Fun & Games {Glenwood Springs}

Each evening the whole clan gathered for dinner together. The grandparents graciously made dinner and one night Kyle was in charge of games for the kids. What's the best game to play in the summer heat…water balloons. Kyle and the kids filled nearly 400 balloons then they had a blast seeing how high and far they could throw them. But the big hit was getting to attack the dads!

Even the little ones got to join in the fun…can you tell Kolter is our intense (dare I say, competitive) one?

The kids had fun, the adults had a good laugh and in the end we got to to snuggle with our cousins. It was a night of fun in the mountains!

Hot Springs {Glenwood Springs}

The kids were all about swimming, so the majority of our time in Glenwood Springs was spent at the Hot Springs Pool. It's the largest hot spring pool in the world and 1 of their pools is over 2 football fields long. It's so nice and warm!

The 1st day we were there we went for a night swim and while the air was chilly the water was so warm. The kids quickly got used to the salt water and loved playing in the water with their cousins. There were jumping contests, water gun fights, games of tag and much more!

Warning: Picture overload!

My goggle heads

This kid is fearless and he loved to jump off the side. Eventually he wore us out and just started jumping in without someone to catch him. All the strangers thought he was the cutest…I guess I can't argue with that ;)

Sawyer (above) trying out a cannonball, while Nora (below) is perfecting her belly flop

Synchronized sibling jumps (below:)

Aunt Christina and her brood

There were also a few breaks for snacks and silliness.

Family Vacation {Glenwood Springs}

After returning home from CA Kyle traveled to KS to pick up the kids and I unpacked/re-packed for our trip to CO. On July 5th we all hopped in the van and headed towards Glenwood Springs, CO for a family reunion/vacation!

Someone was a little tired on the drive and just couldn't be bothered

We stayed at a campground in a tiny house! After the 12 hour trek the kids were pretty tired the next morning so they did some relaxing and Disney watching.

Kolter is pretty fierce with a pool noodle.

Our trip involved nearly 40 family members and around 1/2 of those were kids age 10 and under!

Thankfully, one of Glenwood Springs main attractions are the hot springs which means we had lots of fun in the water.

The cousins all enjoyed spending time together. During our evening meals they often gathered around to tell stories.

The kiddos also enjoyed grandparent time!

And we  had lots of fun family time…don't let their faces fool you they were having fun…in fact they were having so much fun they didn't want to stop and take the picture ;)

The boys twinning in blue shirts

Exploring the campground and taking in the beautiful mountains

And to end our trip some crazy kids at IKEA…we are gluttons for punishment. Just a parental tip…IKEA is probably the last place you should take 3 kids after 2 weeks of vacation and with 12 hours of driving ahead of you.

Lots more about our CO adventures in the days to come!

Chillin' in Cali {10th Anniversary, Part 3}

Our time in Malibu included a lot of food and relaxation. On Monday we headed straight for the beach. We chose Surfrider's beach and spent the day watching the surfers catch waves, visiting the pier (where they happened to be shooting a movie), and reading/relaxing in the sand.

putting our toes in the Pacific Ocean for the 1st time

beach selfie

Not a bad view. I was diligent with my sunscreen application, but I realized a bit too late that I couldn't turn over onto my stomach…this resulted in a pretty severe sunburn that plagued the rest of the trip…actually the entire next week I had great difficulty walking because of shooting pains in my shin :(

Kyle also had a pretty severe sun related accident. We decided to eat dinner on the beach (Malibu Farm Cafe), so he graciously took our supplies back to the car before we headed to the restaurant. In the process he burned his feet on the sand and got 4-5 large burn blisters on the bottom of his feet. Lets just say by the 2nd day in Malibu we were in pretty bad shape, but we didn't let that stop our fun.

Instead of going to the beach the 2nd day we slept in, read inside, ate gelato, went to John's Garden take-out and even went to a movie (which we never have time for at home).

Thankfully, the 3rd day was overcast, so we decided to brave the beach again. We went to Point Dume where I covered up and read for the morning and Kyle took a walk around the cove.

my 2nd beach day

Then that evening we went out to dinner on the beach at Malibu Seafood

a view from our drive

fish & chips at Malibu Seafood

After dinner on the beach we tried to catch sunset on the beach, but it was too overcast. It was still a beautiful sight!

I should mention during our time in Malibu we stayed in the guest house in the mountains. We booked it through Air bob (our 1st experience) and it could not have been more perfect! It was private and secluded but still close to town. The house was well accommodated and it fit our needs perfectly!

Our last night in CA we ended up going to bed early because we had a 3:30 am wake up call in order to make it back to Burbank for our 7 am flight. Long story short we woke up at 3:30 am and thanks to delayed flights, subsequent missed connections and airline support error we didn't arrive home until 1:30 am the next day (without our luggage I might add…which really at that point didn't concern us at all!). It was a LONG day of traveling, but we so enjoyed our trip to CA. It was the perfect mix of being with friends, relaxing, sightseeing and being just the 2 of us. We are so thankful for this week to celebrate our marriage, friendship and life together. And a big thank you to the grandparents for taking on the task of watching our 3 kids! They had a blast and barely even cared we were gone!