Rachel's Ramblings

I have been out here in flat-land Kansas for way too long! I had forgotten just how much I love mountains and everything that goes along with them. Royal, the kids, and I went with our small group on a ski vacation this past weekend to Copper Mountain in Colorado. As we drove through Denver, I couldn't help but stare out the windows at the beautiful mountains that were lining the city, and then as we drove past Denver and up into the mountains, I felt like I could suddenly breath again! And now that we are back in Kansas.....ugh.....I've got to get out of here!!!!

So, we started our trip last Friday at 3am. Royal and I finished packing the car, woke the kids up at 3:30am, drove to meet up with the rest of our small group, finished loading everybody's gear and equipment and bodies into 2 cars, and were on the road by 4:15am. Both of the kids were so excited to go to the mountains! I ended up buying a dvd player for the car to help keep the kids entertained on this 9+ hr road trip, but didn't realize that it was going to prohibit them from sleeping. They were so excited to get to watch movies in the car that Willow only napped for about an hour when I finally made them take a break, and Jayden never did fall asleep.

Our trip had a few equipment malfunctions, the first one happened about 90 minutes into the drive. Royal was driving behind our friends, it was still pitch black outside, the car was warm, and I had just fallen asleep when I am startled awake to Royal yelling, 'OH SHIT!!!!!' I open my eyes to brake lights and Royal slamming on the brakes swerving off onto the shoulder. (and there goes my only nap, I'm not tired anymore!) The back hinge on the Thule box on top of our friend's car in front of us managed to break, and the top of the box swung open and skis and poles were scattered all over the freeway. We were so lucky that 1) Royal was following far enough behind that we didn't get hit with any of it and 2) We were traveling so early in the morning we were pretty much the only cars on the road. Royal and David (who was riding in our car) happened to have 2 mini flashlights in their pockets, so after Royal backed down the road about a quarter mile, they got out and started combing the road for poles and skis. Unfortunately, before they were able to get out and collect everything, a semi truck came rolling through and ran over a set of skis and 2 poles. Here's what the poles looked like :

We were right at the bottom of an exit, so they bungeed the Thule shut and we pulled off into a gas station to assess the damage and do an inventory check. Royal and Dave had managed to find all the things that flew out of the box, and then we used a few more bungees and tie-downs to keep the box shut because we needed it to carry equipment!

Our group had rented 2 Thule boxes (the other was on our car) and everybody else's equipment, and had bought all of our lift tickets from The Slope here in Wichita. When we got back we weren't sure what was going to happen, but they totally won over our business for future trips and equipment. They refunded all of our money for the broken box, and then also refunded all of our money for the rented pieces of equipment that were damaged and we weren't able to use. They are pretty awesome to work with!

Once we had the box secured down, we got back on the road and managed to arrive in Frisco, CO by about 2:30 (we gained an hour going into mountain time). Jayden and Willow were so excited that there was snow on the ground, they couldn't wait until I found all their snow gear before jumping in it!

Both of the kids were so tired and I think that both of them suffered from a combination of exhaustion and altitude sickness. We had gone from 1500 feet to almost 10,000 feet that day, and I pumped them full of as much water as they would let me, but Willow was dry-heaving into a garbage can that night when I was getting her to bed, and Jayden had a VERY upset stomach the following day after skiing.
Now, if you know Willow, the picture below NEVER happens!

But the kiddos woke up the next morning feeling great, so we loaded up our stuff and headed to the mountain! Copper Mountain was only a 10 minute drive from the town home we were staying in, which was perfect for shuttling kids and adults between the slopes and the house! Willow was a bit ornery about putting on so many clothes and then decided to be a turkey when I wanted to take her picture. She claimed she was still sooooo tired and was sleeping.

We had rented skis for Jayden when we were in Wichita and Willow was pretty upset she couldn't get any because they didn't have any in her size, but I really didn't know what she was going to be capable/willing to do anyway. She had been going on and on for a few days about how she was going to go skiing, so once we got to Frisco, we found a place that had ski boots and skis in her size and figured we'd only be out $20 if she decided she wasn't going to ski.

And on a side note : Oh. My. Gosh. The next vacation with Willow needs to be somewhere you don't have to put on clothes, because trying to put snow pants on over her Chilli's was a workout in itself ("I ALREADY have pants on Mom! I don't need anymore pants!!!!) and then keeping clothes on this girl while up on the mountain was a chore!

Jayden did awesome up on the mountain! He loved skiing and while he may have been a bit out of control most of the time, he kept riding the magic carpet up the hill over and over again, so much so, that the person running the magic carpet learned his name and talked to him each time he came around again. His 2nd time down the magic carpet hill he pointed his skis straight down the hill towards Royal and thankfully Royal managed to catch him going about 50mph before he crashed into a fence or another person! But then Jayden shouted, 'I KNEW I knew how to ski!!!!' And then he proceeded to ask Royal when he was going to buy him his own skis. :) He never did master the art of snow plowing, and most of the time he headed straight down the hill expecting Royal to catch him, but he did eventually figured out how to turn a bit to slow himself down.
Going up the magic carpet

Coming straight down!

Willow watching from the sidelines. She never did put on her skis. The thought of having to put on a different pair of boots (a.k.a more clothes!) was more than she could handle and she just had fun playing around in the snow.

Willow watching Jayden ride the magic carpet up again!

Jayden working on his turns.

And Willow stomping off after saying to Royal, "I'm mad! I'm going to be mad over here!" (we had no idea what she was mad about and do notice her coat and gloves are both gone! The only reason her snow bibs are still on is because she couldn't figure out how to get out of them!)

Jayden skied for a good 3 hours without taking a break, but he was starting to look a little queasy to me (he's pretty sensitive when it comes to lack of sleep and/or lack of food) so I made him come sit down and have a little snack break and Willow played with the camera and snapped this picture. :) Not so bad, in focus and everything!

After Jayden had had a little food and some water, Royal took him up on a chair lift - something he'd been asking to do all morning - the sad thing is Royal took him without me or without me even knowing they went until they got back. So I have no pictures of the whole thing! Royal obviously doesn't understand the importance of me documenting every little thing our kids do with pictures!!!! But I guess Jayden loved riding on the chair because he could see everything! And I've been told he did great coming down the hill, working on his turns, never really crashing, and not stopping until he got to the bottom!

Our little skier!!!

Willow and I hung out at the bottom of the hill eating some french fries and playing in the snow.

We met everybody down at the cars for lunch and Royal and I decided that our kids were pretty much done with skiing/playing in the snow for the day, they were looking so, so tired. Our friend, Danielle, also decided her 3 kids were done with skiing and so was she, so she offered to take Jayden and Willow back to the house for us, that way Royal and I could ski the last couple hours of the day. You have no idea how much it was killing Royal to have a lift ticket on his jacket and then having to stand at the bottom of the mountain all morning. He totally didn't complain or anything, I mean, we were teaching Jayden how to ski and all, but you could see he was itching so bad to grab his board and get on a lift!
I am so grateful that skiing seems to be like riding a bike. It doesn't matter when the last time you skied was (for me that would be 5 years ago!), your body seems to remember what the heck it is suppose to do! It was so great!

The next day (Sunday) we took a break from skiing and had a "rest" day, which included some shopping and walking around town, but most importantly it included a trip back up the mountain to Copper's tubing center. Definitely the most expensive thing to do on the mountain, but it was totally worth it! So. Much. Fun!
Riding the tube hill magic carpet! So much better than having to walk your tubes up the hill!

We rode quite a few runs all together in a blob!

But by the end, Jayden wanted to go down by himself and Royal wanted to see how fast he could throw himself down the hill. :)

They also had a little kid area called Critter Land, which was basically a snow playground for little kids, complete with a tube merry-go-round!

Sadly, after this 2nd day of playing in the snow, my camera battery died. I blame it completely on the kids finding it and using it all the time and never turning it off! Sheesh! Obviously they don't understand the importance of me documenting every moment of our lives in pictures!!!!

On Monday, not everybody wanted to go back up to the mountain and ski a 2nd day, so Royal and I were able to leave the kids at the house with our friends and we were in line at the lift before they were even letting people on. (cue angels singing in the background for Royal) And then, to make things even better, Copper had gotten 5" of new snow up top, and then to make things even better after that (if it was even possible!) Royal and I and our friend Brandon managed to make it to the top of the mountain and ski 2 runs of untouched snow. 2 whole runs before anybody else had even come up there! It. Was. Awesome!!!! I had powder hitting me in the knees. Soooooo sweet! We spent a little over an hour up there in our powdery Heaven before we decided to ski down to our other friends on a different part of the mountain and make them come up to "our spot" with us. Unfortunately, we had some more equipment malfunctions. Our friends, David and Lauren were borrowing some of our equipment. David was using my brother's snowboard and Lauren was using mine. When we got to the top of one lift, one of David's bindings popped off the board. Luckily the guy running the lift had a screw driver and Royal managed to get the binding back on. Then, I'm not sure what the chances are, but literally 50 feet down the hill towards the next lift, Lauren's binding pops off. I climb back up the hill and put her binding in one pocket, the screws in another pocket, and the spacer in the another pocket. Then I give Lauren my poles, and I ski while holding the snowboard all the way down to the bottom. Poor Lauren and Dave had to walk the rest of the way, but while they were doing that, Royal and I went into the lodge and found a fix-it station and reattached the binding and proceeded to tighten everybody's binding screws after that! By this time, it was about time for lunch, and I headed towards the car and I left Royal up on the mountain with a bet that he couldn't complete 12 runs by the time I get back (he only managed 10...slacker!). I quickly headed off the mountain and back to the house to drop off some half day skiers and pick up the kids and the rest of our friends for the afternoon. I bought the kids 2 more hours in the tubing center under the supervision of one of our friends, and then Royal and I and our friend Jim, crammed in as many runs as we could before the lifts closed. It was a GREAT day of skiing! And truthfully I can't believe that I'm not sore and in any pain. My knees, which I was pretty worried about because of their crunchiness, didn't give me any trouble. And my feet, which have ALWAYS been a source of great pain - sometimes sending me to the lodge in tears because I couldn't handle it anymore, didn't give me any trouble. Guess all that working out and yoga has paid off!

On Tuesday, we made the drive back to Kansas without any issues, just long, and boring, and depressing as the scenery became less mountains and hills and trees and more flat and farm land and cows. But overall it was a great trip and I'm so thankful that Royal was willing to drive the whole way because I can get a whole lot of knitting done in 9 hours.

We can't wait to go back!!!

I totally forgot to post this! I got my first valentine last week! I was teaching Jayden how to draw a heart by making a 'V' and putting an 'm' on the top, and all by himself he wrote me this valentine.......so sweet!

Today, we did a bit more serious crafting. Jayden's suppose to have his valentines box at school by this Wednesday, so kids can start dropping off their valentines, and I just wasn't sure we'd have time in the evening to get it done. So, I sat the kids down with a little foam heart valentine craft, while I created his box for school.

I got his valentine box idea from pinterest and then just tweaked it to work with things I had at home. I used an old shoe box, pipe cleaners, brown paper, and construction paper, and then I let Jayden decorate it. I think it turned out great! And it was all done with stuff I had at home and some valentine stickers I found on sale at Hobby Lobby!

Willow worked on her own valentine for Brennie and Wyatt, but then said that she was going to hide it because she never wanted them to see it....and I haven't seen it since...

Jayden and I then started on making his valentines for his class mates! I found this idea from the Disney Family Fun magazine. I cut out the little pieces of paper and wrote a saying on them, then Jayden wrote to and from on the back of them while I made hershey kisses into rings.

I love this years valentines and all it cost me were a bag of hershey kisses and some stickers! And I think they are way cuter than the star wars valentines I'm pretty sure Jayden would of picked out. :)