4th of July continues to climb the list as our favorite holiday and although there is so much magic surrounding Christmas, Craig and I are just such huge 4th of July fans! It is a mellow and relaxing time for summer fun and an excuse for a little break from the chaos of life.
We usually try to head to CA for 4th of July to spend a week with my parents and sister's family by the pool, but because of our Hawaii vacation coming up at the end of the year, we just couldn't find that much time to get away. The rest of Craig's family headed to Texas for the weekend and we knew 8 hours each way with Hadley screaming didn't sound like a great time, lol! SO....we decided to take a family trip and spend 4th of July in the mountains with the 5 of us! We booked a hotel in Vail, where we had stayed for our anniversary the previous year, and we had an absolutely fabulous time together!
We swam, hiked, watched fireworks and just enjoyed getting out of dodge for a few days :)
We actually watched fireworks on July 3rd because one of the best fireworks shows in CO is known to be over a lake just outside of Vail. We got there really early and they had tons of carnival games, food stands and a big playground to entertain us until it got dark and the fireworks started. I will say it is definitely the best show I have ever seen, we were sooo close and the fireworks were exploding over our heads and the setting was just gorgeous! Hadley was passed out by the time they started and Brady fell asleep right in the middle of the show - haa - I couldn't believe it! It was sooo loud but they were snoozing away!
The morning of 4th of July, I got up early with Hads and we went for a long walk along the river together while the boys slept. Not a bad view to start our day!
The boys walking through the town of Vail before the big parade started! We didn't stay for the parade but it was fun to see everyone dressed up and the town decked out. We grabbed some breakfast in town and headed back to the hotel for a day of swimming!
4th of July evening, we went on a long family hike, found some sticks for roasting marshmallows and then came back to the hotel to make smores for dessert :)
The last morning we started our day with another hike along the river and visited a really cool playground that was pretty close by. Afterwards, we came back for another couple hours of swimming before heading back home.
We would have loved to spend 4th of July surrounded by our extended family, but we ended up having a really amazing family weekend together! We love this hotel and will definitely be back :)
