Bike Trip

We went. We saw. We survived another Bike Trip with 2 kids.

Don't get me wrong. Bike Trip is an awesome experience, and the scenery/weather/location cannot be beat. I mean, come on: the Colorado mountains in early fall with changing leaves and 70 degree weather. Yep. Heaven.

But the trip is not exactly designed for kids. It ideally features days filled with Colorado adventures -- hiking 14ers (mountains of 14,000 feet elevation for the flat-landers), ridiculous bike rides (that, let's be honest, I'd never be able to do, given my extremely poor biking skills), and other such adventures. For those of us with kids (and there are plenty of us!), it's a lot of walking around town. Going to the marina or the playground or nap time.

Then, nights are filled with a) lingering dinners and time with friends or b) taking cranky and/or sleeping babies to bed and immediately crashing yourself or c) both.

We stay at condos, which is great -- fridges and food and snacks and a wee bit more space. 

Yep. Ugly.

Peter used the opportunity of us unpacking to gather up all of the remote controls, as he will.

Blurry because baby on the run.

Clare got to play with a view until Peter tried to start throwing toys off the balcony.

Sunny. Green. Gorgeous.

We did a little hiking. Clare did a great job of getting up . . . and a very, very whiny job of getting down. But she did it, and got a lot of praise for it.

Yes, I used Clare's backpack as as day pack. How else were were going to have snacks at the top?

The absolute best part of the trip was probably Mass on Sunday morning -- there was a big group of us at the early service, and then a few of us went to breakfast after. It just felt good to worship and fellowship with friends in a way we haven't lately.

The highlight/lowlight (as you will) of Bike Trip each year is the Sunday night dinner. It is a nice affair with dresses and courses and menus. It would be a lovely date night, but with kids, it's just hard. It is a bit much for them, and a runs more than a bit late. This year, the dinner was at this restaurant with a gorgeous setting in Vail, right on the creek (pics are, of course, on Charles' phone). There was lots of baby walking (walk alllllll the babies!) happening on the patio we strategically seated ourselves beside. Then, mid-way through the apps, Clare laid her head down on the table and just peacefully fell asleep . . . and basically slept all night. Peter pushed through entrees, but both were out by dessert. I should have taken a picture of Clare asleep, but was too busy keeping Peter calm/quiet/asleep.

Monday, we did some wandering around Breckenridge, complete with a pre-dinner visit to Breckenridge Brewery. 

Clare was really, really fascinated by the ducks.

Peter was going to town on his water.

Then, at the closing dinner, they have an "awards ceremony" with silly/fun awards. Thanks to her performance on Sunday, Clare won the "Sleeping Beauty" award, complete with a new blanket.

She has slept with it every night since.

Some other friends gave her their headband and star-glasses set, so that pretty much made her trip. "This (the headband) makes me a princess, and these (glasses) make me a rock star!"

Post-trip photo essay. No glow-in-the-dark action.

We made it home Tuesday evening after the windiest drive ev-er, and are happily getting back to the day to day. It was a good trip, but there's no place like home.