Vail -- part 1

A friend of Denise's offered her the use of his "cabin" in Vail, and she invited us to join them. I had been debating, since my boys have missed so much school lately, but ultimately we decided to go. It was a great vacation and we were all so glad we did! (Marc had to stay home and teach, but at least he had 6 days of peace and quiet.)

I dared to snap a photo when there were no other cars around. I love the way these windmills look.

As previously mentioned, we had a terrifying near miss when I started to fall asleep at the wheel. The kids haven't said anything about it since, but I know I was traumatized. For a few seconds there, as we spun out across two lanes of traffic, I thought we might all perish together on Highway 6. Thankfully, we were protected and came through the experience with no physical scars! The remaining 5 hours of the trip was a white-knuckle drive for sure.

I was so very relieved when we arrived at the house, and a very beautiful house it was indeed. We estimated about 10,000 square feet!

This is the amazing view from the family room.

Mom and Dad were there, too, and Dad's birthday was the next day. His birthday breakfast was this mountain of donette gems. (Ashley calls them fauxnuts, which I think is the perfect moniker for these waxy little donuts.) Everyone was thrilled.

He spent his birthday going back to Denver to pick up Ryan and Miles -- my brother and nephew whom I haven't seen for 3 years! My cousin Sarah was also returning from her clogging competition (national champions!), so they waited and all came back to Vail on Saturday night.

We watched Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea! I haven't watched them probably for 15 years, and it was a real treat. That Matthew is unbearably sweet. They are quite possibly my favorite movies ever, but I don't have anyone (in my house, at least) that would want to watch them with me, so this was a fun opportunity to indulge our love of Anne, Matthew, Marilla, Gilbert, and all the rest.

Mom and Charlotte were helping Emily to wind her yarn into balls, until they got to the "hell ball" and gave up because it was too hard to untangle. Emily came out the conquerer, however! I love the colors of her yarn. She knitted her first hat with it and then started in on muffatees (our new shared obsession). It's fun to have a fellow knitter around.

Dad opening his cards and gifts. I gave him a subscription to Smugmug, so maybe now I'll be able to see all of his cool photos!

Even though Grandma and Grandpa decided not to come to Vail, Grandma made Dad his favorite carrot cake and sent it up. I forgot to get a picture of it, but it was delicious, of course.

There was plenty of time and space for everyone to do whatever he or she wished. Here my very tall cousin John is stretched out, playing his Nintendo DS. The kids' domain downstairs had an air hockey table and foosball, and Lucas was pleased to discover a basketball hoop in the garage.

As Denise said on her blog, we are sort of low-level recreators in our family. We are happy with movies, good food, walks, and maybe a little shopping expedition or two. Ryan and Miles, however, are real outdoorsmen. They took Max on a long hike and a fishing attempt (no bites).

We enjoy cooking together, and it cracked me up that, with 5 bloggers among us, the food was surrounded by paparazzi.

Denise forgot to bring a rolling pin, so she had to improvise with the can of Pam.

Many hands make light work, especially when you are making 4 batches of breadsticks! (I thought this excessive until I discovered that they were all gone shortly after dinner. Denise knows what she is doing.)

Miles doesn't sit still for long, so I was glad to capture this cute grandfather/grandson moment of relaxation.

Charlotte and Emily taught all the kids to play Killer Bunnies. I never did learn the game, but they sure did have fun! They had several long, rousing games.

We played a lot of Bananagrams. I love that game! I can't remember the last time my mom sat down and played games with us.

We went on daily walks around the neighborhood, soaking in the fresh mountain air, the sights and smells. Everywhere we turned there were babbling creeks (one of my very favorite sounds), beautiful trees, and many varieties of birds. I discovered that hummingbirds make a sound -- other than that of their wings flapping -- and Eva and I became experts at spotting them. In fact, she would keep a "creature count" during our walks. Mostly we saw birds and dogs, but we also saw a few squirrels and a fox.

This picture is for you, Jess. Eva and Miles were looking for big rocks to throw in the creek and she was quite taken with this one. Of course it reminded us of rock you became attached to as a tiny girl, coincidentally also found in Vail!

Many of the homes have bear statues, but we dubbed this one the "were-bear". It's kind of creepy, but it became a friendly landmark of sorts over time.

On Sunday, we attended sacrament meeting at the Vail branch. Half of the meeting is in Spanish -- half of the hymns, prayers, and talks. Well, at least my dad understood everything! It was a wonderful meeting and I absolutely loved the talk given by the visiting high council member. I was shocked to discover that this branch is in Denise's stake, as it is about an hour and a half from where she lives. Oh so different from the boundaries we have here in Utah.

One night we had homemade pizza for dinner: barbecue chicken, cheese, pepperoni, and veggie varieties. Delicious!

Stay tuned for part 2...