Our Vacation

This past week we spent some time with friends in their condo in Dillon. The trip there went amazingly smooth. L and R slept the whole way and A kept us awake talking the whole time. He pointed out frozen waterfalls, where the creek was, trees, and his favorite, making sure we held our breath through the tunnels.

We arrived on Wednesday afternoon and played a bit with our friend's 3 and 1 year olds while setting up sleeping arrangements for the family. The condo was perfect for two families. They had the master with both their boys and we had the bunk room (with 2 bink beds) for the children and a guest room for the parents and R's pack n play. A and L both wanted the top bunk but since only one had a rail we had to let l take it the first night then switch with A for the second.

After a great dinner we proceeded to put A and L down to bed a tad later than usual, 7 PM, but they decided 7 was still early. It was rough for dad and I since we are used to peaceful evenings. finally, after putting L in the bottom bunk and A in the top and giving them books to read, they were asleep before 9 PM. R was a different story. He went to bed crying at his regular time, 7PM, they awoke about 8 screaming. He scream uncontrollably for at least a half hour. We walked, bounced, rocked, layed down, sung, and talked to him to no avail. Finally we took him out to the living room to walk around and he snapped out of his fit. He ended up playing while the adults played cards until 10 PM. It was an eventful first night on vacation.

A and L were looking forward to swimming and showing off their ice skating skills so we did both on Thursday. We started with a big breakfast of bagels and pineapple then packed to go swimming. The rec pool was fun. There was a kiddy pool where the older 4 could touch, R could part of the time but liked to be held. The water was very warm so R spent a bunch of time in the shallower end walking and crawling around without shivering. A and L loved going down the little whale slide and r wanted to but his swimsuit kept sticking to the slide making it impossible to go down. Dad took the older two down the two story twisting slide which was enjoyable by all. After a few hours at the pool we headed back to the condo for lunch and a nap. Yes, a nap! Our whole family slept!

Since we were all rested we headed to the Keystone Ice Skating Lake for a sliding good time. Our friends were hesitent to take their 3 year old but the whole herd of us had a great time. A and L did great practicing their skate moves, forward, backwards, sideways, and circles. They had fun racing each other as well as the adults. After a couple hours on the ice we decided to head in for dinner. On our way off the ice the manager stopped Dad and told him he needed to get off the ice as carrying a baby in an Ergo was a dangerous and if he loved his child he would not carry him around on the ice. Dad proceeded to tell him that we had been there for a couple hours and were now leaving, then he slipped and fell onto his tush. Thankfully R was alright as he was on Dad's back and only tipped back a tad out of the carrier.

Since we expected to skate for under an hour, we exited the ice at dinner time and needed to eat out. We picked a nice little pizza joint and all 9 of us ate until we were stuffed. Next it was back to the condo for smores (A's favorite part of vacation) and bedtime, which went much smoother than the previous night. The adults stayed up way past my bedtime playing cards. It would have been more enjoyable if the gals had beat the guys but there is always time for a rematch.

Our last day at the condo was nice. We merged with the avid skiiers and headed to Breckenridge for a ride up the mountain on the gondula. A and L had a blast looking for animal tracks and watching the cross country skiers go under us. Once at the end of the ride we got to watch the snowboarders in the half-pipe doing jumps and racing down the hill. A and L walked into a bunch of skiiers as they were amazed at everyone dressed in their gear skiing around them. It was a great experience for them and now they can't wait to ski. We did tell them maybe next year they can take ski school (which we all watched for a while) and learn how to ski. After the gondula we had cocoa at Dad's favorite cafe in Breck then went to the park next door for a snowball fight. After a trip to the welcome center museum we ended our excursion and headed back to the condo for a late lunch and another game of cards.

We ended our vacation with a huge family style dinner. Our cousins came up to the condo to switch places with us so we all ate dinner together, all 14 of us. Let's just say 8 children under the age of 6 makes for an exciting meal! After our dessert of rhubarb-blueberry pie it was pj's for us and a long car ride home. thanks to modern technology Blue's Clues helped us travel peacefully before they all fell asleep to be transferred into their snug beds.

I think we are now ready for our April trip to Dallas!