rafting down the colorado river

We took an amazing rafting trip down the Colorado River... we had to drive to a town called Kremmling, which was about an hour away from Steamboat. (It was a bit difficult finding a rafting company that would let us take a 2 year old!)

 it was a gorgeous morning... temps in the 70s and no wind

 watching as the guides got the rafts and paddles ready

 so about 3/4 of the way through the raft trip, our guide asked if anyone wanted to jump off a 40 foot cliff... of course Jerry and Grayson were up for it!

 our guide tied our raft down next to the shore, and the jumpers got out and had to climb up the rocks and cliff that they would jump off of... Carter and I were happy to stay in the raft and take the pics!

 lots of rafts crowded around and everybody cheered when someone jumped :)

 Grayson (front) and Jerry (right behind him) listening to their jumping instructions

 Grayson jumps!!

 Grayson swimming back to our raft! He did awesome!!

 Jerry jumps!!

 Jerry said the temperature of the water (a mere 50 degrees) was what "got" him... the guide told all the jumpers that the water would take their breath away... so, come back up for air (duh) and take slow deep breaths!

 the clouds in colorado were amazing... it made me think of Chris Tomlin's song "Indescribable"

and, our fearless rafting guide, the "V-man" -- yes, that's what he asked us to call him ;)

we've been playing outside a lot!

We have been blessed with absolutely gorgeous weather here in Colorado. Highs in the 80s, lows in the 50s. Such a welcome relief after having 35+ days of over 100 degrees at home. We've had the windows open, eaten outside, and actually felt COLD. It's been wonderful.

 I love that there's a ski lift right behind the pool. Nope, we're definitely not in Kansas!

 me and my two sweet fishies ;)

 last night, we ate outside at The Tugboat -- great people-watching!

 and then headed back down to the yampa river to watch people tube on by

 that is, people and their dogs

 Grayson waded in a bit... the water is only 50 degrees... just snowmelt coming down off the mountain...brrr

 then we saw a raft come through!

 we've seen hot air balloons almost every morning... this was taken from our deck

 we had fun biking -- great trails down by the yampa -- there are more bikers here than any town I've ever been in

 Grayson was sooooo excited to be on this "ride-along" -- we had a great time!

 coming out of a tunnel

all 4 of us on a bridge over the yampa river -- what a gorgeous morning!

steamboat's alpine slide {the howler}

Several friends and my brother, David, have told us that we just HAVE to ride the alpine slide here. It's simple: ride the chairlift up the mountain, then get on a sled-looking thing and slide down as fast as you can! It would be an understatement to say that we all had a BALL!!

 about to go up the mountain -- chairlift is behind the boys

 there's just something creepy about riding a chairlift in the summer! maybe you don't seem as far off the ground when snow is underneath... i don't know... but it's a little nerve-wracking!

 Jerry and Carter are on!

 looking back down the hill... you can see the bottom of the slides, and the rodeo/stables area is behind that...

 Grayson and I rode up together

 looking back down the hill the other way... this is one of the areas used for olympic ski jumping training

 Grayson on the lift with the slides in the background

 my palms are sweaty just looking at Carter being that far off the ground... oh my

 coming up to the top!

 the top of the alpine slide... the slides are those blue things to the left, lined up and ready to go

 the four of us -- Jerry and Grayson beat Carter and me down ;)

 pic taken while we were sliding! J & G are on the left, videoing their trip down!

 C had a ball -- loved going fast!! So did I...



fish creek falls

Tuesday morning's adventure included a drive to the impressive Fish Creek Falls, just outside of Steamboat Springs. It was damp and drizzling... bring on the frizzy hair! But, we had a great time and we all thought the falls were amazing!

 hitting the trail that went close to the top of the falls

 we then decided to take the trail down to the bottom of the falls...they warned us that there was a 26% grade...wow!!

 almost to the bottom...

 maybe a Christmas card pic?

 throwing rocks into the yampa river in downtown steamboat...now our 2nd time to do this ;)

 looking up at the slopes from downtown

 the flowers are gorgeous! my mom would love them!!