Ouray

We spent a few days in Ouray this summer with my mom, Kendall, and Nate. Ouray is my favorite place in Colorado.  There's great hiking, climbing, hot springs, a fun park, yummy bakery, and everything is close by, so we were able to bike and walk most places. We decided its just like Europe :). Its rare these days to get a real vacation, but my mom babysat every day so we were able to get out for lots of adult-paced hiking and climbing which was super fun.  

Hiking up Twin Peaks trail

View down to Ouray

Mark on top of Twin Peaks

Top of Twin Peaks

Top of Twin Peaks

Box Canyon

Box Canyon

Ouray Overlook

Yankee Boy Basin

Yankee Boy Basin

Yankee Boy Basin

Ouray waterfall

Biking at the park

Crested Butte

Our annual friends camping trip this year was to Lake Irwin in Crested Butte-- my second favorite place in Colorado after Ouray. The wildflowers are beautiful, and there is tons of hiking and mountain biking, plus a cute town. The kids love camping and spend all day roaming the campground in packs, biking, climbing, and generally getting really dirty.  We tolerate the camping because they love it so much.

Lake Irwin

Moms, kids, dogs ready to set off on a hike

Ama, LoLo, and Xander at the waterfall a few minutes from Lake Irwin

LoLo and Ama hiking

Digging at the Lake Irwin "beach"

Canoeing. This is one of those things that looks more fun than it is.

Hike above Lake Irwin to Scarp Ridge

Ladies hike

Ama playing in the creek

LoLo and Mom selfie

Oregon

We spent the 4th of July in Oregon this year with Dan, Jen, Henry, and Duncan. They had a great neighborhood celebration complete with parade, festival, and an impressive fireworks show. Here in the mountains we rarely see fireworks-- they're usually cancelled for fire danger-- so it was fun to join in their 4th festivities.

Mark and Ama at the parade

Ama giving Uncle Dan some love.  She never does this... but Dan is the Pied Piper and my kids (and other kids apparently) always love him. She ran up, sat on his lap, and started stroking his beard.

After the 4th in Portland, we headed down toward Corvallis with a stop at Brett's farm.  Ama was excited to ride Brett's pony, feed the goats, and check out the chickens.  She also found some classic Oregon wildlife-- a giant slug. Brett has a full time job as a firefighter in Portland and still manages to run the farm in her "spare" time.  I'm amazed at how hard she works.

Ama riding Brett's pony

Slug!

Ama, Brett, and LoLo

Next we went to Corvallis to visit Grandma & Grandpa A.  Jen, Dan, Henry and Duncan joined us there for the weekend. Logan loved hanging out with his cousins. We went out to Newport for some beach time and spent lots of time in the parks and woods around Corvallis.  We hit the beginning of blackberry season and got our fill of blackberries, and lots of pizza and cookies at American Dream. We also managed to break both of Karen & Marshall's cars while we were there.  They were good sports but were probably happy to see us go :).

Blackberry walk around the neighborhood.

Grandma, Ama, and Grandpa at the tide pools

Mark, Ama, & Logan at the tidepools

The tidepools are one of my favorite parts of Oregon.  Here's an orange starfish.

And some little crabs hiding in a crevice

The beach was windy and freezing, but Ama loved it anyway.  Nothing will stop her from digging in sand.

On the way to the airport in Portland, I made a quick stop to see my childhood best friend Meaghan and her family.  This was my first time meeting her daughter Clio.  She was adorable!