We had a a Vail of a time

We were on vacation in Vail, Colorado last week. 

Pretty, huh? A, S and I stayed at a lovely hotel that overlooked a river in the Vail valley. I should probably know the name of the river like a good traveler....but I don't. This particular spot was our favorite for giving Precious her meals. I think babies or kids and nature just go so well together. Plop a kid in her stroller and show her some trees or mountains or kaakas and kuruvis (crows and sparrows) as my family in Chennai would say...and feeding time is quite enjoyable.  

Can you spot the man fishing on the left side of this pic? 

I swear, he didn't move for several minutes and maybe hours. A was wondering why the heck fishing is called a 'sport' in America. He and I certainly don't appreciate any sport that involved standing in knee deep water, waiting for hours on end for a fish to bite. 

Maybe it's the vegetarian in us that doesn't get it...maybe we just think that any sport needs to involve running around and some conversation. At least conversation with a ball of some sort!

This place was our home away from home and it was really cozy. Popular as a skiing destination, Vail is quite lovely for a summer getaway too. Lots of mountain biking, hiking,  swimming, white water rafting and the like goes on here.

Not that I would know anything about any of those....I promptly fell sick...some flu-type thing...as soon as we got there and recovered the day before we had to leave. Sucks, huh?

On the last day, to make up for lost time, I enthusiastically went for a rejuvenating spa session and then a divine dip in the hotel pool with the fam.

A is like a fish in the water. I am like a heavy rock in the water. Clearly, I prefer doing things that involve standing on my two feet on solid ground to randomly floating in water. I was made sans gills for a reason, I think. At Vail, though, I really loved the water. It was outdoors, warm and it felt right to be in a pool surrounded by mountains all around. 

We took S into the water, tried to show her that we parents know better by leaving blankie behind... for a brief couple of minutes,  then very quickly succumbed to her wailing and proceeded to bring blankie along into the pool. S enjoyed blowing bubbles and watching other babies float around. Blankie faithfully tagged along. 

Overall, I'm very happy with all the planning and execution A and I did for the flights. We also just got lucky with some things we did purely by accident and realized we needed to replicate the model next time around!

- A timed flights to co-incide with nap times 

- He booked United economy plus seats so we had more leg room and S had enough space to stand in front of the seat

- A pre-boarded the flight along with hand baggage and I stayed behind with S so she could run around in the airport to her heart's content so she wouldn't need to sit for longer than necessary on the flight

- We didn't buy her a ticket, I just held her on my lap

- We dressed her in layers to adjust for temperature changes in-flight

- We carried our own food and water for her

- We packed a small zip loc of tiny toys to keep her entertained

- I sat by the window so she could look out and get excited about the clouds. Also, I closed the window to signal nap time, just like I do back home