2nd Annual Crested Butte 4th of July Extravaganza - Part 1

Last weekend marked our 2nd Annual trip to Crested Butte with our friends and neighbors across the street. This year proved to be slightly busier with the addition of the baby (aka, Maida). We all slept in the same room, so that may have had something to do with it. Thank god for the walk-in closet for Maida, that's all I'm sayin'.

Our drive started off fine enough, everyone took some short naps, but about 1 1/2 hours into the ride, everything began to go downhill. Mom and Dad had promised me a stop for ice cream, so we stopped in Fairplay at a cute little ice cream shop. Still doing great, though in hindsight, dairy was probably not a great idea.

Back in the car, I wanted to watch Word World, so Mom got the iPad out for me, which turned out to be mistake #2. An hour later, we're over Cottonwood Pass (for those of you who haven't experienced it, picture hairpin turns on the side of a mountain for 45 minutes), and I'm miserable. I kept telling everyone my tummy hurt, but they chose to ignore me I guess. Big mistake ... HUGE. There are no photos of what happened next, but that's probably for the best since it was a very messy and smelly turn of events. Thank god we were near a stream, that's all I have to say.

Thankfully we all made it in one piece, and I felt much better after getting out the car and taking a bath. This was our view from the porch, so it was well worth it.

Onto brighter things, Maida started her solid food while we were in the mountains (earlier than I did, I might add - she's been eyeing Mom's food for weeks now!)

Here she is waiting patiently, thumb in mouth (this seems to be a theme among the children in our family)

She was a little unsure of the oatmeal for a split second

Then she started looking around for whatever else there was to eat

So Mom gave her some more, and she got a little aggressive. That Maida really loves her some food!

Then it was off to the park in town for some fun

And this is what Maida did most of the time we were out

Or she relaxed with Dad on the porch...

Or hung out in her exersaucer...

while Charlotte and I enjoyed some coloring.

The grownups enjoyed one of their favorite pastimes, as well

I liked to taunt Caleb while we were all riding our bikes. He may be bigger than me, but that's never stopped me before

And here we are again ... with Maida eating. Geez, does that girl do anything else??

Looks like she's saying, "Excuse me, could you please pass the Grey Poupon?"

I wasn't sure Dad could handle this one on his own, so I decided to step in to help

Ok, gotta take a break before getting into the serious fun of our trip, which included fishing at Lake Irwin, the 4th of July Parade and smores.

To be continued...