Colorado "cliff notes"

Golly gee, can't believe I am catching a break from the house (which needs a blog of its own). We have been back from Colorado since Saturday night - after a six day vacation. Poor Jared had to stay home to build the house. Here is a quick run down of our trip to the mountains.... (by the way, no pun intended in the title)

Sunday: We left Combine at 7:30 with three excited kids, one tired mama, a driving Mimi, Mamaw and Papaw in the 10 passenger rent van. We met up with Uncle Randy, Aunt Cindy and cousins Robin, Molly and Austin in Dallas and off we went - New Mexico bound! Ten hours in the van, one short picnic, several bathroom / gas breaks and a few naps later we made it to our first destination: Santa Rosa, New Mexico. Here, the kids were so happy to swim and they always enjoy hotel rooms. Me, I just wanted a break and something good to eat - Dairy Queen hit the spot.

Monday: Up and at'em to be bound for Durango. We left out for another 6 hour drive, through the beautiful mountains and pleasant weather. We finally made it to our vacation destination and to the Caboose Motel. We drove around the tourist town looking for entertainment possibilities, good eats and then back to our room to get organized and let the kids out of the car for the night. We did take the kids to play golf and ride go-carts, only the go-carts had been done away with. We went from here to the park and played and walked down to the river. When we made it back all the kids and my mom went to Randy and Cindy's room to play skip-bo. I used this time to get the suitcases in order and a little computer time.

Tuesday: We took the kids to the indoor recreation center where there was a slide, a lazy river, an olympic type pool with diving boards - all inside and heated. They all had so much fun. Ashlyn loves the water. Clayson was brave enough to try the high dive. Trey walked up the high dive five times and back down five times. He did like the regular diving board, though. We stayed here half the day and had a Subway/Burger King picnic because the weather was so perfect. It stayed overcast and cool most every day. Later, my mom, Randy, Cindy, Molly, Clayson and Trey decided to go do a two hour river rafting trip. Mamaw, Papaw, Austin, Robin, Ashlyn and I headed up to our moutain house in Purgatory where we would spend the rest of the week all together. This was my first time to drive up the mountain and it was a bit intense but I survived and so did my brave passengers :0) The house was perfect with two bedrooms downstairs, one bedroom upstairs with the living room, kitchen and dining. It had a laundry room and two and a half baths. The rafters made it home safely to enjoy some chili dogs that Robin grilled during the hail storm. Since we still had a room at the Caboose Motel, Ashlyn and I went back to stay there and left the 10 others at the house.

Wednesday: All aboard!! Everyone (but me) took the train from Durango to Silverton. I had made this trip twice and chose to not go this time. This gave me the entire day to my self, which I needed badly. I went to the house to do laundry, take a shower, organize our suitcases (I only had five different ones - and why is laundry more fun when you are not at home) and then I went back into Durango - which is a thirty minute drive from the house - where I shopped but only ended up buying ice cream at Cold Stone and took pictures. Durango is where Jared and I went on our honeymoon so I took pictures of where we stayed and other memorable places. (I wish I could say that we had a good time there but that would be pushing it. Inside story...) I picked up the passengers and it was back to the house we went - for manwich and/ or leftover hot dogs. I thought vacations were supposed to be restful - like eating out for every meal. That's not what the "bosses" had in mind I guess. It all worked out and we saved money so I won't complain. We played skip-bo and had a good time until it was finally time for bed, where I slept on a sofa bed in which I could feel every spring.

Thursday: Like it or not, I was signed up for a river rafting trip. Robin and I actually got to go this time while leaving the two little ones at the house with Mamaw and Papaw. We got to the booth, picked out some nasty water shoes that everyone can rent, waited around and then loaded up on a bus full of sweaty people and life jackets and headed to the river. The kids were excited because they enjoyed it so much the first time, I was nervous. (It must have a little to do with my control issues and when you are in the water, in a raft, I feel out of control.) So, they took us to the river and dropped us in the water. We chose not to paddle, or I spoke for all of us and said we did not want to. Our guide did the paddling while we had two oars to use for splashing battles only. I did not want to get wet - so much for that. Other rafters splashed us with all 8 of their oars and we were left drenched at one point. Our guide took us down the river sideways most of the time and guess who took the brunt of most of the rapids, me. Robin got her share of splashes, too. It was fun and I kind of wanted it to last longer but you get what you pay for. After we got back to shore we loaded up on the bus, hung our wet life jackets to dry and headed back. I could not wait to get out of the sloshy water boots. On the way home, we stopped and ate pizza. Yay for eating out :0) Back at the house, Mamaw started chicken and dumplins for dinner and we all kind of did our own thing until dinner. Even full of pizza, you cannot resist Mamaw's dumplins. After dinner we played a game called "chicken foot" with dominos and it was so much fun. I love playing games with my Mamaw - I know that helped my math skills and I hope to get my kids playing and doing the same mental math through score keeping that I did as a kid. Tonight, I chose to sleep on the couch instead of being sprung all night :)

Friday: Another early morning, another fun-filled day. Randy, Cindy, Robin and the kids decided to go on up to Ouray, a city in the mountains, and stay for the night. Before they left, we went to enjoy summer activities in our resort area. We rode a ski lift all the way up the mountain (at the Purgatory ski resort) and all the way down. It was almost to Heaven :0) Back at the base, we decided to ride the slide that went down the mountain and the kids and Robin did the trampoline bungee. Trey went way high, Clayson - not so much! They are brave in their own way. Trey did not have much of a choice, his guy sent him up. Ashlyn was most interested in trying to feed the chipmunks. They would come eat right out of her hand. They loved sunflower seeds. She kind of thought she was bonding with one, so she decided to reach out and grab it - bad idea. That little chipmunk went to squealing and bit her on the hand. She did not cry until she saw blood. Only my child would get bit by the wild animals - when we went to the ticket booth for some first-aid, no one knew what to do or think because they had never heard of it happening. Yep, that's my girl . Thank goodness chipmunks do not carry rabies. I can't handle any more doctor bills! So, we wrapped up the morning, said our goodbyes to the family and went back into Durango for souvenier shopping at Wal-Mart. (*side note: the kid's Nana had bought scratch off tickets and one won $100 so they all had $33 to spend) Ashlyn picked out a baby doll and Hannah Montana stuff, the boys decided to save. We drove around and took a few pictures, stopped at a hot spring, and then it was back to the house to load the van for departure.

Saturday: Home again, home again - jiggity jig. Leaving the mountain house at 7:00 - we were ready for a road trip to take us back to Combine, Texas. It took us 15 hours to get home. In the meantime, I started a good book, got some naps and intervened in kid battles. We were so glad to be back home. I was thrilled to know that there wasn't any laundry to do in the morning. Back in our own beds, back to the daddy and back to home building. Phew.......