This is what a REAL family vacation looks like

Friday after Brooke's school program, Blake surprised our family with a trip to Glenwood Springs. We loved it there. Blake and I first went there on our first wedding anniversary. We swam in the gigantic hotsprings pool, ate at a French restaurant and wandered around the streets, window shopping. Well, almost 11 years and 3 kids later, our trip this time was very different.

We were serenaded on the almost 3 hour drive by Grant crying nonstop. When we finally pulled into Glenwood, it was pouring rain and since the hotsprings are outside and in fact HOT, the air was cold and windy and I was worried about the baby being out in the weather, so we checked into our hotel instead. Luckily, Blake booked the hotel with most kid-friendly indoor pool ever! We changed into our suits and got some wiggles out.

 

Excuse my scary looking appearance...I had just gone down the water-slide

 Mr. G's first time in the pool

 It was hard to get pictures of the older kids. Brooke told me, "Mom, I'll just be hanging out with my friends" meaning some girls she met at the pool. And Porter was non-stop on the go. He went down the water-slide by himself and wasn't afraid of jumping in the pool at all. I attempted to take some pictures of Blake playing with the kids.

 That blurry blob is Blake and Porter coming down the slide

 Blake and I took turns holding Grant while one of us was in the water with the other two. So while we were on vacation together, it was rare for us to actually be, well, together.

After the pool we went back to the room where I discovered in my hasty packing job, I forgot to pack a change of clothes for Brooke and a hairbrush for me. Brooke had to wear the same outfit and was distraught by it and I had to use Brooke's hairbrush (I was not distraught by that.)

We went to dinner and paid a ridiculous amount of money on kid food. Surprisingly all 3 kids were well behaved during dinner (I think the pool wore them out too much to misbehave). We went on a drive after dinner and of course I forgot my camera to take pictures of the truly stunning scenery.

Sleeping in the same hotel room together is always interesting. Brooke was snoring keeping Blake awake. Grant was being his baby-self keeping me awake. The next morning we ate breakfast and hit the pool again. After, we somehow managed to lose Brooke and I's only hairbrush. The whole rest of the day I had to go around with stringy, unbrushed hair and I was super irritated with Brooke for losing the brush. It was also raining again so our plans for going on a family hike were cancelled. We drove home (cue Grant crying again) and Blake and I collapsed exhausted in our bed at 7:30.

Family time together is always needed and Blake's surprise trip was very sweet and endearing, but Blake and I both came to the same conclusion: we drove 3 hours and paid all that money bascially to go swimming, which we could have done here at our rec center for a lot cheaper and all slept better in our own beds.

But you can't put a price on those memories!