From Friday afternoon through Sunday morning we camped out at Estes Park, Colorado.
It was absolutely beautiful being in the mountains and enjoying these views.
And one of the best things was watching these kids enjoy nature....without electricity (AKA no TV, no nintendo, no computer) the kids found other ways to entertain themselves.
These boys spend so much time at this table using their imaginations. I know at one point their goal was building a tent but then it changed to building a garden for the grasshoppers they found.
These big boys also found ways to entertain themselves as well.....playing a friendly game of bocce ball.
These girls enjoyed the pretty wildflowers in our campsite.
LOVE this picture......Kayla loves her cousin Kambria so much.
The kids had lots of time to hang out as cousins.
And the adults had fun hanging out and playing games.
Craig with his brother Brian (and wearing the shirt Brian made for him)
(On a side note, the day after we arrived in colorado, Craig spent the day hanging out with his brother. These two are so alike in lots of ways. The enjoyed a game of frisbee golf, eating out for lunch, and then spending the afternoon playing computer games and old school nintendo games)
Mel, Linda, Julie, Dave, Tom, Vicki, Dennis
Vicki was happy to have her sisters and their husbands join us at the campground. She knew that Mel and Linda was going to be there but Julie and Tom suprised her by being there.
How many people can you fit into one tent?
We we weren't quite prepared for was the spurts of rain that came a couple times a day in the mountaints. Here we are gathered in our tent--the adults attempting to play some Rook while the kids play with some toys.
Another time while it was raining we met up at the lodge and played games there.
But the rain did give us this spectacular view of a double rainbow in the mountains.
Luckily, the rain usually didn't last long and we were back out to work/play.
Austin gathered firewood in hopes that we would be able to get a fire going.
Derek and Connor working together.
Jeff starting the fire
Uncle Tom made delicious peach cobbler in the dutch oven
And we made SMORES of course!!
And here come the tents:
Everyone slept so good in their tents (HA!). We didn't even get a picture of Kristi and Kelsey's tent because after the first night they decided to sleep in the car. All the kids seemed to have slept fine and maybe some of the adults on air matresses. But otherwise the ground was pretty rocky and the first night it was raining and super windy. At times I thought our tent was going to collapse. We also had some trouble with water getting into the tent and getting our sleeping bags and pillows wet.
So even though the kids were dead asleep, we got up and moved into the car to spend the night. Luckily the next night the weather was calm so we all slept in the tent.
Saturday morning the weather was beautiful so we decided to go on a hike.
Of course the views were awesome!
Craig and Jeff had a good time climbing up some of the rocks.
And we found some rocks that were safe enough for the kids to climb up too.
After the kids all climbed up to the top we took this picture.
It was a beautiful morning for a hike and enjoying the outdoors.
Conquerers of the Bastings Family Hike
Another view of the mountains from our campsite. Looking at these pictures makes me miss those mountains already. They were beautiful.
Even the deer weren't afraid to wander through our campsite on occasion.
Kids having fun at the park
Yep....a park in the mountains.
It doesn't get any more perfect than that.
The meals were split up by families and everyone did a great job so we had plenty of yummy food to eat.
It was fun just getting to hang out as a family.
Kambria, Krisit, Dave, Sariah
Kayla and Grandpa Dennis
Matt and his dad
Vicki and her sisters
Kayla and Kambria
It was such a GREAT family vacation.....probably one of the best we have ever had!!
Sunday morning sunrise on our last day. Pefection!
1 comment:
Everyone is all "growed up" :) How fun to see all these pics.
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