Colorado Day 6 - Epic horseback ride!

Thursday morning we had planned all along to go horseback riding.  There were some hiccups in the planning throughout the week.  We had assumed Joel, and possibly Gabriel and Macy, could ride ponies.  WRONG!  50 pound limit for ponies.  I was pretty concerned about both boys, but especially Jojo, trying to ride full size horses.  It just seemed too dangerous for a 4-year-old.  We called them several times and finally worked out that one of the guides would lead Joel's horse the entire ride.  

I had in my mind that the three youngest might bow out at the last minute when discovering how far off the ground you are when you get on a large horse.  I had also decided that I wouldn't mind sitting out the ride and waiting with whoever might back out.  I have been on a couple of horseback rides, and though they were fun, it wasn't something that I just couldn't wait to do again.  

But as they say in the West, there was a changin' wind blowin' down the mountain.  Or something prophetic and poetic like that.  

We found the place and walked up to the office to register and sign all the legal paperwork.  These are the ponies that kids under 50 pounds are allowed to ride.  They look so cute.  But once you spend 20 minutes watching them you realize that they are MEAN AS SNAKES.  Actually, I think that's an insult to snakes.  They kept nipping each other and trying to kick each other.  The black and white one nearest the guide in red was the worst.  I found myself a tiny bit less worried about Joel riding a full-sized horse.  

They gathered us together and wanted to know how many of us had ridden before, and if any of us considered ourselves "experienced".  They picked out the fresh horses for us.  I know it's silly, but we want to remember the names of everyone's horse, so bear with me:

Scout was my horse.  He was in a big hurry to get the ride over with and kept bumping into Cade's horse in front of him.  Cade's horse kept kicking him which only made him want to go faster.

My mom had raised her hand when they asked for more experienced riders, which left me a little surprised.  They gave her Jag.

My dad had Captain.  Not the upright creepy Ranger mascot.  

April had Sarge.  Philip had Hondo, who was a beautiful and really tall horse.  Cade had Virgil, or He Who Likes to Kick.  Alot.  

Gabriel had Socks (or Sox?   We should've asked him how he spelled it).  Macy had Mr. Wilson and Jojo had Barron.  And Jav, who I forgot about when I first posted this (love you honey), had Golden Granite.  How could I have forgotten a great name like Golden Granite???

They saddled us and I was just waiting for someone to yell that they wanted down, or that it was too scary.  Macy was very nervous but one of the guides agreed to lead her horse, just like one was leading Joel's.  I was a little shocked to see how calm my boys were.  As you can see in the picture, they both looked to me like they do this all the time.  They were ready for adventure big time.  So it turned out that I didn't have to stay behind.  I went through a little wave of panic, and realized I was HOPING one of the kids would want to stay behind.  Then I told myself, once again, how long will it be before I'm back here, riding a horse in the mountains?  If ever?  I listened very carefully to our guides' instructions.

And all of a sudden, something amazing happened.  I relaxed.  I was so comfortable up there, more than I'd ever been on a horse.  I leaned forward in the saddle when we started going up, and kept my feet relaxed and long in the stirrups.  It felt so natural to be up there.  Luckily they had placed me in front of Joel because I think I would have been really concerned about him.  I could see Gabriel, though, with his Ray Bolger scarecrow way of moving loosey goosey all over the place.  I finally realized he wasn't holding onto the saddle horn, and had to show him where it was.  It was a beautiful ride up, but it never occurred to me that we would have to head back down those steep hills after awhile.  Even when, after a break to make sure we were all still sittin' pretty, one of the guides' horses tried to roll over with her on top (she jumped out of the way just in time), I never got nervous at all.  I actually felt like I was one with my horse, no matter how cornball that sounds.

The way down was really tricky.  We had all of these "steps" down that the horses had to navigate.  The steps were an average of a foot wide.  That causes a huge dip, but I quickly got the hang of leaning back and holding on with one hand to the saddle horn and the other on the back of the saddle, just like our guides were doing.  It.  Was.  So.  Fun.  It was like an amusement park ride.  Except for worrying that one of the kids would fall off on one of those dips and hit their head on a rock.  And except for everytime I saw my mom, she looked like she was leaning sideways and had a panicked look on her face.

When she was told that we still had an hour to go, she said she couldn't go any further and felt really dizzy.  My dad helped her off the horse and she realized she was having trouble moving her hands.  It turns out she was dehydrated.  Not only did we not know that riding in that elevation increases your water needs, but it was a hot day (temperature was 88 while we were riding).  Stupidly, none of us brought water, being concerned about where we would hold it while trying to hold the reins and saddle horn.  The guides had extra, thank goodness.  Mom decided she couldn't get back on her horse.  She was just too shaky.  They didn't have a way to get people quickly down the mountain in an emergency, which we all thought was crazy.  (Maybe they do now that all of this happened).  But the problem was that our two remaining guides had to deal with two extra horses.

The guide who had been leading Macy decided to let her be on her own and lead one down.  This did not go over well with poor Macy, who had I think had been tolerating everything as long as the guide was in control.  There were some near meltdowns, lots of tears, pep talks from all of us that she could do it, but nothing was working.  Finally the guide had to come to the front where Macy was and just kept talking to her all the way back down.  When Macy would start freaking out again, she would start singing "Let It Go" from Frozen.  Once my brother started singing it in a really high girly voice to make Macy laugh.  We ALL did!   The other loose horse posed more of a problem.  The other guide (the one leading Joel and pictured below talking with Cade), said to just let it go off and graze and she would ride back up after we were back down and get it.  She was SIXTEEN years old, and told us she had been riding since she was three.   Her horsemanship skills were truly amazing.

Groups kept passing us, because when we stopped for that long period of time, scrambling around trying to figure out what to do, we got really behind.  There were several kids riding that had on helmets.  Oops.  April and I agreed we would not be winning any Parent of the Year Awards this year.  And even though I was truly worried about Mom, I still loved being up on that horse so much that I was already wondering how to go about signing up for a ride after we got back home.

We got back and I was relieved to get all four kids back on the ground.  Then came the tortuous hour-long wait for my parents.  We chatted with the girl who was both a guide and a photographer, taking a shot of everyone heading out on the trail,  She was super nice, but joked that she assumed everyone from Texas knew how to ride a horse.  She also told us that there were two rides we could have taken.  The other side of the ranch had normal, flat trail rides.  We just happened to pick the climbing and descending trail.  It was a huge relief when we finally saw three little dots that got bigger and bigger.  They had zig-zagged down the entire mountain.  Joel, who I assumed wasn't really paying attention to what was going on, ran and gave my mom a HUGE hug, letting me know that I underestimated his capacity for understanding and empathy yet again.

Mom was still shaky, but felt better after they got back home, had some food and more water, and got to rest for awhile.  We were all exhausted and enjoyed our take out while rehashing tales from trail earlier in the day.  We saw beautiful mountains, with snow still capping them.  We saw the Stanley Hotel, infamous for inspiring Stephen King to write, "The Shining" after staying there and getting really drunk in the bar.  We bonded as a family while smelling pine trees and fresh clean air.  We truly learned how to not just ride but stay on a big pack horse while walking up and down steep paths.  We were so thankful Mom was ok, and impressed with our three smallish cowboys and one small cowgirl.

I have never been so proud of all of them as I was that day.  Brave, fun-loving, up-for-the-challenge kids!!!!

P.S.  My brother actually took pics during the ride that are fantastic.  I need to have him send them to me and when he does I'll add them to this post.

Karate Kid

Jojo started karate classes two times a week back in mid-August, the same week the boys started school.  We knew G had tons going on outside of school so we thought it would be good for Joel to have an afterschool activity, at least until Spring baseball starts up next March.  We knew that a karate school existed in Arlington nearby where the boys have swimming lessons in the summers.  We visited one Saturday, and the couple who run the place answered our questions and let Joel take the 2nd half of class.  They seemed very nice and well organized, and we were impressed by the kids we saw that day.  We paid for a month with no contract, then decided to sign him up for a six-month contract.  And I am rueing the day for that decision.

Maybe they are all cash-swallowing piranhas.  I had been thinking it would only be one class a week.  They advised that most kids signed up for three-times-per-week classes.  Two would still be ok, but once a week did not allow for the student to remember things and therefore they wouldn't really advance.  The monthly fee seemed high, but since we didn't shop around maybe it was competitive.  When it came time for Joel's first promotion test to the next level belt, there was a fee for that.  Then everyone started talking about the next Tournament.  Which of course means another fee when you sign up your kid.  This school supposedly puts on really good tournaments, according to many of the parents.  Other schools from as far away as Houston come to participate in them.  But the parents are needed to be scorekeepers for the matches.  After we'd been there a month, we were expected to stay late after class and learn how to keep score in a sparring contest.   We weren't asked, they just made it hard for you to leave without looking like a sad, uninvolved parent.

So all other parents now think I am a sad, uninvolved parent.  I did NOT sign on for all the extra stuff they are throwing at us, I would come home and gripe to Jav.  They have had a Karate School swim day, picnic and this week a Halloween party.  Why can't I just take my kid, once a week, for a class?  Is it so wrong to want that?

Finally, after realizing that Jav and I were having none of the scorekeeping training, the wife gave up and asked if we would just like to watch since it was our first tournament.  Joel still had to prepare just like the other kids as if he was participating.  I don't like the idea of them sparring at that age.  And the worse thing that has happened, that made my mommy hair on the back of my neck stand up, was the day they were paired off to spar so the parents could practice keeping score.  Shihan (master) Jorge pretended to be the judge making the hand signals.  Joel and the new student, Luke, went last.  They had no preparation whatsoever and didn't know what to do.  Considering this I thought they both did really well.  But all the older boys, and even some younger ones from their class, started laughing at them.  Shihan never noticed because he was so wrapped up in training the parents.  I was livid.  It took all of my willpower to not stand up and tell off the boys, tell the Master what I thought of him and his wife, grab Joel and head out the door for good.

Jav calmed me down, something he's gotten very used to doing in the past 10 years.  Then the next session the wife pulled me aside to ask why we hadn't signed Joel up for the tournament yet.  I told her again that Jav was just going to bring him to watch this time, and she asked, "But has Joel said he wants to be in it?"  I told her that Joel doesn't really comprehend what's going on, and doesn't know what a tournament is.  Then she laid the guilt trip down even harder, "But all of them will be getting a trophy for participating, and Joel is not going to get one."  Ugh.  First of all, I have such issues with "everyone gets a trophy" mentality.  And secondly, can you believe the pushiness?

But all bitching aside, Joel loves it.  And I think it's been good for his confidence and balance.  One of his classmates from school, just by chance, is in his karate class, and they are two peas in a pod now.  And I must admit to myself, that aren't they just doing what the cub scouts have been trying to do - get the parents involved so the kids keep coming?  Even so, I don't like their tactics of trying to shame parents into helping.  We wil be shopping around for a new place for Jojo to take after baseball seasons's over,

Shopping: It's worse than the dentist

I'm taking a break from Colorado posting.  We lost our internet connection after a bad storm we had three weeks ago and I have not been able to use anything but my phone to connect.  I have missed posting in here!  I've taken to jotting down ideas for posts on little sticky notes at work.  We'll see how many actually turn into reality.  I have had alot on my mind lately.

Because there will be some serious ones coming, I'm starting out with a bit of fluff.  I want to talk about shopping.  And how my attitude towards it has changed in the last 30 years.

I used to consider myself a stylish person, as is my mother and as was her mother before her.  The only trouble was, I could blow a huge wad of money on clothes in a very short amount of time.  This continued all through my 20's and into my 30's.  But sometime along in there came some responsibility.  I didn't want to have credit card debt for years to come.  I knew I would have to get a handle on these binge shopping trips.  So my trips to the mall became fewer, and I would go only when I really needed something, like a new pair of jeans.

Then came marriage, owning our first home, and a tighter budget.  Then came the things that foever ruined me from wanting to go shopping like before.  CHILDREN.  (Sinister Dah Duh Dum!!!!! in the background).  When you first have them you are so overwhelmed that you can't even think about clothes and don't give a crap what you look like.  Then you realize you must face people in public from time to time, and your body is completely misshapen and doesn't fit into ANYTHING in your entire closet.  So you are forced to go shopping.  But it's impossible to focus if you have a kid with you, even an infant.  Since you have no idea what size you wear anymore, you must actually go through the trouble of trying things on, sometimes multiple times.  When you have 15 minutes while the baby is asleep to do this, it's not surprising that you leave with one top that doesn't really seem to fit like it did in the store when you get home.  So you start buying things here and there online, daring the Shopping Gods to send you something that doesn't fit.  Which they always take you up on and you lose.

I think I took Gabriel with me to the mall approximately five times in a stroller.  I am so clutzy anyway, I would invariably run into clothes racks, sweater displays and fellow shoppers as I stumbled through the aisles.  When Joel came I can honestly say that I took him to the mall once.  I hated those stroller memories so much that I just carried him through the store.  Yeah, that was a good idea.  You can't sift through the clothes on a rack while lugging a 20 pound 6-month-old on your hip.

Then there is the money, or lack thereof.  I try to ask for giftcards for birthday and Christmas gifts.  My mom tells me when things are on sale.  And God bless her, she is really the person who has kept me in anything remotely stylish since I've had children.  She hands down things that she doesn't wear that much, and she takes me shopping when I'm really desperate.  I had a few successful trips with my wonderfully sophisticated and stylish mom.  But it was on one of those trips that I realized something.

I HATE the mall now.  Despise it.  It taunts me because nothing seems to fit right.  It confuses me because I have no idea what is fashionable anymore.  It laughs at me glancing at endless racks and racks of clothes that I have no idea how to put together.  It frustrates me because I need so many things, and I can't figure out what to look for first.  It used to be my friend.  But no more.  We are now sworn enemies.

Internet shopping has become a somewhat better friend.  One that occaisionally still lets me down with fit, but I'm learning which retailers sell things that seem to fit me and which ones don't.  If I continue to have my way, the only mall trips we will make in the future are the twice a year visits to Striderite for the boys' shoes.  As long as we are in and out in an hour, I'm ok.  On these trips it's hilarious to watch their faces as we explore unknown territory for them.  "ALOT of people come to the mall, right Mommy?"   "Why does everyone need so much stuff?"  "That's a Food Court?  Cool!!!!"  They walk around with their mouths hanging open like hillbillies in the Big City for the first time.

Maybe one day I'll tell them how years ago their mom could walk the best stores, spot the hippest items and be headed back to the car loaded down with cute outfits in around an hour.

Colorado Day 5 - Trail Ridge Road and family games

Wednesday morning we drove the Trail Ridge Road in the Rocky Mountain National Park.  It is the highest paved road in the United States.  And it takes your breath away.  Everywhere you look you are surrounded by gorgeous views.  Sometimes it is a lush, green valley that seems to go on forever.  Sometimes it is majestic, snow-covered peaks with thin clouds whirling around them.  Sometimes it is a sunny hillside covered by an elk herd.  

This was the first scenic overlook on the drive.  I love this picture, I just wish Jav were in it too.  The colors are so bright and everyone looks so happy - because we were!  Except maybe Macy, who is confidently smiling here but was in actuality pretty nervous because of the precipitous dropoffs on the drive.

These may be my two favorite non-people pictures from the trip.  I was riding with my parents, while everyone else was in my brother's car.  I got so excited that the elk looked like they might cross the street in front of our car that I forgot I had my camera on zoom when they finally crossed over.  I LOVE the one of just his head.  But I think I equally love the one of his big 'ole elk butt.  So funny still, every time we look at it. 

As soon as we reached the highest point of the drive, it began to snow.  This was the record year for snowfall, so I took this pic to show how thick it was on the side of the road.  There is a small museum and a gift shop/restaurant.  There is also a huge set of stairs leading up to an even higher overlook that just the four of us decided to try.  Philip, Macy and Cade started out but Cade's leg was still bothering him and Macy didn't need to have her arm twisted to turn around and head back.  I almost decided to also, because the wind was suddenly blowing ice cold snow in my ear, and my blue jean jacket was NOT enough coat for the elements up there.  But I had to ask myself, "When will we be back to do this again, and will I be too old to try this at that time?"  I prevailed.  And I'm SO glad I did, because it was special up there with our boys.  I will never forget it.  

The clouds and the weather were something I could have watched up there all day, if I'd had warmer clothes on!  It didn't stay the same for longer than about 4 minutes.  It snowed about three times just during the short time we were up there.  Just before heading back down, Some college-age boys were gathering for a picture, and they took their shirts off.  Silly college boys.  But we all laughed.  

I love this picture of me and my boys making our way back down.  The plant-junkie in me was glad to see they had signs to tell us which flowers were tough enough to thrive up that high.

The same elk heard we saw on the way up was on the move when we drove back down.  Look at the babies!  

We did our usual lunch then naps after we got back home.  Then we started planning our second big home dinner for the evening.  Grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, and broccoli.  While the food was cooking I made up a game of charades for the kids.  They loved it!  I helped Joel when it was his turn.  I've promised them we can play it again some time.

After our excellent dinner the grownups played Password.  Remember the show from the 70's?  Allen Ludden was the host, who I believe was married to Betty White.  She was always one of the celebs pairing up with a regular person on the show.  The person looks at the word clue, and is supposed to say one word to get his or her partner to guess it.  If they don't it goes to the next pair.  We always end up in hysterics when we play with my parents, and this time Philip and April added to the hysteria!  It was crazy fun, and all of our stomachs hurt from laughing long after the game ended.  

I sadly didn't think to take pictures while we were having our night of family game playing.  But I did go out and take some pictures of the Fall River and our cabin at dusk.  What a perfect day.

Colorado -Day 4 - going our separate ways

We split up Tuesday morning.  Poppy, Uncle Philip and all the kids headed to the Rocky Mountain National Park.  They wanted to hike around Bear Lake.  It was a beautiful visit, as you can see.

There was still a bunch of snow on the ground!

Mamaw, Aunt April and I "went to town", as my grandmother would have said.  We walked and shopped around downtown Estes Park.  It is a great downtown area, with lots of cute shops and restaurants.  But everything is overpriced, which is typical of a tourist town.  We did find one really cool store where they had music memoribilia.  I was able to finally replace Gabriel's Beatles toothbrush mug that he broke last year with a new Yellow Submarine one.  And I bought a new pencil drawing of the Fab Four.  I love our Beatles bathroom!

This is the only picture I have from our downtown visit.  The Fall River winds around right through downtown, so that rushing water sound is never very far away.  We had lunch in a brand new sandwich shop.  It was a fun day.

After a rest time in the afternoon, we hiked up "our" mountain again.  I love how the weather changes so quickly in the mountains.  The light is never the same five minutes after you look at a view.  

Show me your muscles!

Later in the early evening, we decided to walk along the river for awhile.  But Cade's leg was still hurting him so we headed back.  The kids always flocked to the playground that was on the grounds of our cabins.  They even had a shuffleboard court!   We ordered dinner and the boys went to pick it up.  We were all really tired from all of our sightseeing.  

I fell in love with the tree below.  A gigantic blue spruce in the middle of the grounds that was breathtaking.

I thought I'd throw in a couple of Joel-isms that we picked up on during this trip.  We splurged on groceries and bought a little more junk food than we normally would, so one of his favorite things to shout out was, "I love burritos!!!" which meant Doritos.  He figured out the weird animal we showed him was an "underdillo".  And one time in the car he couldn't get out when we arrived at our destination because his foot was "sprinkling"  (had fallen asleep). Love that kid and the way his brain works!

Colorado - Day 3, hanging around the cabin

We decided to hang around close to the cabin for our first full day.  We wanted to explore our surroundings, get our bearings, and just soak up the mountains.

Every morning we would get up and start making wonderful breakfasts.  Huge pots of coffee, bacon and eggs.  We don't eat like that at home, so it tasted so good every morning.  The kids all played on their electronic devices on the trip, but they would usually pair up or play tournaments with games they all had.  We were getting enough outside time all day that we didn't stress over it.

There were some great woods and rocky areas in the hills behind our cabins.  We decided to hike them, and ended up doing it almost every day we were there.  The views were beautiful in every direction.  Cade is missing from this pic.  He had pulled his hamstring playing baseball, and it was too sore for him to hike (or even walk much), the first few days we were there.  But he soon got better.

This is the hill we would always start with on our hikes.  It takes a day to be able to fully breathe in all of that clean, oxygenated air.  The kind we are not used to having because of all the smog and pollution we breath in living in a metropolitan area.  

I jokingly called myself "Julie, the Cruise Director" because I liked coming up with things for the kids to do that were not electronic related.  This particular pic was after I brought out coloring books and crayons for G and J, and the big kids surprised me by wanting to join in!  I love all of these kiddos so very much.

More hiking pics.  This is our cabin from one of our favorite rock perches. Nothing wakes up your muscles like hiking on a steep hill, and climbing from rock to rock.  It felt so good to move like that.  I think my muscles had memories from doing it as a kid all those years ago.

We brought a ton of board games and dominoes.  We never got to the dominoes.  The kids started Monopoly games but always ended up bickering so we stuck to checkers.  And the best way to spend the afternoons between hiking?  NAPS!!!

My mom and I.  For dinner this evening we grilled steaks and burgers, roasted potatoes in the oven, and had a big salad.  We had worked up all kinds of huge appetites with all of that hiking all day!  It was so yummy.  We had hoped to play games after dinner in the evenings, but we would always be so tired by the time everything was cleaned up that we didn't have the energy.  Mom and dad (very smartly) had their own cabin so they could be on their schedule and get away from the chaos.  

Windows open, sound of the river filling the house.  Time for bed.  Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Colorado - day two (Raton to Estes Park)

When we woke up Sunday morning, I had to step outside to the car for something and it was still pretty early.  The sun wasn't quite up all the way yet.  As I started walking I noticed the mountains behind the town, and then it hit me.  That smell.  That freshest air you'll ever smell if you live in a big suffocating city.  The pine, cedar, fir and spruce all rolled into one big clean, mountainous air smell.  Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.  My goodness it had been way too long in my life since I had smelled that smell.

It's pretty silly that we get in the car in Raton to head out, and we stop after driving 20 minutes to get this picture.  But I have pics of my brother and I at various ages doing the same thing, so we had to.  This was a very tough traveling day.  We all kept trying to stay in touch and get to places at the same time, and it just wasn't working.  I finally stopped feeling guilty that everyone always had to wait for us.  

I haven't even mentioned the crisis we went through a few days before leaving.  Zoe, our cat, has thyroid problems and has to have special food and can't eat ANYTHING but that food or she doesn't eat.  She got super thin before we figured out what was wrong with her.  When we had gone to Montreal for our anniversary a month before, we left all the pets with the vet, as we've always done when we went out of town.   Zoe didn't eat much of anything the whole time we were gone (4 days).  So I was pretty concerned about leaving her for 10 days.  I decided to call the vet the Wednesday before we left to see if he could help alleviate my fears.  (My mom kept telling me, "it's not like she will let herself starve to death!")  Well, the vet did not help matters.  He voiced his concern that she might not eat, and that it could lead to all sorts of really bad health problems for her in the long run if that happens.  I said I guess I could come home early if that happens, but I stupidly though he would say, oh it won't come to that.  He instead said, "Yes, I think that would be a good plan to have."  WHAT?  You wait until I call YOU, and voice your concerns two days three days before we leave?  I called back the next day and asked, "what about an IV if it comes to that?" and was told if she was already in a weakened state from not eating for three or four days they wouldn't be able to safely put her under to put in an IV.  

I went into total panic mode at work at that point.  I remembered my neighborhood friend Allyssa (who moved a year ago), had given props on Facebook to her awesome pet sitters, Mike and Eddie.  I texted her that I had an emergency - could she give me their number?  She did and I called them and explained my problem.  They came over Thursday night for us to meet them and so they could meet the pets and find out exactly what kind of care we needed for them.  They agreed to come three times a day, so we kept all three of them at home.  The cost was a little more than what we would have paid at the vet, but we were just so happy they would do this for us on short notice we didn't care.  

So when we were driving through Denver, and Mike texted me that Zoe was indeed eating and using the litter box, that I didn't have anything to worry about...I broke down and cried big tears of thankfulness that we found them.  I will fill in more about Mike and Eddie as I go, especially when I write about getting back home.  They are amazing guys.  

I don't have too many pictures from this day.  We were awed to see views like this one below as we started the forever-seeming drive from Loveland to Estes Park (why does the last half hour of a 12-hour drive seem to last three hours, at least.)  The boys were nonstop complaining by then and even I became too beaten down to notice the vistas or take any pictures.  My brother called to see where we were and I answered the phone with, "If I don't get out of this car soon and spend a little time away from my children I will spend the next five days in a padded room.  Or jail."  

We finally arrived and it was just beautiful.  My parents had stayed there about 5 previous times.  They stayed in a cabin next door on their own, and the rest of us shared a huge, awesome cabin.  The Fall River runs all the way through town, and our balcony hung out over it.  We heard this rushing sound while unpacking the car, and realized it was the river.  They'd had a record snow fall, and most of this river is pure snowmelt.  I took one look at it (keep in mind what a long driving day it had been) and burst into tears and said, "Joel is going to fall in the river and get washed away!"  We had a quick family meeting to assure me that they would all be keeping an eye on him, and all the kids, if they were close to the river.  I got used to it after a couple of days, and began to love to hear its sound.  The water would rush a bit faster in the evenings, we discovered.  Now that I'm home, that is the sound I pine for most of all.  

My brother and I took on the daunting task of shopping for groceries for the whole week that night after we all got situated in our cabins.  There is one grocery store:  Safeway.  It gouges people.  And it is CROWDED.  All the time, day and night.  That first shopping trip was a nightmare, both for us and for the hungry crew we had waiting for food back home.  And to top it off, everyone in there is thin, tan and in really good shape.  How depressing!  

But we made it back, had dinner and started settling in.  Jojo is so funny.  Or maybe it's just that he's four and we forget that sometimes.  He just didn't have a clue what "vacation" meant, no matter how many times we had explained it to him on the way up.  He couldn't believe we weren't going back home for seven more days.  

The kids had ice cream almost every night in the mugs from the cabin's really cool Fiestaware.  Cade got the idea that it looked like they had just awakened, since they were wearing their bathrobes and presumably sipping coffee.   We were all so tired by now that this just seemed like the funniest thing ever.  

We went to bed, happy we were all together in the mountains, with open windows and the sound of the river lulling us to sleep.  

Colorado - background and Day 1

A little over a year ago, my parents announced they had a surprise for us:  They wanted to take my family and my brother's family to Estes Park for a week's long vacation.  We were all overjoyed and began the tedious task of picking out a week the three of us that work thought they could take off that long.  It's hard to predict that far in advance!  But we finally agreed on the last week in June.  My dad booked it.  We've talked about it on and off throughout the year, and had a bit of a scare when the whole town was flooded last Fall (from the Fall River that runs through the entire town).  But my parents called a month or so after that and found out all was well; the owners had damage to their personal home but none to the cabins.  We had decided early on that we would stay in Raton, NM on the way up, and Amarillo on the way home to cut the trip a little.  So serious planning began about 2 months before the trip, culminating in a Family PowWow a month before we left to decide where we would try to stop for meals on the way up, and getting specific directions to our motels.

At this point we all were getting so excited it was ridiculous.  My boys had never been to the mountains, because we seem to end up at the beach every summer.  Jav had flew in and out of Steamboat Springs (at night) once to ski, but didn't do any sight seeing.  So I kept trying to explain what it was like, and I'd get so happy at the idea of finally going back to Colorado after 20+ years my head would almost explode.  But my previous trips to the Southern parts of the state could not prepare me for the beauty of Northern Colorado.

But I'm jumping ahead.

These cool three-wheelers greeted us in the Denny's parking lot for our first breakfast on the trip.  The parents' car and our car left from FW, and we were to meet up with my brother's car in Wichita Falls.  We discovered that first day that it is a bit of a challenge to keep up with each other on a long road trip.  My dad had bought walkie talkies that were supposed to work up to 30 miles away, but you couldn't here them if you had any music on, and sometimes they just didn't work.  When they did I took great joy in saying things like, "Breaker one-nine, this is silver cloud, do you read me?"  Maybe they were just pretending not to hear me.

We saw many, many of these windmills that first day.  They are so BIG up close.  

Our cute excited boys.  OK also bored by this point, but overall they did really well.  I tried doing surprise bags again like we did for Galveston last summer.  They kept Gabriel pretty occupied, but Joel would look inside, play with whatever it was for five minutes, and ask to open the next bag.  He was happiest in the car when we listened to the CD's he picked out.  But luckily he has excellent musical taste, so we all enjoyed his picks.

The two first bumps of mountains in New Mexico.  We've been getting excited about the mountains when seeing them my whole life.  As you can see, they were surrounded by thunderstorms on this day.  Which leads to the next crazy picture.  My brother and his family were ahead of us by about 30 minutes.  (We were ALWAYS last and I blame this on having two little kids who have to stop more).  He called and said they had just driven through snow.  I laughed and said, "It's 70 degrees outside."  

But when we finally arrived where they had been by we saw what they meant.  I looked like about 2-3 inches of snow was on the ground for about 2 football fields of road.  There had been accidents, there were police cars directing traffic through some still slippery parts of road. One little girl had gotten out of the car and was collecting the snow in a cup.  It was bizarre!!  We read later that that area of New Mexico was notorious for freakish hailstorms.  So logically, I guess that what had happened.  But it sure did look like snow.

We drove into Raton around 5:30 Mountain time.  

End of Day One