Colorado

At the end of February, we took a trip up to Pine, Colorado to Oma and Opa’s house.  We were looking forward to visiting and spending some quality time alone, as Oma was willing to keep the kids for us while we went skiing.  We were thrilled!  It had been two years since we were last there — I was seven months pregnant with Kamy at the time.

We decided our best option was to drive overnight and hope the kids would sleep in the car most of the way.  We left Friday night around 6pm (Kamy’s bed time).  I was hoping that Caden would fall asleep in the car early since it’d be dark outside and the vibration of the truck seems to help him sleep.  Unfortunately, 45 minutes into our drive, Caden woke up from his nap and decided he was done.  Oh no!  A diaper change and a feeding later, he was still unhappy about being in the car seat.  Since it was dark outside, he was mad because he thought we were trying to make him go to sleep.  We ended up driving all the way to Wichita Falls with the dome light on, trying to placate him.  This meant that Kamy was still awake too … <sigh>  So much for trying to get the babies to sleep!

Shortly after we got on the road, we had a minor tragedy … Kamy’s favorite blanket, her green “bah” disappeared.  It was a gift from Aunt Donna Leigh and she slept with it pretty much every night.  Long story short, we were near Wichita Falls when she started asking for it.  Since we thought we’d already given it to her, we were confused when we couldn’t find it.  Somehow it disappeared!  We were so sad for Kamy, but we tried really hard not to make a big deal about it in front of her.  Since we needed to stop at Walmart for Caden anyway, I took her inside and let her pick out a new “bah” for our drive.  Green bah never did surface, so I’m afraid it’s gone to bah heaven.  =(  Our sweet, patient, flexible child rolled with the punches and she seems happy with her new blankets.  Fortunately, Aunt Donna Leigh had given her two blankets and the pink one is safely tucked in Kamy’s closet.  We’ve pretty much decided that the special bahs will stay at home and won’t travel with us … then we don’t have to worry about them getting lost.  Unfortunately I can’t even find a picture of Kamy with her green bah — her blankets live in her crib and don’t come out of her room, so I never got a photo of her with it.

After a stop at Walmart in Wichita Falls, both kids finally fell asleep and we made good time on the highway.  287 was deserted since we were driving in the middle of the night, so traffic certainly wasn’t an issue!  We stopped in Amarillo for gas and to feed and change Caden’s diaper.  On the stretch between the Texas border and Raton, NM we ran into snow on the road.  At first it was pretty light but as we got farther down the road it got fairly deep.  The wind was blowing hard too, and the minimal traffic meant that the road was getting covered quickly.  Talk about the middle of no-where, there was not a light to be seen for miles.  We finally hit the end of the snow and then had clear sailing the rest of the way to I-25.  Kamy woke up around 4am, just north of Raton.  She’s such a trooper and didn’t complain once on the drive — despite being awake for the rest of the trip.  Funny enough, the first thing I heard from her when she woke up was a whispered “big truck” as we were passing a semi on the highway.  Sweet girl.  We stopped again in Trinidad, CO for gas and another diaper change and then again in Castle Rock for breakfast.  We finally pulled into my parents’ driveway around 9:15am Saturday morning.  The drive took just over 16 hours.

The first thing Kamy wanted to do was go outside!  While she had seen snow last winter, she didn’t really remember it and this was the first time she was able to play in the snow.  Oma had found a snowsuit and snow boots at a Colorado thrift store and Kamy really put them to good use!  Kamy wore those boots out and the soles were separating from the rest of the boot by the end of the week.  She played in the snow at least twice per day, and several days she was in and out of the house over and over again.  Fortunately Oma was always willing to take her out to play, giving Momma and Daddy a break!  At first Kamy was a little unsure about the snow, but she definitely warmed up to it and had a blast.  I can’t tell you how many times she said “go outside?  pay snow?”

We introduced Kamy to sledding while we were up there, but she wasn’t much of a fan.  I think the sled was a bit big for her and she didn’t feel very secure in it … she’d slide around and had a hard time holding on.  Oh well, next time!

Sunday morning we had a treat — a herd of elk came by the house and spent most of the morning passing by.  While I didn’t get an official count, I’d guess there were upwards of 30 elk.  They were searching for food and chewing on the aspen trees.  It was neat to sit in the kitchen and watch them thirty feet away.

Another adventure we enjoyed was four wheeling.  Opa has two four wheelers and they’ve found a great trail twenty minutes down the road to play with the toys.  Keller went with Opa on Sunday and then again on Thursday.  Keller and I went out on Friday as well.  It was a lot of fun, though each day was very different conditions.  Sunday was beautiful, sunny with highs near 40.*  Thursday was cold and windy, but six inches of fresh powder over night meant that Keller and Opa spent a solid three hours playing in the snow.  Friday was warmer, and most of the tracks on the trail were from Keller and Opa the day before.  =P

Arguably my favorite part of the trip was the chance to go skiing with Keller.  It’s been probably seven or eight years since we’ve been skiing and we were looking forward to some adult time sans children.  Oma was gracious enough to wrangle the kids two full days while we wore ourselves out on the slopes.  We went skiing at Breckenridge, about an hour and fifteen minutes from Pine.  Opa came with us on Tuesday and showed us around the mountain, especially how to navigate between the four peaks.  We found peak seven to be our favorite, rolling blue runs without too many other people skiing.  Tuesday the weather was really beautiful, but very cold.  It was about 20* at the base, but the windchill brought the temp down to 4.*  Brrr!  Neither of us were quite prepared for such wintery conditions, but we made it work.  I think I’m more of a spring break skiier, though the crowds are worse then.  The cold weather and the end of President’s Day weekend meant there were fewer people on the slopes, but it sure was cold!  Keller was the only brave soul I saw to ski in jeans, though it was mostly from a lack of ski pants rather than a deliberate choice.  =P  We both stayed upright all day Tuesday though, so we had a successful day!

Overnight into Wednesday Breckenridge got about 7″ of fresh snow.  What a surprise!  It was also warmer than the day before, though the wind at the top of the peaks was brutal between 30 and 40 mph.  It would almost push you down the mountain if you weren’t paying attention (see the snow blowing in the photos below?).  By the way, skiing in powder is completely different than skiing groomed runs.  Lol!  It didn’t help that the wind would scour the fresh powder away from the tops of hills so you’d constantly be adjusting to icy or powder conditions.  Keller is a point-down-the-hill kind of skiier, while I do a lot more turning to control my speed.  I wore myself out that day by turning in the powder!  Keller only crashed once, expecting the groomed run to continue over a hill and found deep powder instead.  Oops!  At least it was a soft landing.  =)

We were so appreciative of my parents’ keeping the kids both days and were glad to hear that they both did great.  Caden took his bottle very well after the first few tries (we practiced on Monday before we planned to leave him for 10 hours!) and polished off all the milk I’d left for him.

After the challenges on the drive up, we decided we’d leave at Caden’s bedtime instead of Kamy’s bedtime and left Pine at 9pm.  Both kids went to sleep immediately, so a stop in Pueblo, CO was the only one the kids needed until Amarillo where we got breakfast.  We ate at Cracker Barrel and Keller let Kamy choose a new stuffed animal to take home with her.  Ten minutes of deliberation later, she chose Kitty Cat.

While the first part of the drive went well, we were all ready to be done driving by the time we got to Wichita Falls.  At that point, Caden decided he’d had enough of that silly car seat and was not pleased about being in it.  The last two hours were pretty painful, but we finally got to Grandpop’s house around 1pm.  Once we were there, I promised Caden we wouldn’t get back in the car again that day.  =)

We had such a nice time on our trip — it was great to get away from the house, spend quality time with Oma and Opa, and get some Momma and Daddy time too.  Thanks for having us Oma and Opa, we’ll be up there again soon!