. My cousin Liz is expecting her first child this fall so there was lots of parenting advice being tossed around. We had a little shower for her and all give her our advice on what baby products you need and which one's you don't. She, of course, is an adorable pregnant lady, even if she isn't enjoying pregnancy that much. I can't wait to meet her baby girl and welcome Liz into the motherhood club. She will be a great mom!

7. I loved watching the next generation of cousins playing together. Zane had a blast with his cousins, but also enjoyed meeting my cousin's kids (that makes them second cousins I think.) He has never met a stranger and entertained everyone with his performance of the spiderman song. With this many kids here was lots of boo boo's all around, luckily nurse Audra packed an entire package of Spiderman band-aids which were all used. Zane won the most band-aids award, but Brendan won the most blood loss award, with quite the new scrape at the waterfall.

 Sophie reading to Maggie. Maggie finally had some girl cousins to play with.

Blakley cousin's snack time on the mountain.

8. The views were breath taking and Zane loved being in the mountains, even if we couldn't convince him that we were actually in the mountains even when we were at our cabin. He got a junior ranger book, which he studied while we drove through the national park. Daddy even made up a new mountain song about a bear on the mountain that is Zane's new favorite. I hate that he probably won't remember any of this, but he had a great time either way!!

 Junior Ranger, studying his book.

9. This was Jingle Boy's first trip since coming back to life after three years in the closet. Zane jumped right in to the whole Jingle Boy experience. After riding to the top of the Mountain Zane got a new friend, Danger the Freedom Eagle. How many kids have a stuffed bald Eagle that they love! So much fun!

Jingle, Zane, and Danger

This was both Zane and Rowan's first time meeting Jingle Boy!

10. Our trip home was uneventful and much smoother than our way there. Zane is having a rough time coming back to reality of our boring days at home, which made for a difficult day today. Rowan is getting back to normal, eating much more today than any of the days we were gone, so hopefully his hunger strike is over. Able and Kari are coming up for the Fourth so we should have a fun week ahead. Many thanks to all the Dotter Clan for planning such a lovely get together. We had a blast, even with the difficulties of traveling with little ones. Hopefully we can do it again soon. I vote for the ocean next time!

I know I posted a ton of pics here but for those of you who want to see the full album, you can see it here.