Camping with Friends in Arches NP

What a trip!  The first leg, driving to Grand Junction was painfully punctuated with John’s maladies.  His throat was scratchy, his head hurt, he had a tummy ache.  A last-minute trip to the pediatrician had confirmed it was just a cold, but John was convinced he was dying. 

After a rough night in the hotel (which included John sleep walking out into the hotel hallway for an undetermined amount of time) we were off for the last 1.5 hour stretch.  Utah or bust was our chant:-)


We were rewarded with this campsite inside the park (Canyon Wren group site in the Devil’s Garden campground).  


We walked from the site for an evening hike to Landscape Arch.  We arrived just after dark.

The Arch looks great, but not the kids.  

Kids looking great, but where’s the Arch?

The next morning, we hiked to Delicate Arch!

The whole crew (4 families:  8 adults & 10 kids)

We returned to camp for lunch and shelter in the shade before setting out for an after dinner hike to Broken Arch. This cool tree was along the way. 

Kenny was having some attitude issues and lagging behind😫

Broken Arch as the evening sky lit up with colors.

Jacob—full of adventure and energy!

Half of the kids bouldering before bed.

The kids let their imaginations run wild and within one hour of setting up camp had set up a “mining operation”.

We were wishing for one more night!  But Sunday morning meant shaking out sand and packing up camp.  We stopped at the North & South Windows and Turret Arch on our way out of the park.  

What a fabulous weekend!  I wouldn’t change a thing (other than John’s cold;-)

John: the tomato man

This boy LOVES picking produce from the garden!  He picked a truck load:-) of tomatoes after school.  He took some to his teacher, Mrs. Dall, and begged to set up a farm stand in town center to sell the rest😂

Kenny: the budding professor

Kenny’s was teacher, Mrs. Cutter, sent us this picture she snapped while Kenny was teaching the class about space.  She said he was a natural teacher!  She had him teach more the next day too:-).   

Labor Day at Aspen Jazz Festival

We had quite the adventure navigating the Aspen Jazz Festival in Snowmass.  4 adults, 6 kids, and 3 days of concerts.  We saw Lionel Richie on Friday night before a massive thunderstorm canceled the show and left people frantic to get out!
Saturday morning was spent exploring Snowmass Village.  





After lunch and a quick nap, we headed to the festival to see Fitz and the Tantrums followed by Jack Johnson.  We enjoyed exploring all the booths between shows.  The kids did face painting, juggling and Chinese yo-yos at the kids tent.  The Snowmass tent had free digital pictures that you could decorate with digital stickers—-a hit with our crew!

John painted up and ready for Jack Johnson!

We ventured into Aspen on Sunday morning and walked around the downtown.

After lunch, we sent the Dad’s when the venue doors opened to save us good spots.  The strategy worked!  It was our favorite of the three days!  The Dad’s saw The Record Company.  The Moms and kids arrived at 4, in time to hear Gary JoneS JR.  We spent lots of time at the kids and Snowmass tents, and then became concerned when Kenny’s whereabouts cameninto question.  It didn’t take long to find him in the D’Angelico’s guitar tent:-)

He demo’d guitars, got a free pick, and talked Darin into a baseball cap!
We were ready to party by the time Zach Brown Band came on at 7:30!  We danced and sang and had the best time!  This might just become our new Labor Day tradition!!

The Grondas take over Crested Butte!

We had so much fun celebrating Brandi and Brandon’s wedding in Crested Butte!  We swam, hiked, and danced up a storm at the reception...we could hardly get the boys in the bus when it was time to go!  
We hiked with Umcle Todd and Cousin Nolan to a waterfall



Then decided to make our way to the water.







We enjoyed this beautiful view on the hike back.  

All the Bolthouse’s returned to Denver for a few more days of fun.  We took the crew to our favorite hike at Lair of the Bear.

We drove up to Evergreen for lunch at Beau Jo’s Oizza after hiking and were thrilled to be entertained by a elk cow eating from the banks of the creek across from the restaurant.  

SCHOOL!

Where did the summer go?  It flew by...we had so much fun...blinked, and now it’s time to get back in the groove.  


Jacob with his teacher Mrs. Krysa (an angel from heaven who has raised 3 boys and takes everything in stride🙌)

John with Mrs. Dall who is already challenging John with extra work!

The crew before heading off to the first day of school.  Grandma Bolthouse paid Kenny to put the school shirt on for this picture, which he promptly removed before getting in the car:-)

Our school’s new sign—yay!

Kenny loves Mrs. Cutter.  He got to know her as a 3rd grade teacher and was excited to have her in 4th grade!



And they’re off!  I didn’t even shed a tear, but I was air ehappy to see their smiling faces at 3:30:-)

Brainiacs in the making!

A new exhibit opened at the Science and History Museum called Mind Bender.  It was a mansion filled with puzzles. It took two visits, but we solved the puzzles to get the clues to claim the prize!  



Kenny was especially into it!  4th grade is going to be fun!

Inspiring the Budding Guitarist

Darin took Kenny to a guitar concert at Red Rocks in hopes that he would be inspired to play guitar a little more and with less encouraging!  They enjoyed the concert, but said it was too loud!   I guess we’re more of an acoustic guitar family😍

Lake Granby Camping

Our first camping of the summer was WONDERFUL! We camped with friends on Lake Granby (Arapaho Campground, Moraine Loop, Sites 41&42....Though next time we’ll target site 31!).  We had beautiful views of the mountains, a short walk to the beach, and private camp sites.  
We played on the stand up paddle board (Sam and Jacob were the ultimate paddling duo) and Darin’s blow-up boat for hours (had we remembered swimming suits, we would have jumped off the big rock into the “refreshing” lake:-)

The boys spent hours atop this mountain overlooking our campsites.  (Our tent can be seen on the left, the Araneta’s camper is in the middle).  They named it Windy Hill.  Lynnette and I hiked up for a beautiful view of the sunset.

Sunset selfie!

We also hiked around Monarch Lake.  The 4 mile hike provided beautiful vistas and endless wild raspberries! We were hoping to see the moose, which had been spotted the day before, but there’s nothing quiet about this crew—they were scared off long before our arrival🤪

It felt wonderful to escape to the mountains for adventure and relaxation...and it was so good to catch up with these dear friends!