For the 4th of July this year, our little family of three along with Nick’s mom and sister piled up in our car and headed for the mountains. Nick likes to point out that since we’ve known each other, we have not ever spent this holiday in the same exact town. The places we have celebrated include St. Louis, Fort Worth, Houston, Fredericksburg, Aurora, Littleton, and now we can add Aspen/Snowmass to that list!
So Aspen/Snowmass was where we were all headed and all of us were super excited! Well one of us would have preferred the beach, but she figured hanging out with us far outweighed having to endure the mountains. 😉 I grew up near the beach so going to the mountains is still so much fun to me. With Nick’s crazy summer schedule, it made way more sense to stick closer to home which everyone agreed. So off to the mountains we went!
We stopped in Vail along the way to bip around for a bit.
We then headed to ‘our new house’ which Caleb named our home for the week. He was a big fan of our mountain condo in Snowmass to the point where we were a little concerned that he thought we moved there permanently. But with views like this, you couldn’t really blame him.
We then headed out to explore Snowmass!
The next day was the 4th! We all dressed up in our patriotic gear and headed to Aspen for the 4th of July parade.
It was definitely pretty hot for the mountains so as soon as nap was over, we headed to the pool.
That evening, we celebrated like all good Americans by grilling hamburgers. The next step would have been watching fireworks but unfortunately Aspen had to cancel them due to fire danger. Considering the little guy goes to bed at 7 pm, it wasn’t the most awful thing in the world.
Plus, the next morning we were up and at it early to go hike the Maroon Bells!
The hike to Crater Lake with a view of Maroon Bells is beyond gorgeous! Nick and I did it a few years back when we visited Colorado and it’s still one of our favorite hikes.
We went at the crack of dawn last time so it was only Nick and I on the entire hike. Also, even though it was August, it was chilly enough to wear a hoodie which was MARVELOUS. Definitely NOT the case this time but the view makes it all worth it once you make it.
We had a fun time enjoying the sights while Caleb played with rocks. Ah, the simple things.
The hike back was great and the little guy was just so exhausted from all the work he did. He asked me to carry him at one point and I was glad to say that’s a daddy’s job on a hike. Major props to Nick for taking on the burden of the heavy load. 😉
That afternoon we headed to Aspen to walk around.
We spent the evening back in Snowmass eating at a fun restaurant enjoying the mountain views. Also, we had to get in another gondola ride. That was definitely a favorite of the little guy’s… right next to riding the shuttle bus. There was one that would pick us up at the top of the slope at our condo and drop us off at the bottom where all the shops are and vice versa. Caleb thought this was the greatest thing! However, instead of being able to say SHUTTLE bus, it came out as STRUGGLE bus. Which of course we all thought was quite hilarious because a lot of these comments were made by him..
‘I wanna ride the struggle bus!’
‘Are we all riding the struggle bus?’
‘I wanna drive the struggle bus when I get bigger!’
It’s just so hard to correct someone when it’s just so dang cute. Just like him calling every moment prior to this exact one as ‘lasterday.’ Stay little forever, Caleb Jones.
Im pretty sure one of Caleb’s favorite parts of the trip was playing games with JoJo and Aunt JJ. JoJo brought kid card games and taught them all to him. A lot of ‘Go Fish’ happened and Caleb actually understood it. So sweet to watch them play together!
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It was such a great getaway to the mountains to celebrate our country! It does not go unnoticed that we are able to celebrate our freedom thanks to all of the incredible sacrifice from our military. I am beyond thankful for all that they do! And for their families that also endure sacrifice by being left behind for the sake of our country. We are so grateful.
Hope everyone had a fabulous Independence Day!
Trying to Keep Up With My Jones' 