The first installment of the Rue family vacay.

So after an anti-climatic 4th of July, which consisted of grilling and watching fireworks in our front yard with Johnny and Nicole, Bill and Gayle came to visit!!! Skylar of course, was sick. I thought she had an ear infection, but after taking her to the Dr, it was just more teething. Those dang molars are ruining our lives.

The party really started when Gayle's sister Raina, her husband Chris, and their kids, Andrew, Nicholas and Erica flew into Denver. After a "fun" night at Casa Creepy....I mean, Casa Bonita, we all headed up to Spring Canyon for a couple of days. Here is Skylar on our first night in Harvard (our cabin) sucking on a carrot stick. It didn't take her long to realize she could drop food over the side and watch it roll down two flights of stairs.
Kristy and Micah were stoked to be back at Spring Canyon---the place where dreams come true. After all, we did all meet our spouses there. In fact, most people we consider close friends met their spouses at Spring Canyon. It's way more effective than E-Harmony.
Every few years someone gives various cabins or rooms around camp a makeover. Here are Kristy and Micah modeling the new lobby. It's a huge improvement.
Here is Micah contemplating Jesus while reclining on the new leather welcome bench. It beckons you to come and rest.......
And here is Kristy demonstrating the many guest services available....like a phone. And really......slow.....internet.
Meanwhile, Skylar was busy trashing the nursery and playing with her second cousins--Drew and Erica. Skylar loved having her cousins around. In fact, she's been whining for 2 straight days since they all left. I used to hate it when people would let their kids play in the nursery and leave it a mess for me to clean up. Ha, revenge is sweet! Okay, I cleaned it up.....
We headed up to the Continental Divide to soak up the amazing views and fresh mountain air.

Here are Gayle and Raina. They're bookends: Gayle is the oldest, and Raina is the youngest with 3 boys sandwiched in between.

This was a reenactment of a picture taken many, many years ago in the same spot when Micah was very young. The mountains haven't changed, but everything else has.

Skylar was perfectly happy to sit and smell the flowers. I have to remind her to smell with her nose....not her mouth. She's the sweetest little thing:)
Micah and I decided to take advantage of having a grandma around and climb one last 14er before we move. In the end, we realized we'd have to get up around 4 am to drive to a mountain neither of us has climbed in order to summit by noon. So we opted to do The Hook (part of Mt. Princeton) since the trail head was just down the road.

Bad idea.

Micah had never done it, and I hadn't done it in 11 years and had forgotten the horror that is The Hook. It's just under 13,000 feet, but it's still a 3500 ft vertical ascent with no path. The entire thing is boulders and loose rock of various size. For a clumsy Austin like me, that was an accident just waiting to happen. And it did happen---about 6 times over.

Here we are about 10 minutes into the climb:

2 1/2 hours into the climb:

These boulders were no joke, it was a whole body workout!
I don't remember being scared the last time I climbed this, but this time I was terrified. There were cliffs and drop-offs, huge cracks big enough to fall in, and the constant feeling that everything underneath me was about to slide away or a rock was about to crush my head.

I must be getting old.........

After 3 1/2 exhausting hours we made it to the summit where we saw 2 bald eagles attacking a little white bird. Kind of cool in a gruesome, Animal Planet, kind of way.

A view of Cottonwood Lake where the Mermaid Club was born (that's skinny dipping for those of you who were never initiated).

We did it! And we will never do it again. It took 3 days for me to walk normally again.

Okay, that's enough for now. To be continued.........