Our Vail Getaway

Since Matthew was off of work the 4th, 5th, and 6th we decided last week to make a little trip to Vail.  It is so cool that we only live 1.5 hours from the mountains!  Vail was everything that I imagined it would be.  It was beautiful and the weather was perfect!
We left early Thursday morning and got there by 11:00.  We couldn't check into our hotel until four, so we just parked and started walking around the town.  Lionshead Circle is like a little Swiss village-cobblestone walkways, little shops, and restaurants.  Our first stop was lunch overlooking the mountains.  We then took the Gondola up to the top of the mountain.  The views were unbelievable, and makes me want to see it all snow-covered.  Let me just say that this whole trip was perfect for my outdoorsy little boy.  He loved every minute of it!  We got to the top of the mountain and took a little hike.  They had a Dino Dig for the kids too.  We spent about four hours just enjoying the outdoors.
We then came back down to check into our hotel.  We were pleasantly surprised to find they we were upgraded to a condo.  Then it was time for swimming.  After that, we went back to the room for baths and room service.
Friday morning, we walked around the village and decided to rent bikes.  This was my favorite part!  I hadn't ridden a bike in 20 years, so I was a little nervous, but I could still do it.  There was no way I was brave enough to pull the kids, so Matthew did that.  We realized that we are out of shape, but it was nice that we weren't sweating our butts off.  Where else can you ride bikes up and down hills wearing jeans in July?!  We also found a few sales at North Face and Patagonia and stocked up on some winter wear for Matthew and me.  A little rain storm came after lunch, so we all went back to the room for naps.  Later that afternoon, we went back and rented bikes again.  (I think we might invest in our own bikes in the future!)  We ate dinner and got ice cream and called it a day.
We got up and left Saturday after breakfast.  This was our first little vacation as a family of four and I loved every minute of it.  It was nice to not have plans or schedules and just do whatever we wanted.  Evie was such a good baby, just hanging in her stroller most of the time and sneaking in naps when she could.  Mason is so much fun and just loved having all of our attention.  I look forward to many more trips to the mountains!

getting ready to ride the gondola

This is right when it took off.  He was pretty excited!

looking down to the city

picking dandelions at the top of the mountain

nap time

I love how you can barely see the boys

digging for dinosaur bones

our condo was so nice.  It also had a full kitchen along with bedroom and bathroom

Mason's first experience with room service

LOL

watching tv with daddy

so fun!

We stopped by a creek to let them play

This boy could throw rocks all day long.  He kept saying he was giving rocks a bath!

snack time

the view from our balcony

another view.  The flowers were beautiful everywhere we went.

Where Mason is standing is an ice skating rink in the winter.