Morning family hike

 The boys made a game of looking for "crickles", a cross between a creek and a trickle of water!

Looking down at Vallecito Lake

Daddy let them borrow his hiking sticks for a little motivation, this was ~1000ft elevation change!

We came at the right time of year, there is water everywhere and it is beautiful!

of course Kevin spotted this little one!

More Silverton & train picutres

I took the maximum does of Meclizine and was able to enjoy the return trip to Durango!!!

Train to Silverton

The Animas River

We left camp early to catch the 8am train from Durango to Silverton!  Ruth, Kim, and I rode this very train when we were this age with our grandparents!  I should try to find that picture!!!

Waiting for the train to leave the station....we are excited!

The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad travels 43 miles along the Animas River and opened in 1882.

Kevin was in charge of pictures as managed to get motion sick on the way to the train....it was a long 3 hour train ride to Silverton!!!

My thoughtful hubby captured me feeling sick....pretty sure I was contemplating jumping out the window.  

gorgeous views!!!

The Payne family

The Thome family

The Seppala family

The kiddos in Silverton.  Ruth, Kim, and I have a very similar picture!!!!

Exploring Vallecito Lake, CO

Mason, Brandon, Chloe, Sarah

The boys brought their pocket knives and whittled some wood while we tried to fish!

it was a bit windy....no fish today

The three amigos!

Ruth with Ally and Mason

Kevin and Mason

We camped up on the mountain about 20 minutes away from Vallecito Lake and decided to take Seppala kayak on it's maiden voyage!  The kids all had fun taking turns, all except for Brandon who decided he did not want to be on the water.  It was fun to go out with the kids, it was a lot easier than I thought it would be to get back to shore.  It was way too windy to fish but that didn't stop us from hanging out and exploring the shoreline.  The kiddos are all getting along great, mostly boys vs girls!

Colorado camping trip 2016

The boys already exploring around the camp site after a long over-nighter getting to Colorado! 

 Our view from camp!!!!  It does not get any better than this! 

Just three of the six kiddos on our first evening at camp!

Kevin has been looking forward to taking the family to Colorado for quite some time and we decided this was the summer to do it, and we invited the Thome and Seppala families along for the adventure! We all survived the drive up, which included spending the night in a Walmart parking so we could make a fresh start the next morning.  Don't be jealous, it was a first for me too!

play fort, critters, and camo

Mason LOVES to explore the backyard and has become quite fond of using the play fort to spot critters!  He is gonna make daddy proud by following in the family tradition of hunting.  He is really accurate with his bow and suction cup arrows and is perfecting his stalking ability.  I often find him out back (in just his chonies and flipflops) hunting for lizards and watching the quail run around.