Aspen Redux

Although it's been two months now, I'm just now processing a lot of the photos I took during our summer vacation in Aspen, CO. At the time, I remember being a little stressed out because I was often on my own for long stretches with three little kids (it was a work trip for Kevin). Virginia was not content to hang out in my carrier this summer, as she was last year, and, since she is the most reckless of my three kids and Aspen is full of daring adventures, she certainly gave me a run for my money.

But looking back at these photos: boy, we had fun! As we did last year, we paid many visits to the Aspen Art Gallery, the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies, the Aspen Public Library, the John Denver Sanctuary, and the top of Aspen Mountain. But mainly we just hung out at the many, many lovely parks and playgrounds around town. And thankfully, there were no visits to the emergency room this year!

We did do a few things differently this year. We borrowed bikes, and so nearly every afternoon we would take a long bike ride on one of Aspen's phenomenal trails. Colin road a tandem bike with Kevin, and I pulled Archer and Virginia in a cargo bike. After four weeks of that I was feeling pretty fit!

I also brought along three aquarium nets and three wooden sail boats for the hours and hours of water play that I knew we would be doing in Aspen's incredible (if chilly) Roaring Fork River. Oh, to be there now! When it is 100 degrees in the Mississippi shade, and our backyard is crawling with spiders and snakes! I would go again in a heartbeat, even if it meant having to drive the 20-hours it took us to get there...