A Weekend in Vail with Jenny, Craig, Emma & Clay


The Arbittiers descend on Vail to celebrate the latest family newlyweds

As the sun came up over Denver, we flew in and immediately headed to Vail to catch up with the nearly-weds at the wedding site, a beautiful hotel called the Sonnenalp. Knowing that planning a wedding with two toddlers was going to make things a bit crazier than usual, Marc and I were determined to, as our gift to the happy couple, make this weekend as easy for them as possible.

First stop -- babysitting Emma and Clay while Jen & Craig went over final details with their wedding coordinator. They gave us $40 to spend on candy, ice cream and presents as long as it made the kids happy, so we thought this hour with our niece and nephew would be a breeze. Once again, we were reminded how much work it is to watch even the most adorable of toddlers. Here Marc shoots me trying desperately not to get Emma or Clayton run over the day before their mommy gets married:


Babysitting ended just as the rest of the Arbittiers arrived, and we managed to do lunch with everyone around Vail Village before heading out with Rob & Liz to check out our weekend digs. MacKenzie's family was generous to lend us their mountain home for the weekend -- it was a fabulous house, although the decor took a little getting used to for animal lovers like us:


Note -- this is my 6'2" brother with the Grizzly. I also liked the master bed, which only needed 4 stone wheels to become the Flintstonemobile:
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But nobody could deny that the view was spectacular -- this is right off the back deck:


Friday evening we headed up to the top of Vail mountain to hang out as a big new family, which was wonderful except when the temperature dropped down to freezing, it started to lightning, and they closed the gondola down for over an hour. When we made it down, we all met up for dinner and drinks in Lion's Head.


Sunday morning started with a big family brunch, hosted by the happy family:


Then Marc and Jeff went mountain biking while Rob, Doug's family and I wandered around the village:


Finally it was time for us all to gather for the reason we'd made the trip! See the next entry for wedding details...


Posted: Sun - August 29, 2004 at 10:39 PM        

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