Vacation Day 1, Day 2, & Day 3

Vacation Day 1 went like this:

• Kids dropped off at school 
• JP loading the van
• Christi cramming in some last minute work
• Annual Easter Egg Hunt/ School Luncheon
• On the road by 12:30pm
• Pickle rocked this look:
• NO ONE TAKING NAPS
• New Kid finally asleep 1/2 hour before we arrived in Pagosa.
• Made it from Phoenix to Pagosa Springs in 7 hours 45 minutes!

Vacation Day 2 

Sledding was the highlight of our day! The kids also tried to to play outside in the afternoon but soon met the reality of below freezing temperatures and 10-15 mph winds. 

Vacation Day 3
The Boy started the day heading out to play at when it was 12 degrees. Josh and I had bets on how long he would stay out and even started the stopwatch. He ended up staying out well past 15 minutes because he actually put on appropriate layers (and the wind wasn't blowing). We also headed up the pass for more sledding and JP even hiked up and made a few turns on his snowboard.

 JP has spent the afternoon cooking soup and a chicken casserole for dinners this week . . . days 4, 5, and 6 we are going to the mountain!

First Family Camping Trip

Before kids JP and I camped quite often . . . . we went for a long weekend in the Chiricahua Mountains or a week to Zion or just one night on our way to Colorado. Once The Boy came along we had big ideas of taking him in the tent and heading out on many adventures but we were just never sure of the right time or right age to start. Then Pickle arrived and things got crazier and then came New Kid and the thought of 5 of us in a tent was just plain scary. I would often lament our fear of family camping when talking with other parents and finally met my match in our friends Dave and Donnie. She would not stand for my tales of woe and kept gently pushing until we agreed on a weekend and then they booked the campsite and we were locked in for this adventure! They are well-practiced campers and integrated their boys right into the process so we were being led by masters of family camping.

So Easter weekend found us at Dead Horse State Campground in Cottonwood, AZ; a "high desert" environment with lots sand and scrub brush where the days were hot and the nights cold. We borrowed a 10-person tent that was nearly big enough for JP to stand. It was definitely large enough for the pack 'n' play which I think was key to getting New Kid to stay put at bedtime. The Boy decided he wanted to sleep in his own tent so he would not be bothered so he had our smaller two-man tent all to himself. Of course it was him that disturbed the rest of us including at 1:45am when he asked if he could get out of his tent. Me, "Um, no it is the middle of the night; please go back to sleep." He was also the first one up on Saturday morning dressed and unzipping his tent at 5:30am only to realize it was bitterly could outside of his sleeping bag.
Overall it was a very successful adventure! We now know it can be done and everyone had a good time and can't wait to do it again.

Wolf Pups

Vacation is ending and we are heading home tomorrow. Everyone is happily exhausted from so many days at the mountain. We have many stories to tell that I will have to share once I am home and rested. In the meantime check out these adorable Wolf Pups!

Poor Baby

Vacation took a little twist yesterday throwing us a curve ball that we could not have anticipated. New Kid got sick and it is a sickness we have not had to deal with in the nearly 8 years we have been parents. On Sunday night she woke up about 10:30 having thrown up in her Pack 'n' Play. Thank goodness she was sleeping in our room because she did not cry and I was still awake and heard what was happening. When I leaned over to check on her she was all smiles. We got her out and cleaned her up and she went back to sleep as if nothing had happened.

Yesterday we took the girls to an area in-home daycare where they had stayed last year when we were here to snowboard. Everything was going fine until we got a text (while we were on our way to pick them up) that New Kid had had a huge diaper blow out and then barfed up her snack. Clearly something was amiss. We pumped her full of liquid and gave her some plain pasta for dinner and off to bed she went tired but happy. She awoke crying around 12:30am and I quickly scooped her up just in time for her to blow chunks in my hand. I got her to the sink and then to the toilet where she got a bit more out of her system.

I share this story mainly for one reason and that is to always remember how adorable she looked standing over the toilet calmly throwing up and then pretending to spit into the bowl. Did you know that the height of the toilet is perfect for a toddler to stand and vomit. We went through this exercise 3 times between 12:30 and 1:00am. Each time she would throw up and then look up at us with her most pleasing smile. We would clean her up and put her back in bed where she would quietly drift off to sleep.

We strung together about 3 hours of sleep only to be awakened at 4:00am to more crying. This time it was her diaper that needed changing and she was not as happy to have her PJs removed in the cold of night as she was to stand over the toilet pretending to spit. So here I sit in the condo with a sleeping toddler and an overactive four-year-old . . . it is going to be a long day.

There are many aspects to this story that amaze me but the biggest one is that this was our first (but I doubt not our last) experience with an "up-in-the-night" type sickness like this. Luckily our children have proved resilient and have rarely let illnesses keep them up at night. Outside of car trips (and the time The Boy ate a tube of toothpaste) we have had only one other time where one of our kids has thrown up and that was actually last month. On President's Day when the kids were out of school The Boy complained of being cold and nauseous around 10:00am and then projectile vomited in his bed about an hour later. He ran a fever, took a nap, sat comatose on the couch for a few hours, and then was good as new and able to eat a normal dinner by 6:00pm.

Parenting is about rolling with it and we sure are rolling this week!

Snow!

The forecast indicated snow today and we waited ALL DAY to see it fall. Finally right at 3:00pm it started and blew hard for about 2 hours. Enough had accumulated and the wind died down allowing a brief excursion into the powder before dinner. New Kid lasted about 2 minute; she fell and got really mad to find her hand freezing cold.

 

We are expecting more snow overnight and a morning low temperature around 9 degrees. Hopefully it will be good snowman and snowball snow but first we plan to enjoy some nice powder at the mountain!