We spent almost a week at the beginning of July in Winter Park, Colorado with my dad's side of the family. We got to see many of our Arizona family members and Iowa family members. We left on July 4th, stayed at my mom's for a night, then on through most of Nebraska and stayed there for a night. Of course, staying in a hotel and swimming in the pool there was a huge plus for Elena and Maren.
At the 4th of July parade in Niles
Catching candy
We stopped just outside Des Moines for lunch and found this. We thought about putting it on our Christmas cards this year... ha ha... maybe another year.
We bribed Elena with a cookie for this picture.
The Fam
At the ski resort at Winter Park
We celebrated Aunt Rhodie's 70th birthday six months early in true Hulse Family fashion - by being a little crazy. Auntie loved it, of course! There were even a few men bold enough to play along. Where is Uncle Al?
Elena, cousin Sydney, and Maren
We spent a day at the ski lodge - the entire day! Who knew there would be so much to do at a ski lodge in July! The grounds and flowers were beautiful, as seen above.
Uncle Al got his time in playing with nieces and his granddaughter
Of course, Aunt Rhodie, too!
We have another picture like this with Jordan or Jayden from a few years ago...
We took the ski lift to the top of the mountain and had lunch up there. It was pretty chilly, so we took a few pictures and headed back down.
Need I say breathtaking scenery?
There were all kinds of little shops and places to play around the resort. The kids enjoyed climbing on this.
Bungie jumping on trampolines for kids
There was an alpine slide that we went down several times. This little one spent most of the trip sleep deprived... as evidenced here as she fell asleep on the way to the top of the alpine slide on the ski lift.
Not sure who enjoyed that slide the most... the kiddos or Kirk!
My lovely aunts and uncles and a cousin that joined us for a night
This was from a concert in the park we went to one night.
Apparently I did not get any pictures of all the little cousins dancing, but did snap a few of Lucie, Sara, Aunt Liz...
Aunt Sally, Uncle Pete, Heather and Bob and Dave in the background...
(clearly it was not very warm there!)
Hmmm... was this "To Market To Market" or something else, Aunt Rhoda?
This was really a fantastic trip. We had such a great time that Little MIS Maren had a meltdown when we were packing up our condo to leave. She did not want to leave! Said she would miss her room! We really did have a lovely time. My favorite part? For sure family dinners. Each night we met at Aunt Vicki and Uncle Bill's condo and had dinner. Thanks to our fabulous cooks, Aunt Vicki and Aunt Sally, who put hours and hours in planning and shopping and cooking. These, I am sure are the times that my children will remember most, and that I know I will. Just gathering as a family, praying together and getting to be together, not to mention the delicious food!
I also have to say that swimming in the club swimming pool while looking at the snow on the mountains was a real trip for me. And I only stayed in the heated pool - it was not warm - the AZ crew did not even swim!
Too bad we have to wait three years to do this again. But you can count us in for the next one for sure!
