Estes Park and Our Fourth of July

Last week Evan, Boston and I along with my sister Alexis, brother Ryle, and soon-to-be sister-in-law Dani packed up and made the long awaited drive from Utah to Colorado. It was here that we met up with the rest of the Williams family and would enjoy a week full of adventure, fun, and laughs (there is always laughing when we get together). This trip was a mash-up of several different events. Independence Day is a given, but our outing also marked Evan's 26th birthday, our biennial William's Family Reunion, and a trip with some great family friends, the Jermains. We were so lucky that the Jermain Family loved us enough to invite us along on their traditional Colorado vacation. You see, they are die-hard hikers and for the Williams family this hiking thing would be a first.Nevertheless, the Jermains ever so graciously let us tag along and "tag along" we did. 

We left for Colorado on Saturday morning around six a.m. and arrived in Estes Park sometime that afternoon. But of course, before heading to our lodge we HAD to make a stop at the nearest Wal-Mart where we- as always- overspent on food and goodies for the week. After Wal-Mart and a quick stop at Mickeys, we piled back into the cars and headed to our final destination. Our lodging for the week was an amazingly beautiful, three-story home with five bedrooms; definitely enough space for the largest of families: the nine-member party Williams family and the six-member party Jermain family. That's 16 people stuffed under one roof for an entire week. You think we would have gone crazy, but this place was absolutely perfect and handled us well. Not to mention it was well equipped with a 60" flat screen TV, foosball table, and a ping-pong table. You better believe we had an entire night centered around a very intense double elimination tournament of ping-pong. 

The majority of our trip was centered around waking up at the crack of dawn and hiking to the most beautiful places on the face of this earth. Seriously we woke up at like 7 a.m. Everyday. On vacation. I didn't even know there was a 7 a.m. Needless to say, I wasn't a big fan of that at all, but the places and things that we got to do and see made it all worth it. We hiked a total of 36 miles in five days and I've gotta say that for this being our first time hiking, we did quite well. We were able to take Boston on two of the hikes that week. Although it was extra exhausting carrying that 25 pound child on my back, I loved that he got to experience all the beautiful things around him. He loved it just as much, if not more, than I did. Here are just a few pictures from each day of the hikes:

Day 1: Emerald Lake

This first day of hiking seemed more of like a "warm-up hike" to prepare us for what lie ahead later that week. It wasn't a very long or a very steep hike, although carrying Boston kind of made me feel like it would never end. I thought lugging that boy up four flights of stairs to our apartment on a daily basis would have prepared me for times like these. Needless to say, it did/has not. But he loved every minute of it and I would do it a thousand times over just so he could enjoy it again and again. This is also one out of the two hikes that Donna and Momma Williams joined in on. I loved having my mom with us on this hike! Even though hiking isn't really "her thang" and she doesn't love it, she put on her (semi) happy face and came along for the ride.
After a three mile hike one way, we finally reached our destination- Emerald Lake. As you can tell by the last picture, it was incredibly beautiful. We sat on the biggest rock that reached the farthest out into the lake, ate our lunch, and enjoyed the beautiness that surrounded us. On the way back down, my dad offered to carry Boston for me (Evan couldn't carry B because he was too tall and the bijorn sat too high on his chest or else he would have carried our child for me). I willing allowed Grandpa Williams to literally take the load off my chest and I think he loved every minute of it!:) Boston evertually passed out on his grandpa's chest from pure exhuastion and because he had missed his morning and afternoon naps. We got the cutest pitcures and I just have to share my favorite one

Seriously. The. Cutest. Right?

Day 2: Ouzel Falls

    

Oh Ouzel falls. How I despised you! If you can't tell by the very flattering picture of me to the right... this wasn't exactly my favorite hike. It was an eight mile round trip hike, which isn't even that long, but for some reason it was very exhausting. I sound like such a weakling, but that eight miles kicked my trash. The hike up to the lake wasn't that bad. It was pretty steep in some areas but for the most part the four mile hike up was bearable. It was on the way down that I just wanted to disappear from off the face of the planet haha. As we were getting ready to start our four mile trek down it started to sprinkle and it just kept getting worse. It started to pour, then came the thunder and lighting (which felt like it was literally two feet in front of my face. scary), and because we were going down hill at such a quick pace and it was raining, the rocks and wooded areas were super slippery and I fell. At least three times and it hurt. Half way through our way back I thought I was going to break down in to tears because of how much I didn't want to be there. I was wet, tired, cold, and just wanted to be in my bed. ha. It was miserable. Needless to say, I survived to hike another day. Which leads us to... 

Day 3: Sky Pond. My favorite

Hands down. Favorite hike of the week. Skye Pond was breathtakingly out of this world insanely beautiful. It was also the one hike my sweet hubby chose to sit out of. He decided to stay home that day with Boston and just re-coop from the previous days. I was super bummed to say the least, but then again, we had no idea just how amazing this hike was gonna be. Sky Pond was a ten-mile-round-trip VERY steep hike, but it didn't even phase me. I was so in awe at all the incredible things that surrounded us that I didn't care how hot, sweaty, and exhausted I was. Plus I wore my cheetah pants AND it was bandanna day AND I got the perfect bandanna to match my cheetah pant, so that right there just made everything so much better! My favorite part was definitely hiking the waterfall. It was also the steepest and slipperiest part of the hike, which made it kind of scary, but exciting all at the same time. Luckily, we had a few strong men with us to help us as we climbed up and back down the waterfall. I can't even explain to you how awesome this hike was, it's just something that has to be seen. Pictures don't even do it justice. So next time you're in Colorado make sure you make the ten mile hike up to Sky Pond. 

Day 4: Lake Isabella 

Lake Isabella was mine and Evan's last hike of the week (we opted out of going on Friday because we were too exhausted and wanted to sleep in at least ONE day of our vacation :) ) This was the other hike that Donna, Momma Williams, and Baby B got to join in on! It was suppose to be another short and easy hiking day, but I must have just been exhausted from the previous days because this one seemed to completely drain me. Or it could have been the fact that I had to carry an extra 25 pounds on my back again! Either way... I survived my last day and overall I loved it and would do it all over again tomorrow. My favorite part of this hike was after we had lunch at Lake Isabella; we were headed back down the mountain and Boston was so tired that he just passed out in his little carrier on my chest. He never does anything like that. He's not the type of baby who could fall asleep randomly on the floor or in his bouncer; he has to be in his bed cuddled up with his blankey. So when he fell asleep on my chest it was quite the pleasant surprise and soaked up every adorable minute of it! 

Here are just a few other pictures of some of the other stuff we did while in Estes Park.

First things first. We slept. A lot. 

In Estes Park they have the cutest little street full of little local shops. Visiting these shops and buying local souvenirs are a couple of my favorite things to do. We had so much fun and we got some really fun stuff. 

This is the wonderful Miss Donna. We love her.

We also made a stop at a local diner, that really wasn't all that impressive. Unfortunately. Food wasn't great, service wasn't great, but you better believe the company and pictures were great. 

 Yes, I use CamWow sometimes now. Thanks the wonderful Kelbster. She got me hooked. Filters just do something for me that natural lighting can't.

If you couldn't tell by the hundreds and hundreds of pictures (seriously, your lucky I could even narrow it down to these few that I posted) that were taken by the amazing Gary Jermain (thank you:)) we had an absolute blast. If money, time, and the Jermains allow it we will definitely be back next year; I'm not sure how much more of the Williams Family the Jermains can handle! We are quite the eccentric bunch, but we sure know how to have a good time.