Stephens' Stories: Breckenridge

Thankfully we found a playground at the Breckenridge elementary school that was perfect for both Austin and Annabelle. We visited the playground at least 3 or 4 times during the rest of our trip. We also rode the gondola from town up to the base of the ski mountain. During the summer they have a bounce house, bungee trampoline, a maze, an alpine slide, a roller coaster, and other activities like biking and hiking. These were all too old for our kiddos but they really enjoyed just riding the gondola (ga-nan to Austin). We even hiked up a little ways to a patch of "snow". It was definitely just dirty slippery ice. Annabelle could say that she saw snow and Austin could revisit his baby days of his first Denver winter. He proceeded to sit down in it in his jeans. He could care less if his pants got soaked; he just wanted to play with the water bottles and dump the water between the two. That is my boy. We said goodbye to DiDi on Wednesday. She rode the Colorado Mountain Express shuttle from Frisco to the Denver Airport to catch her flight. Unfortunately, the Hamiltons also left us unexpectedly on Wednesday too. Annabelle was having a very hard time sleeping and they were all exhausted so they decided to cut their trip short and head home early. We were left with a 5 bedroom house to ourselves. Thankfully our friends wanted to come stay. So on Thursday the whole Roon family and also Brandon and Christina came up to visit. Brandon and Christina stayed for most of the day and the Roons with both boys spent Thursday night. Austin had a blast with Brody (his first real friend since birth in Denver!). Brody is 2 1/2 and Garrett is 6 months and such a happy, easy-going baby. We enjoyed a picnic lunch in town on the grassy area and after that the adults visited and caught up on life while the Austin and Garrett napped. We rode the gondola again that afternoon. Brody and Austin did some chipmunk watching, rock climbing, and popsicle eating after their dinner. After the boys went to bed we grilled hamburgers and went to bed early (just like old times in Denver, ha, except with 3 kids). We used to spend every Saturday night (pre-kids) with Adam and Rachel at church and then dinner at Hacienda Colorado for margaritas and Mexican food. Times have changed....but, for the better :) On Friday morning, the Roons headed back to Denver and we headed into town to run (me) and walk/stroll (Austin and David). After that we took a road-trip to Vail for lunch. It was fun to drive to a different mountain town and walk around for a bit in the warm/comfortable and sunny weather. Austin referred to it as "Mail". He didn't even fall asleep in the car on the way back which meant I still got to sneak a shower in during his late nap back at the house before our next friends arrived....to be continued....