Our first summer vacation with Brayden. Live free he surely will.

After four hours on the road, we arrived at our beautiful rental property which included our own private creek.

This called for some quiet reading time. A couple of snapchats too, I’m sure.

Some of us got down to the business of relaxing.

Serious business.

Dinner was an absolute feast.

Brayden had his eye on the corn. One day buddy. One day.

After commendable resistance throughout dinner, the girls showed their true feelings toward slow cooked ribs.

Our local survival expert lead the bonfire. The famous Orlandi determination won through after ten minutes of trying to start the fire.

Day two began with a morning church service on a mountain top. A gondola ride to church was a first for all of us.

The goofballs hard at work. Yes, same t-shirts too.

After church, we headed to our first trail, Artist’s Bluff. We \oved it!

Day three was our big trail day. 8 miles return and over 3000 ft elevation to Mt Lafayette. Part of the trail is also a part of the Appalachian trail. As you can see, we had our game faces on.

The trail was tough going. We each had our own challenges like possible knee issues, wearing a 15 pound baby, how to receive snapchats with little reception, and writing the next great American novel.

After two mile, we reached our first outlook and we were still in good spirits.

The last mile was pretty tough. There was a section that required you to do a bit of rock climbing. All in all, nothing the Qin / Orlandis couldn’t handle. Huzzah! We reached the cabin. Look at those energetic smiles.

Amy and Gina went on to conquer the Mt Lafayette summit while the rest of us stayed back at the cabin.

Needless to say, the following morning, we were all sore. However, with that soreness, was a reminder of the amazing couple of days we had in the White Mountains. This is the Tahoe and Yosemite of New England, and I love it. On the drive home, talk had already begun as to whether this would be an annual tradition.