Beaver Creek, Day 4

Our last day in Beaver Creek was bittersweet.  Bitter because it was sad to leave after so much wonderful time together as a family; sweet because it was so nice to get the kids back in their beds and back on a regular schedule.  Rested kids = better sleepers, fewer meltdowns, more energetic parents (amazing how that works :).

Our last day was Charlie's most anticipated, as it started with a Jeep Tour up in the mountains.  He was SO excited about this and asked every morning if it was our Jeep day.  The place where we met the Jeep was Charlie paradise.  It was a beautiful ranch in the mountains filled with Jeeps, Razors (like Rangers), 4-wheelers, and other fun vehicles.  I am afraid that we just introduced Charlie to his dream job. :)

Here is our Jeep (there was a lot of discussion on the way about what color the Jeep would be.  Charlie was hoping for yellow or red, but wasn't too upset when it turned out to be silver.).

SO excited.

Annoyed that she had to skip her morning nap for this foolishness...but a good sport nonetheless!

We headed up in the mountains and saw all kinds of stunning sights.  It quickly became apparent, however, that Charlie was much more excited about vehicle sightings (logging trucks, 4-wheelers, dirt bikes, campers, and other Jeeps) that anything else.  Big surprise!

There was a herd of sheep in one of the valleys we drove past.  Apparently this is where the shepherd lives.  Hard to imagine such a solitary existence!

More beautiful trees...

The view from the top of the summit.

It was FREEZING on the tour and Clint, Evie, and I were all wrapped up in blankets trying to stay warm.  Charlie refused to wear a jacket or be covered with a blanket.  We kept trying to convince him to cover up with something, but he stayed tough.  We finally noticed his lips turning blue and his teeth chattering and we tried one more time, and he finally relented.  He looked so relieved to be warm. :)

Evie got a pretty good nap during our tour.  It wasn't her ideal day, but she hung in there!

Bear claw marks on the tree--so cool!

We found this beaver dam...

...and then saw 2 beavers!  We stayed and watched them for a while and it was so cool watching them work.

The beavers were cool, but this logging truck?  Even better. :)

When we got back to the ranch, Charlie insisted on a photo in front of the Jeep he wished we had gotten to tour in (unfortunately, it belongs to the owner and doesn't get to tour :(.

Trailers are another of Charlie's random vehicle-related obsessions.  We spent some time watching the guys drive Razors and 4-wheelers up onto a trailer.  Charlie was in heaven!

After naps, we decided to try out the swimming pools at the hotel.  It was pretty cold, but the pool was heated, so it was tolerable (but still pretty chilly!).

Evie struck a pose in her suit...

Charlie LOVED swimming here.  He was getting pretty daring--makes me sad our summer of swimming is over!

More posing from the mouse... (she also swam, but not too long, as she was very chilly).

SO cold after the swim.

One last family picture...

After our swim, we had a wonderful dinner at a local cafe.  It was a perfect end to a perfect trip.  The flights home were a little trying, but it was fun seeing Evie playing on the plane (she loved the flight home) and hearing Charlie recount all of his favorite experiences.  He regaled our fellow passengers with tales of our trip (he was especially excited to tell about the Jeep Tour--he told them that "Evan drives a Jeep" (Evan was our tour guide), that we drove in the mountains, and that "it was called a Jeep tour").  I loved getting this time with my family.  It was really nice getting so much time with Clint and the kids loved getting him all to themselves for a few days.  Evie was walking up a storm on the trip (when she wasn't being carted along on a hike :), and Charlie was really into pretending and story-telling (we had pretend mice, raccoons, skunks, and fish that we took care of all week).  I am still amazed at how much these two are changing right now, and it was fun to experience these changes and developments as a family.  As fun as it was, it was also exhausting (thanks to Miss-I-Don't-Sleep-In-Hotel-Rooms), so we were glad to get home.  But I am already excited about our next get-away!