 |
| the defilismithcation |
highlights from our adventure:
a week ago, our buddies invited us to go up to their family cabin for one last summer adventure.
day 1, we headed to the cabin on Sunday after church. slow traffic led to an adventurous trip to find the correct back road. we survived the 3ish hour drive to the cabin just past fraser, co. that night, three silly girls convinced us to try letting them sleep in the loft together. at first, they acted as though it might work so we gave them a good hour to try to settle down. fail. we compromised and allowed girls to go through bedtime routines together but then sleep separately.
 |
| 3 girls not sleeping... |
 |
| playing in the creek behind the cabin |
day 2 consisted of grocery shopping, building a dam in the creek, epic club sandwiches for lunch, and a short hike. we packed toddlers onto backs, gave big girls scavenger hunts on clipboards, and headed out. the scavenger hunts really helped the big girls hike without too much whining for quite a while. it was less of a hike and more of a slow meandering stroll to investigate every plant and rock, but it was relatively calm and very pretty. then we stumbled upon a moose mama and calf. we saw them cross the trail from a good distance and were able to watch them safely start to walk away from us. then they stopped and the stare-down began. we debated turning back, but j had his gun and the dog so he decided to go first breaking sticks along the way. that seemed to do the trick. the moose headed up the mountainside while we continued along the trail. we stopped at a lookout point, pulled out fruit snacks and headed back the way we came. we made our way back to the cabin for quiet time, dinner, s'mores (it was national s'more day after all) and bedtime.
we slept. some. we love how over tired babies seem to sleep the least.
 |
| the dam that the kids and dads built |
 |
| moose sighting on the "ditch hike" |
 |
| buddies |
day 3 involved more creek playtime, a partial "hike" around monarch lake, about a 40 min drive from the cabin. it was beautiful. the kids would have been content playing in the freezing lake all day, but the silly adults wanted to see more so we attempted another "hike" with a new scavenger hunt. that lasted about 5 minutes. then we resorted to "flying" like butterflies downhill and pretending to ride unicorns (we started with horses, but that also only lasted 5 minutes) uphill. the unicorns lasted a good 10-15 minutes, but that was after we added fairy dust to the illusion. we eventually gave up, had a snack and turned around. most of the kids dipped their feet in the lake one last time on the way back to the parking lot. all kids were perfectly content being stuck inside the cabin while it rained the rest of the afternoon/evening.
 |
| monarch lake |
 |
| climbing on a steam yarder??? |
 |
| cooling off |
 |
family photo at monarch lake
day 4, we packed and cleaned up, chased the dog, j tracked moose, then drove home. our girls actually slept for almost an hour in the car!!! it was lovely.
|
 |
neighborhood moose behind the cabin (on the other side of the creek)
 |
yep, j crossed the creek in hopes of getting pics
|
|
 |
| these peeps finally gave up |
a quick dip in thekiddie pool, and then it was back to life as usual.
