Family vacation fun

We took our first official family vacation last month.  Although we've traveled as a family of three out of state on several occasions since Olivia was born, those were all trips to see family for Thanksgiving, Christmas and a wedding so I don't think they count.  We decided to head to Colorado for a week in the mountains.  It seemed like the easiest place to take a baby.  No sand that Olivia could eat would be involved.  Plus, we have quite a few friends in the Denver area that we had not seen for awhile.  We spent the majority of the trip it Breckenridge.  So beautiful there!  We rented a condo up on the mountain which worked out great.  It was wonderful to have extra space for Olivia to crawl around and explore, a kitchen for cooking and a separate room for us to sleep in apart from Olivia at night.  The cooler weather up in the mountains also was a welcome relief from the scorching heat of Houston.  We spent the time in Breckenridge hiking, biking, swimming and walking around mixed with down time of laying around reading books.  Our vacation definitely was different than our vacations from the past when there were only two of us.  The ability to sleep in was limited and our activities for the day were planned around Olivia's nap and eating schedule.  Irregardless, I'm very thankful we were able to get away from the stresses of work and daily life and enjoy time together as a family.

 

The last third of our trip was a whirlwind of visiting friends.  On Friday night, we had dinner with former co-workers of Geoff's- Shelley, Peter and their little boy Colin who is 5 months older than Olivia.  It was funny to see Colin and Olivia interact during dinner.   And the poor waitress who had the clean up the floor after we left....quite the mess!  On Saturday morning, we met up with one of Geoff's old college roommates, Randy and his wife Dani and their son Xander (2 years) for brunch.  They are missionaries in Bolivia but currently in the US for a year so it was great the timing worked out to see them while they are here.  From there, we headed to the home of some other friends Geoff used to work with - Dave, Ashley and their daughter Nathalie who is three months older than Olivia.  After having limited toys to play with at the condo in Breckenridge, Olivia was in toy heaven with all of Nathalie's toys.  Finally on Sunday, after spending the afternoon at the Denver Zoo, we met up for dinner with Andrew, Geoff's good friend from high school and the best man in our wedding.  Whew...that was a lot of friends in two days!  It was really good to see them all and quite amazing they all were in town while we were there and we were able to work the timing out to see them.

Olivia and Colin

With Andrew

I have to mention to our hotel that we stayed at while we were in Denver because it was S-W-A-N-K-Y.  I got a really good rate at the Four Seasons Hotel through work and this had to be the nicest hotel I've ever stayed out.  The hotel just opened last fall, so of course, everything is nice and new.  I called earlier in the week to let them know we needed a crib for the room.  They asked for Olivia's name and age.  Well, when we arrived, the crib was in the room along a special treat for Olivia and a basket that had diapers her size and baby shampoo, lotion and powder.  The room was large with an expresso machine and super nice bed and pillows (very important to me and Geoff as we are big pillow snobs).  The bathroom was the showstopper though.  Large tub with water that came from a facet out of the wall, separate shower with overhead rain shower head, small tv screen built into the mirror and sinks that lit up when you turned the switch on to serve as nightlights.  Here are a few pictures, but they don't really do it justice.

Treat awaiting Olivia

 

Bathroom TV

With sink lights off

With sink lights on

Lastly, I had the not so great experience of being that parent on the plane that had the screaming child on our return trip back to Houston.  I'm pretty sure it was a worse experience than actually delivering the child.  I'll spare all the details...it still makes me cringe recalling all of it...from the moment we got to the airport in Denver until Olivia finally fell asleep on the plane, it was just awful. 

Anyways, with the exception of the last 4 hours of it, all in all, it was a very enjoyable trip.  Here's a link to more pictures from our trip: Colorado pics