Buena Vista Part I

For summer vacation this year we went to Colorado with Josh's parents and sister. We stayed primarily in Buena Vista, then headed to Alamosa on our own for a couple of nights. It was such a fun trip-wonderful mix of hanging out and being adventurous. Plus some good food mixed in there!

We arrived on Friday June 30th after staying the night in Kansas with Joe and Claudia on our way out. After being in the car so long the kids were pumped to get out and explore the beautiful house we stayed in. 

Em and Meranda flew in to Denver so Josh's parents picked them up and they arrived shortly after we did. 

Ordered pizza for our first night from Elkhorn Pizza. This place was delicious! 

The house had a garage filled with games-ping pong, pool, darts. The kids were in heaven!

AND a hot tub.

We took a lot of walks down to the big river, which was about a half mile away.

SATURDAY

On our first full day we packed up to go see a couple of sites nearby between Mt. Alero and Mt. Princeton. 

First stop was this wildlife viewing area...we saw a lot of prairie dogs.

Next up was a pretty neat waterfall you could basically see from the road. 

Finally made it to our destination-Saint Elmo, which is a ghost town up in the mountains. Elevation 10,000 feet!

This was a cool stop and the views were absolutely gorgeous. The kids bought some feed and let the chipmunks crawl all over them. Kinda gross to me but they had a blast. 

On the way down the mountain Josh talked us into going to Sheep Canyon to see if we could spot some wildlife. It was pretty much a bust but the views were pretty. The hike to get to this area was rough!

After all that activity in the morning we somehow still had energy, so we went to downtown Buena and walked around. 

Later that evening Ike and I walked to the river and took some pictures. 

SUNDAY

Sunday morning we got up and went for a hike on the Barbara Whipple trail to get views of Buena Vista from the hills. 

After our hike we cooked breakfast and had a mini sermon before resting up for our big adventure that afternoon. 

White water rafting! We rafted down the Arkansas River and experienced up to level 3+ rapids. It was crazy, we about froze because the water was so so cold and we really had to work together as a team! We had so much fun and the rapids were awesome! We went through American Adventure Expeditions and would highly recommend them.

Divana's seat had a hole in it so we had to keep stopping so our guide could air it back up!

The after pictures-we got absolutely soaked!

 

Young the Giant and Milky Chance

Right before we left for our trip to Colorado, we met mom and Tony for a concert at TCU Amphitheater in Indianapolis. Josh and the boys are huge fans of both these bands so when they were touring together we knew we had to go! We were able to get tickets pretty cheap so mom and Tony decided to join us. It was a great evening and a fantastic show! 

It rained while we had dinner at High Velocity so the gates were late to open, which Ike was not excited about. 

 

Quick Trip to New Buffalo

While the boys were at camp Josh and I headed to New Buffalo for a two-night getaway. We stayed at a really cute place called New Buffalo Inn and Spa-highly recommend. We were close enough to walk everywhere but the price was a little better since it wasn't on the main road.

Our first night we got there in time for dinner at The Stray Dog (which we called Salty Dog the entire trip!). It was good and then we walked down to the beach for a minute. 

Got up the next morning and Josh played 9 holes of golf while I walked with him. This was a beautiful place to play called Woodlands Course. 

We kind of broke up eating and walking around after golf, so we did an appetizer at Church Brewery.  We can't pass up a burrata!

Then we did some exploring in another town, found a greenhouse where I bought a couple of plants, then came back to get ready for dinner at Bentwood Tavern.  Mushroom toast? Come on it was so delicious!

For our last outing we went to Galien River County park that had a boardwalk and observation tower of the marsh there. 

We had such a great trip, lots of good food and towns to explore. 

One last picture-me and my new plants!

 

Summer Camp and Cousins

The boys all were able to head to Quaker Haven camp together this summer. They were beyond excited to all go and they even got in the same cabin! We met up at Aunt Gayle's house to swim and pick up the Smith boys on the Saturday before camp. 

Sunday before we took the boys to camp we went to church and then had a quick lunch with Josh's parents. 

On our way!

Ben came to camp this year as well and was also in their cabin. 

Time to pick them up!

The Smith boys stayed one more night with us so they got to hang out with the neighborhood crew.

The boys all had a blast-they spent lots of time swimming in the lake and told us all kinds of stories about the food and the friends they made at camp. I think they're going to be able to go to the same camp again next year! So fun for them to make memories every summer. 

Next up is the quick trip Josh and I took to Michigan since the boys were gone for the week!