Cousins Camp: Colorado, the first leg of our EPIC road trip

July 2018

Cousins Camp at the cabin is absolutely the best! It's like a kid's dream come true and even better if you are a kid and get to enjoy the magic of it without the work. Haha! Because it is also lots of work. I was exhausted the whole time but so satisfied that my kids were enjoying such a great week! I couldn't ask for a better experience! Well, I guess I could. We were the only ones there this year for most of it aside from my Grandpa, Grandmary, parents and sister. My kids would have loved to have more cousins their age for at least a part of the week. But even without more cousins, we really LOVED our whole week!

My parents came out and enjoyed the first few days with us and I'm so glad they did! They helped me enjoy a little of the work-free magic. ;) It was also so nice that we had just spent almost two weeks in Kansas so that my kids were already very comfortable with my parents and snuggled right up to play and read. This is also a great picture of twin life - you can't read just one book at a time... Haha!

Reading with Granddad

There are so many fun things to do at the cabin aside from just sitting and enjoying the peace of nature - which is my favorite! It didn't take long for my kids to discover the tire swing.

Hyrum

Granddad helped Abi get over her fear of hitting the tree trunks next to her by purposely swinging her into them and making funny clunking noises while counting how many times she hit the trees before her momentum gave out. She hated it at first and screamed her shrill scream but as soon as she caught on to the game that Granddad was playing, she enjoyed it immensely.

Learning to be brave with Granddad

Abigail swinging

Audrianne swinging

Hyrum swinging

Along with the tire swing, there is a tree house, a fire pit and a teeter totter. Abi really needed a cousin her age to ride the teeter totter with her. Grandmary was kind and joined her for a while. It was super adorable! Abi was in heaven! I think Grandmary was, too!

Playing on the teeter totter with Grandmary

Another favorite of mine is doing puzzles. I could sit in this cabin all summer doing puzzles and never get bored. I'm pretty sure! And it's even better to have my family do puzzles with me.

First puzzle

Second puzzle

Hyrum was so cute one evening carrying around Granddad's sandals and trying to clomp around in them. He just looks so squeezable like this!

Wearing Granddad's shoes

All the tasty snacks and meals make for a memorable experience at the cabin! And these high chairs were absolutely amazing on my whole trip! Because while most of my friends have one high chair to share, few have two and my kids need to be strapped down still to eat. Haha!

This is partly why this trip was so EPIC. We have twin one-year-olds. That means two high chairs, two pack and plays, three life jackets (three kids who can't swim), a port-a-potty for the five-year-old, a double stroller, three boxes of diapers, one box of wipes, cold weather clothing for Colorado and Yellowstone (the last stop on our EPIC trip) and warm weather clothing for the New Mexico and Utah parts of our EPIC trip. Plus toys to entertain while in the car, while at other peoples' homes, while at the cabin, while stuck in the stroller all day, etc. It was NO SMALL FEAT and this cabin part went so well! Oh, and this is all not to mention the mass amount of food we took with us! Sheesh. Haha! And we used almost everything we took! We didn't overpack or underpack. It was perfect!

These high chairs were life savers!

Another essential pastime here is hummingbird watching. They are so entertaining because some are so cranky and mean and others are so beautiful and graceful. Some of my cousins have caught hummingbirds but I just like to watch them.

Watching the hummingbirds

Grandmary and Grandpa in their natural habitat :)

I love these two!

How do kids instinctively know how amazing my grandparents are? Grandpa forgot his harmonica which was a real bummer because I know Abigail would have loved hearing him play. My grandpa has a great ear for music and plays pretty much any church song you name. He's pretty cool if I do say so myself!

My kids adore them!

Reading with Grandmary

Reading with Grandpa

After church on Sunday, we were all SO, so tired and here's the proof. Haha! We knew Abi was around but didn't know exactly where. We really began to wonder when it was quiet for too long. I went looking for her and found her asleep on the floor of the screened-in porch with her rice krispie treat still in her hand. What a sweetheart!

We couldn't find her for a while...

There she was

I took advantage of that quiet moment and slept with Hyrum on the rocker couch. What a blessed nap! It felt so good!

Sunday afternoon nap

That evening, my cousins and uncle and aunt came up to join us for games. My cousin caught a hummingbird! Apparently he's pretty good at it!

Caught a hummingbird

My kids were so hyped up that night. They were tired but so excited by the commotion and fun happening around them. I didn't care that they were up late. This is what parties with extended family were made for! Plus the twins kept giggling and giggling and loved having so many people to give them attention.

Games at the cabin

Cousins really are the best

Man! She's amazing! Someday, I hope to have her patience and skill.

How does she do it?

Sometimes, the bummer about being in nature at the cabin is the nature part. Audrianne got bit by some bug, probably a mosquito, right near her eye and it swelled up real big. She didn't seem too bothered by it and it went away after a day or two but she sure looked sad for a while.

Bug bite right on the eyelid!

Cute new pajamas

Abi helped entertain the twins while I packed our car on the morning that we had to leave. That, my friends, is the exhausting part of traveling alone with all these kids. Trying to fit all their gear and luggage into our van was hilarious and even better was my grandpa's face when he saw how much I intended to fit in my vehicle. Haha! I did it!

Reading first thing in the morning

We helped take stuff down from the cabin to my grandparents' home and while there, Abi found a tiny frog that she caught. These are the fun things you can't plan into a road trip that make it truly memorable. :)

She caught a tiny frog

I love these people so much!

Thank you, Grandmary and Grandpa for inviting us to your cabin and providing such a fun and memorable week for us! We loved it - every exhausting moment!!