Ahh, vacations! We just got back from one and I'm dying to write about it! We went to good ol' Durango, Colorado. That place is FULL of huge memories for my family. We would go every summer, at least once, and camp at Hermosa Meadows Camper park. My mom loved it! Her mom told her about it, we went, and we were hooked! As far back as I can remember we went every year! It got us out of the Arizona Heat and took us to insanely beautiful cool country. They call it the "Little Switzerland of America." Some of our memories there are taking the Durango-Silverton Train, fishing, going to see the Bar-D wranglers sing over a chuckwagon dinner, horseback riding and the Polo outlet, oh yes, the Polo outlet!
While we were there this time, Katie and I enjoyed remembering the good old days. It didn't matter if we went in a Coleman pop-up trailer or your regular hard top that had the full bathroom hook-ups, (which was awesome), my sisters and I would still emerge from our campsite with perfectly coiffed huge hair, socks that matched the shirt we were wearing, shoulder pads that we passed from outfit to outfit and usually finished it off with a braided belt (remember I'm an 8O's girl!) ready to find the cute boys of Durango. We totally knew how to camp. My brother still rolls his eyes about it.
Anyway, this time around we had all our kids, nine in all. Some had tents, others had Britney Spears' tour bus. . . (Katie) and other stuff in between. There were no shoulder pads or matching socks, but we all at least got showered every day. And we had all our awesome spouses to share in the experience of our beloved Durango.
Some fun things that happened this trip included a raging river raft ride down the Animas river. Aaron had his sunglasses ripped from his face – it was that crazy! My Avery's arm was savagely sprained after Dave picked her up wrong as she threw a huge fit in a gift shop. We had to wrap it and sling it so it wouldn't move because it hurt her so much. We just put her shirt on over it so if you looked at her from her good arm side she looked like she had saggy boobs. Aaron called her "Hooters." Nice. We took crazy Rhino rides up Cunningham Gulch, which is soooo beautiful, and had a picnic. We camped right next to the raging Animas river with four toddlers...That made for a relaxing vacation. We rode up to see the train go by in the mornings and smash pennies on the track. We took the Alpine slide at Purgatory. The guys went mountain biking. We ate... A LOT. Funnel cakes in Silverton, Mama's Boy Pizza, (twice), free pancakes at breakfast, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory fudge, chubs, chubs chubs. Anyway, if you want to see proof of our wild vacation, you can see it
here. Thanks everyone for such a fabulous, successful camping experience!
Okay, I know we've all seen the trailer and we all have our babysitters lined up for the evening of 12-12-08, but my awesome husband found the official website on the making of the movie and the introduction of the actors! It actually looks like we'll enjoy it! Fingers crossed... Kind of exciting! Go look here!
So today was the 4th of July! We spent it in a kind of unconventional way, opting to forego the traditional parade brouhaha and relax at home as a family. We had a blast playing on our little Walmart water slide and barbecuing in the backyard. Alex and Andie were crazy and fearless, and Avery worked her way up to that state. Check out the video below for proof!
Alex and Steph had great time at the big show. Miley Cyrus was the headlining performer, so Alex was in pre-teen, Disney Channel heaven. Steph bawled like a patriotic baby when the jets flew over, the soldiers held a gigantic flag over the field, and the whole crowd sang the national anthem. Kind of got verklempt.
