Winter Wonderland, Part 1

Things around our house can get kind of hectic. Hectic in the sense that we sometimes want to strangle each other, or we threaten to trade people to other families, not really, well, ok, really, but, not because we dont love each other, just because we need a vacation.

One day, a few weeks ago, we were all sitting around trying to think of our last vacation, and we came up with Andrew's "Make a Wish" trip to Florida to see Spider Man. That was November of 2005, and while it was a wonderful trip in many ways, it was also hectic. Without going into all of the details, the journey there took 17 hours and 2 plane changes....and that about sets the mood.....

So, a few weeks ago, I decided to take a hallucinegic drug, er, I mean, use my imagination, and pretend that our wealthy Aunt Julianne bought us a tropical vacation on the Home Shopping Club. Im not sure if they sell trips on the HSN, but, it was a dream....

I then went online, and browsed all of the vacations that I would like to take....The Beaches Resort, with Sesame Street characters in the Bahamas was my trip of choice, but since Aunt Julianne is on restriction from making purchases from the TV, I decided to look into some get-away ideas at a more reasonable rate.

I remembered President's Day 1998, when My Honey and I went skiing in Durango, CO. It was an amazing trip (also the trip where the kids we chaperoned smuggled in drugs, and we had to call the cops, and the other chaperones called the cops back and told them not to come....which is another saga all-together....) But, I remember the snow, and how fun that was.

Then, I remembered when we took Pooper and Beauty up to the snow for a day, a few years ago, and how much fun that was.

Then, I considered that the kids had a 4 day weekend for the Presidents Day holiday, there was snow on our local mountains, the weather forecast was for mild temperatures....local+snow+mild forecast=perfect opportunity for a trip to the snow.

Perusing cabin rentals online, I found one that looked perfect, and inexpensive...it was also the only thing available, as everything was booked....which made it worth looking into.

Super long story short, we rented the cabin for 2 nights, and made plans to go on a road trip.

The kids were so excited. I went to the local second-hand-kids-clothes-store and got some snow pants and boots, and we were good to go.

Once packed, we were on the road.

We journeyed 90 miles over the next 2 hours. The second half of the trip was mostly winding, mountain roads.

We listened to The Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, and eventually, the "Freedom Rock" CD made it's way into the car stereo.

I dont know where I got this CD, most likely it was a bonus when I joined the, "Sounds of the 70's" CD club back in the 90's. It was full of peace-loving songs, and the kids just loved it.

Pooper's favorite, was, The Night They Drove Ole Dixie Down. We played it about 10 ten times, with me stopping the song periodically to explain that it was "folk music" and give accounting to him of the meaning and history of the song.

Beauty's favorite was, One Tin Soldier. Again, I stopped the song often so that the kids were clear about the "treasure" that was buried on the hill, and how it was really just a loving message of "peace on earth" and how the greedy people of the Valley wanted something that wasnt theirs, and killed people because their materialism overtook them and caused them to value riches more than people. Ok, maybe a bit too deep for Beauty, but an important lesson, none the less.

And, both kids got a kick out of, "War, HUH, What is it good for?"......although Doug and I were sure to point out, that while the man said, "absolutely nothing".....we were able to live in a country that was free, safe and full of hope, because soldiers were protecting that freedom for us!

So, as you can see, the ride up was rich in culture, thanks to our "folk music" lessons.

As we made our way through the snowy, forest, Pooper's car sickness got the best of him. We were close to the cabin, and were anxious to get the kids inside, especially Pooper, so that he could throw-up in a real toilet, rather than a fast food bag.

Unfortunately, when we arrived, we saw this.




That's right, that's a cabin, with the drive way covered in snow. And the stairs that go up two flights to the front door, are also packed in with a good 2+ feet of icey, snow. (at the time I took this, My Honey had already cleared some of the stairs at the top, but trust me, when we pulled in, the stairs were covered, and My Honey and I had to climb through it to get inside the cabin.)

Stay tuned for the further adventures of our Winter Wonderland.....