I Want to Watch This a Million Times

Here's our latest vacation video.  Unlike the last one, I actually had a lot more footage to work with!

Weekend on the Beach from Kieren on Vimeo.

Camping on the Beach

It was a weekend of firsts for our family.  We started it off with our first-ever car purchase and took a spontaneous trip to the beach.  We camped alongside family and friends, underneath the stars, in our very first tent. Although I was uncomfortable, cold, cramped, and nursing all night long, everything felt special.  I loved every moment spent sleeping like sardines on a queen-sized air mattress, a baby on each side of me.

I was most excited to see Clara's reaction to the beach.  All of her new experiences are so fun to watch!  She immediately sat down and started digging in the sand at the bottom of the stairs.  She didn't even need to see the ocean to love the beach!  Running from the waves and playing in the sand were her favorite things.  And Steven?  His favorite part was napping.

Here are the first half of our beach pictures; more to come tomorrow!

Family Vacation 2013 (video!)

I decided to make a little video of our time on the road.  There is something so fun about home videos.  I can't wait to share these with Clara and Steven some day!  Enjoy!

Family Vacation 2013 from Kieren on Vimeo.

Colorado 2013

The prospect of driving 9 hours with a pregnant woman, a newborn baby, a newly-potty-trained toddler, and 3 kids was sightly terrifying, but we made it!!  The kids were troopers and we didn't even have any accidents, though I was slightly mortified when I had to dump Clara's potty into the trees at a very busy gas station.  (Anything for the kids, right?)

Husband met us in Colorado just in time for the 4th of July parade.

(We sure do love that guy!)  

We spent most of our days visiting with family, checking out the beautiful scenery, and picking wild strawberries.

Clara's favorite places were the stream and the pond.  She would have stayed outside all day if I let her.

My parents were sweet enough to drive us back home.  We spent a day in Telluride and took our time on the road.  By took our time, I mean it took us about 6 hours to drive 100 miles, thanks to multiple blowouts and using the potty on the side of the road.  (And then then we drove a couple hundred more miles!)

Taking big trips with little ones is daunting, but once I got out there I realized that the memories are worth it.  Seeing Clara experience new things is better than almost anything.

The second half of our vacation will be up tomorrow!!