Hiking with a special party of Eleven

We guess you can say that we are hikers, because most of our days seem to be planned around the next hike we're going to take. It's good exercise and it's free, and it's one of the few things allowed under Covid-19 social distancing and in the fresh air. We raised a family of hikers, so while we are here together in Colorado, we went hiking every day.

Both of our sons and their wives are here for several days. Of course that means that our granddaughter is here as well, and she gets the seat of honor in her Daddy's pack.

They've been practicing on hikes back at their home in the Kansas City area, and we found that Carter likes hikes best when she has some greenery in her hand.

Our first walk was a loop hike that included views of the mountains that surround Dillon Reservoir. With minimal elevation gain, it was a good way to acclimatize our visitors from the flat lands.

With our daughter-in-law's family here as well, we made quite a parade on our hikes.

Carter knows that she can get out of the pack when the hike is over. With her rested legs, she leads the parade back to the cars.

With our second hike we got a little boost with the elevation gain. We took the Keystone ski resort's gondola ride to the top.

This was Carter's first ride in a gondola. But surrounded by her parents and grandparents she was soon very comfortable looking out at the world whizzing by below her.

It looks like we are doing a little social distancing within our group as we sometimes got a little scattered over the trail.

We are hiking the ski trails here on the top of the mountain. We can look down on the black diamond runs, but our 3-mile loop didn't have a lot of elevation gain.

Our littlest hiker fell asleep before the loop was over.

We took more pictures at the top after the hike. After years of taking pictures on her tip-toes with her tall sons . . .

Denisa thinks it's nice to get to take pictures with her daughters now!

Back down off the gondola, Carter had some fun with her grandparents. She made a very cute little fox with her moose and bear grandmothers.

Then she sat in the king-sized adirondack chair with her grandfathers. We love it that both sets of grandparents like to travel together!

Denisa also loves it that Carter adores the beautiful pots of flowers that are scattered around the ski resort.

In fact, when we were near the lake the day before, she was petting the flowers in another huge barrel.

We think she loves flowers almost as much as Gram.

Our last hike was the shortest and the steepest. Right outside the townhouse are paved and dirt paths that walkers can use to explore the village of Keystone. This one was especially steep.

But the pay-off at the top is a beautiful little stream that is rushing down that steep slope.

Granddad got lots of exercise dipping Carter's toes into that icy cold water. She would giggle in delight at the cold, and then beg for him to do it again and again.

As grandparents, that is our job. To do whatever delights our grandchild over and over. We will hold her in the hot tub and get splashed until we are soaked . . .

and give her chocolate pudding even when it's not on the approved menu. Being a grandparent and getting to spend time with our family in the mountains is a special blessing!

And hiking with this special party of eleven in a beautiful place is another blessing!