This year, instead of taking the kids to the West Coast again for our family summer vacation, we decided to stay closer to home. At 8 and nearly 6, I feel like they’re old enough now to start appreciating what the Rockies have to offer. The truth is, my kids probably take after me; I have never been a particularly outdoorsy person – my idea of camping is staying at a motel – but I do enjoy hiking and beautiful vistas. I am hoping some of that is going to rub off on the kids. This time around, we managed a few short hikes with minimal complaints (though they were definitely fonder of any opportunity to splash in a body of water, no matter how cold).

Before I talk about what I packed for the trip, here is some picture spam:

Ok, so in terms of clothing, I went with my tried and tested approach for family vacations – keeping things comfortable and simple. Because our weather has been so variable this summer, I paid close attention to the forecast – though, in the end, I underestimated how cold some days would be (luckily, not the ones we spent in the mountains). I packed fairly light and used almost all of the items I brought, save one jacket that didn’t actually work with any of the other things I had (a poor selection on my part too begin with). In total, I had: 3 dresses, 3 pairs of pants, 4 tops, 2 jackets, 1 scarf, 1 hat, and 3 pairs of shoes. Almost everything was linen which, apart from the wrinkling (unavoidable but not a big deal on a trip like this), is perfect – lightweight and comfortable.

I didn’t get a chance to take photos of every outfit, but here are most of them :

This was definitely not the height of fashion by any means … although I received several compliments when I wore my Ungaro linen wrap dress (not pictured) one evening in Canmore. Someone even said that I looked very “Annie Hall”, which was highly flattering (if perhaps not strictly true). But the main thing is that a lot of fun was had, and if style took a back seat to function in service of that, well, I’m okay with the trade off.

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