Good Runs

Yep, the good kind. We took Miles and Masie down the slopes at Purgatory in Durango, CO.

We had a sweet hook-up from a friend to stay in her condo.

Since we left late Wednesday to make it 4 hours down the road, we snuggled the kids in the jammies.

We still had another 5 hours to drive on Thursday. After a late start, we want to check out the Four Corners Monument. It was closed for the day. The man at the gate told Luke, “Someone threw a dead body on the monument.” Luke goes, “Really?!? A body?” The man says, “Yes, and it’s the second time in two weeks this has happened.” Luke was a little freaked. Then the man corrected himself and explained that it wasn’t a “dead body” but someone’s cremated ashes. When Luke got in the car he told me about the “dead body” at the site, and we started whispering so the kids couldn’t hear us talking about what I thought must have been a murder or suicide or something awful…. It took a few minutes for Luke to fess up to me that it was only cremated remains. Sheesh! I was a bit spooked. The man said they were waiting for a water truck to hose it all off. Someone couldn’t decide which state they wanted as their final resting spot.

Lars’s first time in real snow gear, and he wasn’t liking it.

When we finally got settled into the condo late Thursday, we suited up to play in the snow. Even though it was cold and dark the kids loved it. Little Lyla wanted to stay out the longest.

We gave the kids the master bedroom with the comfy king bed before Luke and I opened up the pullout bed… I only slept here one night then swapped rooms with the kids.

Miles thought it was great.

Look closely over my right eye. That’s a lump and cut. I never sleep well when the kids are so close. I hear every single noise, and Lars wakes often when he’s sleeping in a strange place. I’d finally settled myself and the kids again when I heard the buzzing of an alarm in their room at 5:26 a.m. I made a mad dash smacking my head on the heater knob control on the wall while diving toward the horrible noise maker. I was not happy, and put myself back to sleep crying in pain and frustration at being bonked on the head and woken up again.

Friday we checked out the ski lodge and made preparations for Miles and Masie to take ski lessons and the littler ones to enter the kids care on Saturday. I talked Luke out of wanting to take lessons. He’s skied with me before but it’s been a long time. He did great! Only took one major spill and his bum is still showing the marks.

Luke and I had to drink a lot of hot chocolate because the kids only wanted the cherries.

Yep, I’ve become the mom that packs the lunch and eats in the “for customer’s only” dining area. We played a little game of “balance the Pb&J.”

Miles took the next two photos.

He was very proud of himself for getting Luke and me in the same shot drinking at the same time.

Lars loves to help clean up.

This was when Lyla started acting like she wasn’t feeling well. Poor girl had such a great time until now. She caught a stomach bug and was not happy for the rest of our trip.

Bus driver, move that bus! I waited and waited to get a shot of the mountains behind my crew. The bus driver was not too happy when I asked him to pull out of the way just for a sec.

Then a sweet lady offered to take our photo even though she was in a great rush. “I just have to stop for you and your beautiful family,” she said.

Back at our resort, the kids loved the heated pool and hot tubs.

The sign said “NO CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 12 IN THE HOT TUBS.”  This is Lars pulling off the look of a 12 year old.

There’s a little smile!

Fly, my little butterfly, fly!

Who needs a lifeguard when you have a strawberry, a lion, a shark, and a butterfly standing watch?

Miles became the feeder of the chips. I think we went through 8 or 9 snack bags with him feeding us one after the other.

How many snacks do you pack for your kids? Mine are ALLOWS hungry!

Luke had to step out into the freezing cold to cook us some hot dogs. Then we enjoyed them in the pool house.

Our first child to like dipping. He refuses to eat dogs or nuggets without a sauce, so we spent $6.99 on a little bottle of ketchup at the corner store just for him.

A pair of drunk twenty-something-year-olds offered to take our photo in the outdoor hot tub. I still can’t believe I handed my nice camera over. I only wish now that we would have positioned ourselves better so you could see the breathtaking snowy mountains that were behind us and not our van.

The ski school’s rules state that the child must be 4 to attend the half day lesson. We explained that our 3.5 year old spunky girl could handle anything a 4 year old could, and they took her! It was fun to see Miles and Masie so excited to wear goggles and ski boots. All last week Miles had been practicing how he would walk in the tight foot gear. When he actually had them on, he was very surprised the I wasn’t lying when I’d warned him he wouldn’t be able to bend his foot or ankle.

Miles getting some sunscreen on.

Have fun my little lucky duckies!

Luke and I had the whole morning on the slopes to ourselves!

I took a picture of myself to see if my mascara had bled off my eyes. I know I’m looking kind of scary, but in giving you’re the true story I’ve got to give you all the facts. It started snowing our first run and never stopped. I sure stung! I tried skiing with my sunglasses but the snow was coming down too hard and fast. Luke and I ended up investing in some goggles (the cheapest we could buy since we hardly ever ski).

We took one lift that we knew would put us over the ski school. There’s Masie doing her thing.

Success!

Lunchtime break before we took the kids with us on the smaller runs.

Miles was most looking forward to riding the “high chairs.” I reminded him that we weren’t babies, and he sometimes remembered to call them chair lifts. He did great! He is much tougher than I gave him credit for. The first run I made him ski between my skis, but after that, he insisted on heading down the slopes on his own. He’d only make it a few yards before falling, and he’d yell for me to help him back up, turn him back down the hill, and give him a little push and he’d go flying again. Again and again he’d fall and want right back up. As soon as he picked up any speed, he’d get overly excited and scream with joy and CRASH! He had snow up his sleeves, in his huge goggles (he insisted on those ones even though they were as big as his face), and down the inside of his clothes. He took one really painful spill near the time we were finishing and asked for my help, but I told him to end on a GOOD RUN. He tried one more time and ended a very successful GOOD RUN.

I risked turning around to catch a picture of Luke and Masie. I am so very, very happy she sat still on the lifts.

She had a fantastic time holding Luke’s poles and skiing between his legs.

I had been most worried about Lars in the kids’ area. He did fantastic. The caretakers even took them outside to play in the snow. Poor little Lyla was the one that struggled. They assigned one young lady just to snuggle with her and keep her company because she didn’t want to play or do anything. She was not well and wouldn’t eat anything that day or the next.

Waiting for Luke to bring the van up for us. The kids loved the falling snow. It started in the morning and didn’t stop snowing until late that evening. Just enough to NOT snow us in – thank goodness!

Lyla telling me there’s “snow in my hair.”

Whatcha eatin’ Miles?

Later Saturday evening the little ones had fun coloring while Luke started a fire.

Miles and Masie were dead tired. It had been a GOOD RUN!

This is the place we stayed.

The car ride home was lonnnnnnnnng. But the 4 Corners was reopened after the dead body incident. Miles was standing in New Mexico, Masie in Colorado, Lyla in Arizona, and Lars was in Utah. Luke was keeping watch as border patrol.

This is Lyla the day after we returned. Feeling good again and having her appetite back. Well worth the trip.