Steamboat

We had the opportunity to go on a little family trip to Steamboat with some great friends! We had such a great time! It was low-key and relaxing and just what we needed! As usual, I can't narrow down my pictures very well. I thought I did pretty well narrowing it down to twenty-something out of the 250 pictures we actually took, so you're welcome! :)

We stayed in a really nice condo with with our friends and our kids got along great. The first day we were there, the kids just played on the play set and got to know each other better.
Our condo in the background.
A little hike/leisurely walk up to a waterfall.
It was beautiful.

Words can't describe how much I love this picture.

We wanted to go horseback riding, but we were there during the "off-season". Well, that didn't stop us! We drove around until we found some horses and just asked the guy there if they could let our kids ride around the track. Suh-weet!

The kids loved it. Mine have never ridden a horse before, so it was a whole new experience for them.
Jake wasn't so sure at first (as is obvious in the picture below), but he got the hang of it.
See, you can even see him smiling!
Hailee, Maren, Jesse & Jake...
Another playground with some pretty cool features.
We went for a walk by the river and the kids decided to try to see if they could find any fish in the water below the bridge. It sure made for a cute picture.
We ran into some crazy weird wild animals on our way back and the kids just hopped right on for a ride!Hailee tied with Kirk for the lead on bowling and she still talks about it.

Another playground. I think the kids went to every park in the city!Unfortunately, we did not bring our camera for some of my favorite parts of this trip. Most notably:

- Steamboat is famous for it's hot springs and even though it was cold outside (60 degrees), their outdoor pool facility was AMAZING. It had several different pools and hot tubs that were about 98'ish degrees. We spent over 3 hours in there, it was awesome.

- We each traded off watching the kids so we could have our own date night. Ty and I went to a restaurant that I think I will seriously drive back there just to eat there again. It was so dang good. It was called Mambo Italiano. Ty liked it as much as I did (well almost). It is a rare occurrence for a restaurant to impress both Ty and me at the same time since we are so different in our food preferences, but it was just amazing. I had to mention it because I loved it so much.

- There was this little place called "The Pottery Wheel". You go pick out a piece of pottery and paint it with your glaze. Then you come pick it up a few days later after it's been fired. It was a fun activity for the kids. Marcy and I took Maren and Hailee while the boys were all home napping. Hailee painted a unicorn statue (that I tried to talk her out of) and a little bowl. I made a birthday plate. We got to pick them up on our way out of town.

Here are the kids just relaxing together before bed one night, with an ice cream snack!
And Hailee, smothering her brother with love.
Good night!