We just returned from a beautiful vacation in the mountains
of Colorado! My parents lent us their condo at a ski
resort and we had a wonderful time escaping the Texas heat.
It took us a whole day to drive there and the kids were pretty good in
the car. Elizabeth got sick a couple of times and it
made us wonder if her new car seat was making her car sick. She is in a convertible seat, rear facing,
but sitting up higher than her infant seat.
I’m not sure there is anything we can do about this other than turn her
around when she is big enough. To say
the least I learned how to disassemble and clean her new car seat on this trip.
Saturday was our first real day there so we headed to
downtown Winter Park
where they were having a big, free kids festival. Jason and Elizabeth had a blast! Jason bounced in the bouncy houses, Elizabeth went down the
slide, and they both rode a train. Jason
even got a balloon animal. We tried to
get him a train, but it seemed that the only animal the clown knew how to make
was a dog, good thing that was our second choice.
Elizabeth was having a hard time adjusting to sleeping in a
new place so on Sunday morning Jeff took both of the kids on a hike from the
resort down to the town and let me go back to sleep. That afternoon we went to visit one of Jeff’s
old bosses that lives in the area. We
were planning on taking a route that would take us about an hour and a half,
but when we got to the highway it was completely backed up. So we took a detour over a scenic mountain
pass that ended up making our trip 3 hours.
It gave Jason and Elizabeth a great time to nap. Jeff really loved catching up with his friend
and Elizabeth
loved seeing the dog that they had.
On Monday we decided to stay close and explore the
resort. Jason went on the alpine slide 8
times with one parent or another. He
also loved going in the bounce house and riding on the kid zip line. Elizabeth
needed a nap and it was so nice that the condo was so close to the mountain
that one of us could stay with her and the other one could take Jason on lots
of fun things. At one point when Jeff
was riding up the chair lift with Jason to go on the alpine slide again and it
suddenly started pouring rain and hailing on them. As soon at they got to the top Jeff got off
their shirts and wrung them out and a nice lady offered Jason her jacket. They waited in a shed for a bus to bring them
to the bottom of the mountain. When they
got back to me at the condo Jason was sobbing that he was hailed on. I guess it wasn’t that traumatic because he
went on the alpine slide 2 more times after the rain stopped and the slide dried
and opened again.
When we were preparing for this trip Jason saw me
researching railroads that were close by, so we knew we had to take him on a
train ride. We chose the Leadville, Colorado and Southern
Railroad. We got to ride in a semi-open
car and it seemed like both of the kids had a great time. They were so exhausted that they both fell
asleep by the time the ride was over. We
spent a bit of time walking around Leadville.
We stopped in the Mining
Museum and Hall of Fame
and Jeff even knew a few people there.
Maybe one day he’ll be in there!
It wouldn’t be an outdoor vacation for Jeff if we didn’t go
on a hike so we picked a mountain and climbed.
I realized I wasn’t in mountain climbing shape, but we did make it above
the tree line. We were hailed on and
both kids had fussy periods, but we survived.
Jason even walked/ran down most of the mountain himself! After Jeff forced me up a mountain I decided
it was time for some payback so we went shopping in Denver the next day. We got tons of things for the kids and a
couple of things for Jeff and I. I have
also decided that Jeff looks good in Eddie Bower.
For our last day on Vacation we knew we needed to do
something spectacular. We decided that a
downhill bike ride was just the ticket!
We drove over to Breckenridge and rented some bikes and a trailer for
the kids. As we were bused up the
mountain I began to get more nervous because it had been a long time since I
had been on a bike! Thank goodness Jeff
said he was going to take the kids. The
first part was a bit steep and I thought I might fall, but just as I was
getting my groove back it flattened out.
Every time we would stop for a picture Elizabeth would call out for us to keep
going. The kids were loving it! I didn’t get to see it but apparently they
fell asleep and cuddled onto one another.
Jeff said it was adorable! I didn’t
get the pictures off of Jeff’s phone, but hopefully will do so soon.
Too soon it was time to pack up and leave, but I would say
that we all had a great time! Thank
goodness for an uneventful drive home.
