The Oswalt Life: January 2011

I've finally decided to catch up from our busy end of summer, beginning of the holiday season blogs. I'm behind again, but hey its better late than never....right?

Vail..... heaven on earth!
Our busy summer continued with an August trip to Vail, Colorado for a wedding of our dear friends Jen and Brian. Jen is originally from the Denver area, and we were excited to travel to Vail for their semi-destination wedding! We we're traveling with Kirk's cousin Shelly and her husband David and our friends Scott and Cyndie. They are one of the funnest groups to travel with; you never know what's going to happen next! We landed in Denver and thanks to Kirk's numerous Hertz points, we loaded up in a Escalade to make the drive into the mountains into the land of Vail.
Arriving in Vail, we checked into the Tivoli Lodge. Jen's dad is friends with the owner, and the hotel was almost completely booked with wedding guests. We went for a lovely dinner, and Kirk had to stop into a souviner shop to purchase a jacket. Not sure if he forgot one, or thought he didn't need one? Well, he needed one indeed for those brisk mountain evenings! The next morning we we're excited to try our hand at whitewater rafting. Sad to leave the bride to be and groom to deal with wedding/family activities, the six of us loaded a bus with a guide named Cha Cha. After learning we were the "fun/loud" group he chose our group to lead. We had a blast, everyone survived, and no one fell out of the raft! We ended the day with a quick hot tub soak and got ready for the Rehearsal Dinner (in the hotel)! Great food, great friends, the evening was a success! We actually had to have an oxygen party that evening in Shelly's suite. David, being 6'7" wasn't feeling great and we all we're a little dizzy from the altitude. Jen's mom rented portable oxygen units for this problem! We each breathed the O2 for at least 10 minutes (David for 30), and took tons of pictures!
The morning of the wedding, we snuck the bride and groom out of the hotel to explore Vail Village. We actually had to take them out the back to avoid running into anxious wedding wanting to see the happy couple. No way, we wanted them all to ourselves! We walked and shopped and took tons of pictures of the beautiful scenery and enjoyed the amazing weather.
We helped Jennifer get ready for the wedding (what a special time), and headed down the garden to the wedding location. The wedding was one to remember, one of the funnest I've been to. The food was amazing and EVERYONE danced to EVERY song!!!! Most of my pictures don't do it justice, but you get the point! The next morning we gathered the group and went to hike the mountain. We loaded up the gondola, and off we went! We had an amazing time, and I even got to see my first chipmunk!
We had such a wonderful weekend and will cherish the memories forever!