You might think the hummingbirds and moose were the eye-candy in Colorado, but get a look at this bunch. I spent 10 days surrounded by my lovely family embraced by Colorado’s Rocky Mountain glory. The cast of characters included my Dad, Janet and Rachel; Bryan, Robbi and Rowan for the first half; and Krista, Tim, Lily and Linc for the second half. Joe, unfortunately, had to work, so here was my date for the trip.

She was so. excited. to be in the mountains and around her favorite people. Rowan also got a lot of love those first few days. We’re all smitten with him and the other littles.

Rowan finally met Bella, my own little, who looks thrilled.

The first full day we drove Trail Ridge Road through the park. It was stunning.

My dad in his element.

We reached the cold summit, where Rowan snuggled close and there was still considerable snow.

Other adventures included taking everyone to Estes Park, including Bella, who got a lot of AWWWW’s around town.

I also was on baby duty so Bryan and Robbi could fly fish near our cabin.

Rowan was not convinced of my wearing his burp cloth on my head to block the sun. Just the start to a long tradition of me embarrassing him.

And then Krista and her crew arrived and we were all together for two days. Aunt NoNo was very happy to be with these faces.

We hiked to Adams Falls, which was a hit and totally family friendly. This is a good group.

I gave Lily my GoPro camera for our hike.

That girl. She took some dang good photos, including this one, which is one of my favorites of the entire trip.

She’s got the bug!

Before they left, we celebrated Robbi’s birthday with homemade ice cream and this ridiculous cake with a cookie dough center that Lily helped me make. Total hit.

Then we had another few days of special food, like Micky pancakes…

…to games like Cranium and Dominion (which is SO FUN!)…

…and making popsicles with leftover yogurt, oreos and sprinkles.

We finished the trip by seeing The Little Mermaid live; a fitting end to a fabulous and much-needed 10 days. A big shout-out to my Dad and Janet for bringing us all together amidst the busy schedules and miles. It was a perfect trip. Love my fam.

Sometimes you reach the middle of a week and just need a vacation. And when you can’t take one, the next best thing is to relive the one you had over a month ago. My family’s time in Colorado was the perfect antidote to our busy lives and let us spend quality time together–which, when you’re as spread apart as we are, doesn’t happen as often as we would like.

I’ll get to the family action in my new posts, but wanted to share all of the wildlife we encountered at our cabin in Grand Lake. First, the hummingbirds. They were E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E. Sometimes 15 or more at a feeder at a time! I spent many a morning sitting on our deck, armed with my camera trying to capture them all.

This guy is one of my favorites. He looks so angry, ha!

I had never seen them sit still when not at a feeder.

Turns out, the ruby-throated ones were the hardest to catch because the other hummers didn’t want them around. Poor guys. Beauty can be so hard. …so can being patient, but I finally found one on his own.

We saw deer and chipmunks in the park, but our greatest encounter came when I drove to take our trash out one night and saw a group of people by the road with their phones out. I took the bait and stopped only to see three huge bull moose together, which I now know is rare. I called my dad immediately and said “grab the cameras!”

You can only see two here, but they were eating every tree and bush in this poor person’s yard.

Then we walked around the house to find the other one. We were so. close. Dangerous, people. I didn’t realize how easily we could have been hurt, but we shouldn’t have been this close.

Pretty magnificent creatures, though. More soon (I promise!) on the less hairy and aggressive members of our party.

To see the rest of my wildlife photos, click here.