Summer in Breckenridge

Most of those who know our family well will recognize that we don't often take vacations, or that we don't get many "getaways" or even nice, long "breaks" from our busy working schedule.  However, we are trying to improve in this area!  We know that working hard is important, but we also need time to refresh and renew and to create fun adventures and memories as a family.

With that in mind, we decided to pull together a little vacation this summer.  As newbies at vacation planning, however, we found out that it works better if you plan things well in advance instead of waiting until summer arrives.  Oops!  We had to work around several important things, such as scout camps, youth conference, a birthday and baptism, etc.  We only had time for a long weekend in June and there were not many options available that we could afford.  So, we finally ended up booking our timeshare for Father's Day weekend in Breckenridge, CO--just two hours away!

At first I wondered what in the world we would do there, as I could only think of hiking or mountain biking, and neither of those seemed like very much fun with a 3-year-old.  But, as it happens, Breckenridge is SUPER fun in the summer!  We found plenty of fun things to do and we also had plenty of time to relax.  There was a lot of great food, but not very much oxygen.  Haha!  

We had a great 3-bedroom condo with a complete kitchen, a washer & dryer, a hot tub and a barbecue grill.  It was really an awesome weekend, full of great memories.  Here are a few pictures to illustrate what we did:

This was the view from the deck of our condo.  Gorgeous mountains and sky!  We were above 10,000 feet up there and I'll tell you...we could feel that!  It was chilly there, too!  But just beautiful!

Here is Trey peeking out the door from the condo onto the deck.

From inside the condo--happy kiddos!

There was a hill in the "backyard" of the condo that they ran up and down over and over each day.  Sometimes they fell down that hill, too, which is why they came home with lots of scrapes on their hands and legs.  But they just kept getting back up and going at it again!

Another view of the mountains from the road to the condo.

We spent the first evening of our vacation in "downtown" Breckenridge--basically Main Street.  We had a delicious dinner at this pizza place and then walked down Main Street where there was a big party going on to celebrate the opening of the Summer Season there.  Lots of people to see and fun activities going on!

More from the pizza place.  We also bought a bag full of huge, gourmet cookies from a bakery down the street for dessert.  They were amazing and so big that they lasted us almost all weekend!  We went back to the condo later that evening and spent some time in the hot tub together.  Fun!

The nice host at the pizza place made a foil rose for Coco and I because we were the girls at the table.  Cute!

Look closely at this photo and you will see a bandage across the bridge of Chase's nose.  I have given this photo the title, "Nose Meets Bottom of Pool and Brings Forth Profuse Gushing of Blood Thereby Requiring a Visit to the First Aid Station and The Entire Pool to be Cleared for an Hour for Cleaning."  On our first full day in Breckenridge, we had free passes to the local rec center from our condo.  We wanted to go swimming, but it was too chilly for an outdoor pool, so the rec center was a great option.  It even had a waterslide!  However, we hadn't been there for more than 45 minutes when Chase had an unfortunate experience in misjudging the depth of the pool where he swam.  And let me tell you, there was a LOT of blood!  Fortunately, although it was painful and a little scary, the injury was not too serious after all.  But, it did put a premature end to our swimming fun.  Our apologies to all others who wanted to swim there that morning!  Oh well!

After the nose injury was cleaned and bandaged, and we had gone back to the condo for some lunch and to let Trey take a nap, Dad took the 3 bigger kids back to the rec center for some rock climbing. 

Courtney was afraid to try it at first, but soon got very brave and had a good time!

Here's Avery on the rock wall.

And Chase!

Then they took a gondola ride up to the ski area to check things out up there.  They had a great time floating over the trees and swampy areas up the mountain!

Nate was the only one who had the foresight to bring a jacket on the trip.  It was at this point that they all decided that we needed to go back downtown to find a place to buy jackets for everyone else!

New Breckenridge jackets for everyone!  Phewsh!  We were much more comfortable after that.  Dinner that night was at a Mexican restaurant.  Delicious!

Taking a picture of the always entertaining Trey!

Just chillin' at the Mexican restaurant after dinner.

The salsa must have done him in.

Walking back to the car after dinner.  The view was just so pretty that we had to stop to take a picture.

Breckenridge is such a pretty place in the summer!

Since the boys and I are in training to run a 10k this summer, we thought we had better keep up with our workouts while we were in Breckenridge.  That lasted for only ONE day, however, because--hello!  NO OXYGEN up there!  We would get winded so easily because of the high altitude and had to stop to breathe over and over.  My lungs were burning after only 20 minutes.  Phewsh!  No wonder elite athletes get in such great condition by training in high altitude!

However, I did take a minute to flex my muscles for the camera because I felt pretty tough after working out at 10,000+ feet.  And yes, that IS my real bicep.  Black and white photos are great for casting shadows to show off muscle tone.  I'm told that spray tanning is also effective, but I didn't have any of that on hand. :)

The next day was Father's Day!  And a happy one for our favorite daddy in the whole world!  We stayed in at the condo that day for a nice day of rest because it was Sunday.  And instead of going out for dinner, we made stuffed burgers and grilled corn on the cob and fruit salad right there at the condo.  It was really fun and delicious, and a perfectly relaxing Father's Day for our Daddy. 

Nathan's Father's Day gift was the stuffed burger mold and grill basket that we used to cook those enormous burgers.  They were delicious and lots of fun!

The last day of our trip, Monday, was the BEST day of all!  We had so much fun at the Breckenridge ski area with our all-day passes.  They have an alpine slide, an alpine coaster, bungee trampolines, life size maze, bouncy house, mini golf, panning for gold, etc., etc.  We spent the whole day there and did all our favorite things over and over and over again!  Trey was not cooperative about riding the alpine coaster, so we didn't even bother trying to get him to go down the alpine slide.  That meant that Nate and I still had to take turns watching him while the other went with the bigger kids, but otherwise everyone had a smashing good time.  Who knew that a ski area could be so fun in the summer?

This cutie loved playing in the rocks and water while waiting for everyone else to ride the big rides.  He sang songs from the Sound of Music...ALL...DAY...LONG!  I never thought I would get sick of "So long, farewell!"  But I came pretty close on this trip.  Wow!  But, at least he was happy!

This is Daddy and Courtney arriving at the bottom of the Alpine Slide together.  Later she was brave enough to go on a car all by herself.  SO fun!

This is Avery arriving at the bottom of the Alpine Slide.  I didn't get any photos of the Alpine Coaster, but it was also super fun.  Everyone rode on that one and the Alpine Slide over and over and over!

Avery after a thrilling ride down the mountain!

Daddy and Coco were partners on a lot of the rides until she got brave enough to do them on her own.  Then she was unstoppable!

Here is Avery getting strapped into his harness for the bungee trampoline.  He was eventually able to do a few back flips, as was Chase (although I don't have a photo of Chase, for some reason).

Trey was very excited to ride the gondola up the mountain...until it actually started to move.  Then he went into a complete panic and wanted to get off!  I had to hold him in a vice grip when the ride came to a stop and the doors opened so that he wouldn't jump out.  "I want to get off!  I want to get off!"  That was really not very fun.  Haha!

Trying to reassure a very frightened little boy on the gondola ride.  Of course, the first thing he said after we got off the ride was, "Did you have fun on the gondola, Mommy?"  Yup.  It was a total breeze!

Part of the fun of the Alpine Slide was the lift ride up the mountain...unless the cold wind was blowing over some of those big piles of snow near the top!

Chase and Dad had the exact same shoes on!  Chase is only one size smaller than Dad these days.  Pretty soon they'll be able to share! :)

Mini golf was super fun!  But I think we "forgot" to keep score with the little ones.

Trey REALLY loved the mini golf game!  He broke every rule, of course, but he enjoyed it immensely.  That kind of made up for the trouble he gave us about the coaster ride.  It's much more fun to hear his giggles rather than his screams!

Bungee trampoline!  The look on her face tells us that she was not so sure about going so high at first...haha!  Later she really had fun springing up as high as she could go.  

Boing!!!

And one last shot of Chase coming to the bottom of the Alpine Slide.  Chase observed how much Trey resisted and protested when we tried to convince him to ride the Alpine Coaster and  remarked, "Trey gets freaked out too easily."  Nate and I loved hearing that, because Chase obviously doesn't remember that not many years ago, he was EXACTLY the same way!  Haha!  What a great moment for us, as parents, to be able to say to our wonderful Chase, "You've come a long way, baby!"  And to remember that someday Trey will enjoy these activities as much as the rest of us.  Hooray!