A few low points:
(1) Waiting in line for over an hour to get our rental car, after having already traveled for about ten hours. Caleb fell asleep on the floor of the (remote) Hertz rental building at the Denver airport.
(2) Trying to get the boys to bed each night in the loft of the 4-bed condo, where we were staying with sixteen members of the Wagner family. The loft, as it sounds, was open to the living area on the floor below and in between the two upstairs bedrooms. Any kind of quiet was impossible to achieve, and bedtime was a beating.
(3) Getting caught in traffic while Lydia screamed (with barely a lull) in the carseat for almost an hour. She is a very chill baby and this is the longest either of us had ever had to listen to her cry. Poor baby. She had woken up from a long nap and was hungry, but we were stuck in traffic and couldn't stop to feed her.
(4) Running through the Denver airport, holding Lydia and our four carry-ons with the boys running right behind us, trying not to miss our homebound flight. We stepped on the plane at 10:11 and the flight took off as scheduled 9 minutes later.
Despite these, we had a great time. Some of the highlights:
(1) Caleb & Ethan's first flight (that they remember, though Caleb flew once as a baby and once as a toddler). They were as fascinated as any preschool boy with the idea and reality of flying, and they soaked in every bit of the experience. Marcus did a great job of explaining everything to them, and they even enjoyed the extra treat of a private tour to the cockpit, thanks to a very kind Southwest pilot.
(2) Riding the gondola. It was about a 15-minute gondola ride from the Keystone Resort (where we were staying) to the summit where the wedding took place. The whole ride, we could see gorgeous mountains and scenery for miles.
(3) The mountains. They were spectacular. Whether we were in our condo, in the car, riding the gondola or at the summit wedding location, the mountains were everywhere. It's been 10 years since I was in Colorado, and its beauty is just as breathtaking now as I remember it then. I can understand why it is Joel & Wendi's dream to live there someday.
(4) The wedding itself. The mountain location was as beautiful as Wendi described it. The wedding day weather was perfect, and as long as the sun was out, we weren't even cold at the 11,000 feet elevation. Wendi looked gorgeous and happy, and the ceremony went off without a hitch. Caleb and Ethan did a great job of walking down the aisle with their scroll that said "Here Comes the Bride." They were not even slightly daunted by the situation, and walked calmly and confidently, just as they were told.
(5) For Marcus, spending an afternoon mountain biking with his brother. They had quite the adventure, and I was relieved to have them both back in one piece.
(6) The kids. All seven of the grandkids (and all the adults) were staying together in a 4-bedroom condo. Surprisingly, they all got along very, very well the whole five days. Caleb and Ethan were very obedient and cooperative the whole weekend, despite the sleep-deprivation and Caleb getting sick the last couple of days. Ethan only had to sit in time-out twice the whole weekend, which is some kind of record for him :) Lydia took everything in stride, slept very well during the day in night, and hardly cried the whole time we were there (except for the afore-mentioned car ride).
(7) The backpacks. I bought Caleb and Ethan backpacks for the trip (used from ebay) and filled them up with four new activity books: a maze book, a sticker book, a superhero coloring book and an animal coloring book for each of them. These books provided them with hours of entertainment on the trip and in the condo. I ordered them all from amazon based on reviews, and wasn't sure what they would be like, but they were all excellent and more than worth the money.
All-in-all, it was a very good trip, though we do not plan to travel by air again until the kids are quite a bit older :)
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