We drove up to the family cabin in Fairplay on Thursday morning. We made our usual stop at Wilkerson Pass for a little break and some picture taking.
Upon reaching Fairplay, we headed straight to the Brown Burro for lunch. It's not a trip to the cabin without the Brown Burro!
D got treated to a manicure by Aunt Becky.
On Friday we spent the day in Breckenridge and I think this was by far my favorite day on the trip. It was great fun being all together and doing a combination of new things--like ride the gondola and the alpine slide--along with traditional favorites like
Mary's Mountain cookies and the silly hat shop.
Playing in the park by the river.
Riding the gondola up the mountain...why haven't we done this before?
Steve and I decided to go down the alpine slide with the kids. I rode with M on the ski lift (not my favorite way to travel up a mountain). I was so nervous he was going to slip through the space in the back of the seat! See the snow on the mountain still?
The view of the city of Breckenridge was breathtaking, though!
Steve and D rode up in the chair behind us. Those yellow things on their chair are the slides you ride down in.
You can see the three alpine slide tracks underneath us as we travel up. We rode on the two on the right hand side so we could synchronize our ride and travel down together.
Here are Steve and D at the top of the mountain, ready to ride down!
Here we go!
What a fun ride!
Time for a picnic lunch by the river.
After lunch, D and M played on the playground. M was fully engrossed in climbing up the side of the slide (like a rock wall) and going down the slide. The wooden structure in the right of the picture below is where D spent most of her time and M eventually made it there, too. I don't remember this ever being there before, but it must have been because it certainly didn't look new. The kids probably just weren't interested in it before, but there were a ton of kids in/under this thing, so they joined in. I don't know what it really is or how to describe it other than a kind of house-like structure that they could walk on top of with holes to climb underneath where there was a sandbox. I think all the kids liked it because they were really hidden when they went underneath it.
Playing in the "house". They were having such a great time playing that Aunt Becky stayed to watch them while Steve and I did some shopping on our own.
When we spotted the silly hat shop we had visited a long time ago before kiddos were on the scene, I knew we had to go in. Steve was looking for a regular baseball cap, but there were so many fun options to try.
Steve as Fred Flinstone.
Just a cute hat.
Steve tried some on to imagine what he'd look like with more hair.
Finding Nemo.
Lady Gaga?
This was the grand prize winner...nice mullet!
After we were tuckered out from shopping, we went to the cabin Julie and Dan were renting right in Breckenridge from Becky's husband Andy's family (The Hodge Podge Lodge). The cabin had a fun ski theme, complete with wild and crazy skier wallpaper in the bathroom, a toilet paper holder made from a ski tip, and this fun outdoor swing made from skis.
And it had a zip line, which the kids absolutely loved. M needed a little help at first.
Running the line back for the next person.
Wheeeee! Uncle Dan was on the other end of the zip line to catch the kids.
The tree house was another big hit.
The adults had fun, too. We loved watching the kids play and it was great to relax outside.
OK, we even tried the zip line. Definitely not made for adults!
Cheese fondue for dinner! We all listened intently as Becky told us the rules for fondue-ing (who knew there were rules!). Apparently you must kiss the person to your right if you drop your bread in the pot.
"Gary, please secure that bread tightly on your fork!"
After eating, the kids ran off and played and we didn't hear from them for a long while.
Until they learned there was chocolate fondue, that is! Mmmmmmm...
A super fun day. Thanks, Becky, for the fondue!
