Snow Mountain Ranch

When we were invited to go up to YMCA Snow Mountain Ranch with a bunch of families from the ward, we jumped on it and said, "Count us in!"  Due to an unfortunate scheduling accident, we had to go up a day later than most everyone else.  It wouldn't have been too much of a problem except that we went to the wrong YMCA!  We drove to Estes Park thinking, "That drive wasn't too bad at all."  But when we went to check in we realized our mistake.  We needed to be down at Winter Park, which was an additional two hour drive from where we were.  Ugh!  We decided to make the most of our detour and drove up and over Trail Ridge Rd.  If you have to take a two hour detour, that's the way to do it.  The road had just recently opened for the season and there were still huge piles of snow on the side of the road.  It was stunning really.  

We met up with everyone just in time to go down the sledding hill.  We only had an hour, which was not enough time according to my kids.  They slid down the turf and came back up with their tubes on the magic carpet.  The first time Kelton went down his face jumped back and forth from fear to excitement as he slid.  I had to get it on video because it was so funny. 

Up at the top ready to party!

Cambrie pulling Halle.

Ella and McKenzie

Riding up the magic carpet.

Happy face at the bottom.

 After the sledding hill we made our way over to rock climbing.  

McKenzie simply had short arms, so Jeremy needed to help her out with some extra foot-holds on occasion, but she made it.

Cambrie was determined to make route 2, but she just couldn't make one section.  She tried and tried until her hands were too tired to hold her anymore.  She made it to the top and rang the bell on every other route though.

Even though many of the crew were headed to the craft cabin we headed to our campsite to set up.  While Jeremy and I set up the tent, Cambrie and McKenzie tried making a teepee out of logs around the area.  

When it collapsed they decided to come up with a safer game, and Cambrie invited rock bowling.  She hung a rock between two trees and set up another pile of rocks underneath it.  The goal was to see how many rocks she could knock down at a time.  

Kelton and McKenzie enjoying the best part about camping: dirt!

We lit a fire to warm our dinner and Kelton cracked me up.  As soon as Jeremy had the flames going, Kelton raised both hands in the air and said with a deep voice, "FIRE!"  He was stoked about the fire.  Needless to say Jeremy is pretty pumped about having another boy to share in his enthusiasm.

After dinner we met up for s'mores at a group campfire.  The kids made themselves nice and sticky then wandered down to a stream with all the other kids while the adults visited.  I can't believe I didn't get a picture of all the families there.  There were the Hamblins, Werners, Nelsons, Skinners, Mortensens, Schramms, and Marshes.  We knew it was time to go back to camp when all of our kids were wet up to their knees, covered in mud, and we were pulling slivers out of fingers.  

The next morning we decided to make up a hike up to a waterfall we missed the day before.  It was an easy one for the kids and Kelton insisted on walking the whole way.  

A breaver dam

A fun tree with a perfect sitting nook.

We had a lot of streams to cross and ended up squishing through mud up at the top.

It was really pretty up at top, but there wasn't enough room to sit and enjoy the view.  It was crowded that morning so we didn't stay long even though the cool air and snow banks made it really pleasant up there.

When we made it back down everyone was meeting together to go fishing at the reservoir.  I don't fish.  Jeremy doesn't fish.  So it shouldn't be surprising that our kids have only been fishing once with Papa Great.  I was surprised the girls had as much fun as they did.  The only one from our party to catch anything was three-year-old Brayden.  I'm glad we had someone to cheer on!  

After fishing we went to archery.  This is what Cambrie was looking forward to most.  There was a learning curve, and the targets weren't pulled taut so our arrows bounced off them, but we each had a couple excellent shots.  

Kelton was my buddy for most of my rounds and stood within my stance as I shot.  No bulls-eyes for me, but look at the girls!  

Back at camp the boys all napped while the girls ran around with the Hamblins and Werners.  I'm not entirely sure what they were playing, but it involved a lot of hiding from the little kids.  As a way to make it up to the little kids, we all headed over the tricycle park.  My kids hadn't brought their bikes so they had to use the tricycles provided.  

You can see how thrilled Cambrie was about using a tricycle again.  

I, on the other hand, was tickled pink.  I tried racing all the girls but I have decided none of them can drive.  It's a good thing they don't have licenses because not one of them knew how to follow the course or stop at stop signs.  I'm glad they still have another eight years or so before this becomes an issue.  

A perfect sister moment caught on camera.

We squeezed in a quick trip to the craft cabin before the night was over.  They were closing early that night so we had to hustle on our projects, but even with the time constraints the girls did amazing work.  I think if we had shown the girls that cabin at the beginning of the trip they would have stayed there the entire weekend.

  

Ella came with us to show us the ropes.

Cambrie made a mosaic frog, and McKenzie glazed a porcelain hand mirror.

As a perfect ending to a glorious weekend we had a potluck dinner at the Werner's campsite.  We brought chicken noodle soup and s'mores for the kids.  The Werners provided steak and chicken grilled to perfection by Greg.  The Hamblins had some macaroni and cheese that saved the day for Kelton.  And the Marshes showed up with some well-time chocolate.  The weather was glorious, the sun set was stunning, and the company couldn't have been better.  We sat around the camp fire sharing embarrassing stories and laughing until the kids were begging to go to bed around 10:00.  I knew we had to put them down, but we were having a ball.  We decided that this trip should be an annual tradition, and to that I say, "Count us in!"