To end the summer we joined our neighbors, Billy and Ali and their 7 kids plus two other friends they adopted for the summer, for a small camping trip up to Vail. Eli their 8-9 year old was in a statewide 3 v 3 soccer tournament up there so we decided to join them. Billy owns an RV company so his family was decked out with a great rig. We on the other hand don't own one but own a cool 3 bedroom tent. So what does a crazy family of 4 kids do if they don't have a trailer? We head up with the truck filled with gear and rough it.
We got up at 4:30am to head to Vail and aim for the first come first serve camp site. We lucked out because we pulled in there at 7:30am and grabbed the last site. The kids were in their glory; running around, finding sticks and firewood, dirt all over and visions of smores cooking in the fire that night. 
We pitched the tent and gave it the good ole college try. Isa was all smiles, ear to ear, to know that she was sleeping in the tent next to me. Throughout the night she would just lean over, tap me and smile. Jacob was 10 short weeks at the time but did great. He slept great, stayed warm and Christine would just nurse right there in the tent. We survived a big rain storm the first night about midnight with little water finding its way into the corners of our tent. 
The first night was a night of 'hobos.' We taught our friends and their kids how to make a tin foil filled with meat, cheeses, veggies, and sauces pocket of joy. It was a crazy adventure of kids screaming, "mine's done," and "which one is mine." Ultimately they loved it and we ended the night with smores.
This was our first time in Vail and we just loved it. We have driven through hundreds of times but found no reason to stop. The village, the mountain, shops and clean air is now calling us back. The village is filled with great shops and play grounds the kids just loved. Sunday afternoon after some soccer games we took the gondola up to the top of Vail Mountain. It was just shear beauty filled with volleyball, a good beer, a cup of cafe and good views. 
All in all the kids, friends, smell of the mountains gave us a vision to make getting out and away from home and the city part of our regular summer lives. We'll have to wait until next year as school has started and the nights are getting colder. Maybe we'll find ourselves a little trailer to tow and to make the nights a bit more warm and dry. 
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