Maelin's First Mountain Trip

Last weekend (I know, I'm late posting these pictures but with school back in session, I don't have time to do anything right any more) we were able to take Maelin up to the mountains for the first time! She had sooooo much fun and we all had as much fun watching her run around.

My sister and her family were camping for two nights along with my dad in a great spot about 1 hour from our house. Kat, Jeff, Kevin, Maelin and I all piled into our car and drove up to meet them and hang out for the day. We had originally thought we'd camp with them, but I just couldn't face the amount of work that would entail with school being so crazy. Our compromise was that we went up for the day and we had an amazing time!

Maelin LOVES the mountains. She sat playing in the dirt, throwing rocks in the river, eating dirt, throwing rocks, running all over the place (and getting very mad when you tried to hold her hand so she wouldn't fall. Then what would happen? She'd fall down and cry and look at you like you were a jerk for letting her fall down. Little Diva, is what she is!), chasing her cousins and laughing and screaming. It was so much fun.

Here's a few pictures of Maelin's first time in the mountains. Now that she's getting older, we should be able to do this a bit more. The benefits of living in Colorado!!



This is a shot of our camp site. We are so lucky to only live about 1 hour away from here!!




This is Maelin enjoying sitting on the "big girl" camp chair. Don't know why she liked it so much but we spent about 30 minutes just getting off and on it!



This is Kevin, Maelin and I in front of the river. This was such a great spot: two rivers merged into one just a few feet away so the sound was amazing.



This is Maelin and Papa Dan going for a walk...or Maelin taking Papa Dan for a walk! She's so opinionated and determined: where she wants to go, she WILL try to get there!



This is Maelin as she spent about 3 hours: just wandering around, picking up dirt and throwing it. She was having so much fun and she couldn't have been cuter or more excited!




This is Maelin with her Auntie Heather, Jeff and Kat. We had so much fun with everyone and I hope we can make this a summertime tradition now that the kids are all getting older!



As the sun went down, it started to cool off so this is Maelin in her "Italia" sweatshirt that Grandma Lea brought for her in Italy. She was having so much fun here...the river is just below her and she sat in the mud for about an hour throwing rocks in the water and squealing. Little pumpkin.

So a good time was had by all! We came home smoky, dirty, muddy, wet, scratched and exhausted but we'd do it again in a second!