Christmas Eve we drove up to Pine, Colorado to visit Oma and Opa. We hadn’t been up there in nearly two years — the last time was when Caden was just a few months old. What a difference two years makes, huh?
The drive up went really smooth. We had no weather issues and both kids did amazing. They were such troopers and I am very proud of them. We stopped in Amarillo for lunch and a break to play at the park before continuing. Coming across the mountains into Raton was nuts though. There was a serious cross wind, probably 40-50 mph blowing tumble weeds everywhere! I lost count of how many I hit, but fortunately they just disintegrate upon impact. The wind was so strong the tumble weeds were blowing over the guard rails and wouldn’t touch the ground until they were in the left lane. I’ve never seen so many … thousands of them. We stopped for “dinner” at the Sonic in Raton, got the kids in jammies, and headed up I-25 to Denver. Both kids slept and did well until about 8 minutes from Oma and Opa’s house. Fortunately we were almost there, so we were grateful they hung in so long. The perked up once we got inside though and were so glad to see Oma and Opa.
Christmas morning was very special — we had a white Christmas! While the snow was a few days old, there still was plenty in the shade to tromp around in. Thanks to their Christmas gifts too, both kids were well dressed for the snow.
One of the kids’ favorite things to do is ride on the four wheelers. They absolutely LOVE riding all around. It doesn’t matter if you are just riding in circles on the driveway, both kids want to be there with you. That being said, Kamy and Caden react completely differently to the ride. Kamy is Miss Hyper and she spends the entire time laughing and talking and giggling. Caden is super stoic — no smiles, laughs or anything. If you stop and ask him if he is okay you’ll get “Yes” as your answer. “Do you want to get off?” “No. Keep going please?” He really does enjoy it, but you’d never guess from the look on his face! When we first got to Colorado we only had one kid helmet, so they took turns riding on the four wheeler and playing in the snow. I found a second helmet at the local thrift store, so now both kids are covered. Caden loves his helmet so much he wore it inside quite often. =)
One afternoon, Caden climbed up on the four wheeler parked in the shop. This is a recap of the conversation that followed. =)
- Caden to Daddy: Climb up please?
- Daddy: Climb up? Okay. (Daddy climbs on the back of the four wheeler)
- Caden: Turn around please?
- Daddy: Turn around? Okay. (Daddy turns himself around and faces the back of the four wheeler, fully knowing Caden means to turn the four wheeler around to drive out of the shop)
- Caden: No, turn around please?
- Daddy turns around.
- Daddy: Like this?
- Caden: Yes. Turn four wheeler around please?
- Daddy: It’s not on, I can’t turn it around.
- Caden: Turn it on please?
- Daddy: How do you turn it on?
- Caden proceeds to push buttons, try to turn the handles, looks at the dials, trying to figure out how to turn it on.
- Caden: Turn it on please?
- Daddy: Try it. How do you turn it on?
- Caden tries random buttons and switches, not quite getting the right combination of switches and the key, but getting closer.
- Caden: Turn it on and turn around please?
- Daddy adds some coaching to tell him which buttons to push and then helps him turn it on. Caden’s face lights up!
- Caden: Turn around please? Go out please?
- Daddy and Caden back out of the shop, drive around the house once, and return to the shop. Caden is so proud he “turned it on by own self!”
- Look out world!
We took the kids up the highway a bit to Slaughterhouse Pass twice, where there is a big off road loop in the mountains. There was a lot of fresh powder up there to play in. Daddy is a bit more adventurous when it comes to driving in the deep powder, so we switched which kid we had back and forth until we were all tired from four wheeling. Daddy makes it go bump and goes fast! Opa is pretty fun too, though Momma and Oma are a bit more predictable. Lol.
The elk showed up for us this year! It was a huge herd of elk and they were right up next to the house. It is amazing they come so close. I’m guessing there were probably 35 or 40 elk in this group. We saw them one morning coming back from four wheeling and then again that afternoon. Another day we had a couple of deer that were nearly on the deck.
Over the weekend, we left the kids with Oma and Opa while Keller and I had a night to ourselves for my birthday. We went to the Candlelight Theater north of Denver to see a dinner theater musical production of Scrooge. We enjoyed it and were especially impressed by the lead actor. From there we had reservations at a Bed and Breakfast in downtown Denver, the Capital Hill Mansion B&B. We then ventured out into the snowy evening for dinner. Getting back to the bed and breakfast was a bit hairy due to the roads, but we eventually made it back safely. Keller really had to wiggle to get the truck into the only remaining parking spot, but he made it work. I won’t say I wasn’t nervous though! Sunday we went to the Denver Museum of Art and spent nearly four hours working our way through the exhibits. It was a neat museum and definitely worth seeing. We had lunch at a little hipster cafe called El Camino which had fabulous queso and a killer philly cheese steak burrito. Lastly we stopped to see American Hustle before heading up the mountain and back to the kids. We had a nice time and it was a real treat to spend some one-on-one time together.
The kids didn’t miss us one bit while we were gone. The light snow that fell in Denver was multiplied up in Pine and they ended up with somewhere between 4 and 6 inches of fresh snow. They built a snow man, went sledding on the hill, and even made it “snow.”
On my birthday we took the kids and drove up to Evergreen to poke around on the frozen lake. We’d visited there four years ago when I was pregnant with Kamy and remembered watching the people skating on the lake and ice fishing. The kids were less enthralled than we thought they might be, but they did enjoy making fresh footprints in the snow as they ran across the lake!
We ended up cutting our trip short one day to make it out before a snow storm blew in. We made the decision late-morning on Friday, so Keller took the day off from work, we packed up, and hit the road. It made for a long day we weren’t exactly planning on, but the kids did great. We stopped for dinner just north of Amarillo about 8pm and the kids fell asleep shortly there-after. They must have a magic timer, because their patience was maxed out and the wheels were coming off 5 minutes from Granpops’ house. We rolled into Granpops’ house well after midnight, but we didn’t have any traffic or weather issues. It was definitely the right call to leave early — looking at photos the day after confirmed we did NOT want to be making the drive in the snow. Our two wheel drive pickup with “all weather” (yeah, right) tires just can’t handle the snow.
We spent the weekend with Granpops and took the kids to see their first movie! We saw Frozen and all really enjoyed it (okay, maybe not so much Granpops, but that’s okay). The kids did awesome! Once we got the kids a booster seat and they were convinced the seat wasn’t going to swallow them up, they sat patiently all movie, quietly watched, and ate their popcorn and animal crackers. I was really amazed and proud of them, especially Caden. Hooray for a positive first experience! Sunday we went to church with Granpops and then met Nana and Gina for lunch at Torchy’s. We finished our drive home on Monday morning.