Our Christmas Vacation in the Rocky Mountains

I feel overwhelmed with trying to recap our trip to Colorado for the holiday.  I seemed so out of touch with the world prior to going... not only was our bathroom being remodeled, but all of us got a stomach bug last weekend.  This was the first time that Skogen and Maida got the puke flu, and it was not pretty.  Skogen was the first to get the flu on Friday, followed by me the next day, and then Erik and Maida both got it on Sunday.  It was harder than I ever imagined to take care of sick people while I still wasn't feeling well myself.  Luckily, Barkley! helped keep us warm when we were chilled by laying right on top of us.  This was the first time that he had ever done this to Maida and it was so cute.  Anyway, here is my best attempt at recapping our vacation...

On Tuesday night we were all feeling a bit better and we headed west for the Rocky Mountains.  Driving all night long, we hit a bad snowstorm, but we were fortunate to safely plow right through (thanks to Erik's driving!).  We witnessed the aftermath of many accidents and a bunch of cars that had flipped or rolled, and we even saw one accident happen right in front of us!  The car had fishtailed, spun out of control, flew over the median, crossed over the two opposite lanes of traffic, and then started rolling down a hill, and was (luckily) stopped by a fence before falling off of a ten foot drop into a river upside down.  The car was turned on it's side when Erik ran up to it and, not knowing what he was going to find, he opened the door on the top and found a little nine-year-old girl sitting in the back seat smiling up at him, probably thankful to see him.  Luckily no one was hurt and he was able to get the kids (the little girl had an 18-month-old brother) and their parents out of the car and squeeze them into our car to keep them warm while we waited for rescue vehicles to get there.

A couple hours later we finally arrived in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at my brother Tony's house.  There we met up with my other brother, Jay, and his family, and my parents.  That night's activities included watching the kids sled, feeding the deer in the backyard, and playing some Hand and Foot.  Early the next morning we all took off for Monarch Mountain, Colorado, where we met the rest of our family for some skiing.  It was a hectic morning with trying to get the ski rentals and lift tickets organized for 20 people - and it didn't help that I drove 45 minutes in the WRONG direction while I was trying to get the lift tickets back to our condo, which was only 3 miles east, so that everyone could go skiing.  Luckily Skogen and Maida, who were with me on my voyage, fell asleep on the 45 minute trip back to Monarch after screaming the whole way to Gunnison.  Everyone else was very patient and kind to me when I finally returned with the tickets.  I have to admit that it was kind of scary being lost in the mountains with no cell phone service!

The following three days were filled with lots of skiing, along with super fun nights of games and laughter.  We did two things this year that I really enjoyed.  First, we played a game where everyone had to write down something about themself that no one else knew.  Then Erik read the papers aloud and we had to try to guess who it was.  Congrats to Kim, my sister, who got the most matches.  The second thing we did that I really enjoyed was taking some family pictures.  We all tried to wear red, green, or white, and came up with some pretty crazy poses!  It was a ton of fun!

Santa made a stop on Christmas Eve and left presents for us to open on Christmas morning!  Maida's cousin Natalie woke Maida up on Christmas morning to tell her that Santa had come.  Maida ran down the stairs yelling, "Santa came!  Santa came!" and was so excited to see presents in her stocking.

Besides all of the new Christmas presents, Maida really enjoyed her second year of skiing and surprised everyone at how well she did at only two-years-old.  She was able to ski on her own, and even went all the way to the top of the mountain and skied down with her new harness!  Her size definitely didn't restrict her to the bunny hill - she went all over the mountain!  One thing that made this year special was that Erik's parents (who are good old friends of my parents) were able to join us in Monarch for the celebration!  [Oh, I should also mention that the big reason for us to get together, in addition to Christmas, was my parents' 50th Anniversary this year.]  We missed the rest of Erik's family, but greatly enjoyed having both sets of our children's grandparents there with us.  I really appreciated how Erik's parents just blended right in with my family.  They weren't afraid to venture off without us, help out with whatever was needed, or jump in any game with anyone.  It was a blessing to have them there.

On the way home, we passed a dinosaur museum.  Maida had been asleep, but woke up when she heard us talking about wanting to stop if she had been awake.  Well, after gassing up across the street, and talking about it a little more, we decided that maybe it would be a good break for the kids if we went in and walked around.  So, the dinosaur museum ended up being one of the highlights of our trip!  Maida was so excited to see skeletons of one of the dinosaurs that is on one of her favorite shows, "The Dinosaur Train."

The trip home was fairly uneventful.  I talked Erik into getting us hotel room so that we could rest a little bit and arrive home not so sleep deprived.  After sleeping five hours in the hotel, we were on our way again and got home around 7:00 on Sunday night.  Barkley! had a great time at a new dog sitter's house.  She and her family were very sad to see him go.  They told us that everyone would have a dog if every dog was like Barkley!.  We appreciated that compliment and we were also really proud of Barkley! for being such a good boy.

Erik went back to work on Monday and I am still trying to unpack and clean.  I did not get my Christmas wish, as our bathroom remodel is still not quite complete, but I did take the first shower when we got home on Sunday.  They are promising a finish date by the end of the week, though.  So, pictures of the bathroom to come!  Speaking of pictures, I have posted most of the Colorado pictures on my share site.  If you want to check them out, go here.