Three Year Olds Don't Like to Hike

Our recent trip to Colorado was, without a doubt, fantastic. We booked a small apartment in the attic space of a Victorian house and it was just the perfect amount of space for our little family. We had one bedroom for Cayton, a little sleeping nook for us, and a living room and full kitchen. The big kicker was a huge deck with a clear view of the Flatirons. Seriously, I don't think I can ever stay in a hotel room ever again. For the same price as a hotel, we had probably five times the space. Plus, it was right off of the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, so we could walk to just about anything we wanted to do. My travel agent skills were right on with this trip.

Our place in Boulder

As the title suggests, Cayton wasn't much for hiking. We would start out on a short walk and then, ten steps in, Cayton refused to walk any further. So, either Blake or I would carry her. Initially, we would protest and tell her that big girls can walk. Apparently they can't. The real truth is that when you become a parent, you suddenly acquire the ability to lug hundreds of extra pounds around while you go about your business. So, while you are hiking up a mountain, dragging three or four bags, and pushing a stroller, it's no big deal to throw a 30 pound three year old on top of it. Anyway, here a few pics from the trip.

Cayton not hiking

Cayton still refuses to hike

Cayton and me on the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder

At the Pearl St. Mall

Eating lunch in Nederland

We also hit the New Belgium brewery in Ft. Collins.  The tour was fairly interesting, but I had trouble paying attention given that we hat the girls with us and Cayton was totally fascinated by the huge kettles used to make the beer.  In particular, she liked the one that processed the mash.  So, we had to keep lifting her up so that she could look into the little window on the top of the kettle and watch the giant stirring paddle thingies stir the mash.  As I write this, I wonder if taking a three year old to a brewery tour is such a good idea...  Anyway, the highlight of the tour was when Cayton, seeing all of the bottles of beer being herded down the conveyor belts in the bottling area of the brewery, shouted, "Hey!  It's beer!  Beer for Daddy!  Beer for Daddy!"  Very nice...






Unfortunately, the vacation did have to end. The night before we left there was snow in the mountains. As we were driving out of the Denver area, I was able to catch a couple shots of the mountains with snow on them. It was really hard to leave Colorado.