Colorado

The day after Christmas, we (Greg, me, the kids, my parents and Grandma), all headed up to Colorado to spend a few days at my parents glorious cabin. We got a late start, and took frequent stops so we didn't actually arrive at the cabin drive until about 10pm. (And when I say drive, I do not mean driveway, I mean a few feet off the highway & several feet from the gate) My parents hadn't been there prior to our vacay, so the 2 1/2 feet of snow had yet to be plowed. My dad gets out of the car with a jacket, hat and shoes that are not made for the "walk" he was about to embark on. He inched his way through the snow with the little light given from his flashlight and our headlights. He reaches the gate, climbs over it, heads down the road, across the bridge and looks at his last obstacle...a LONG trot up a steep hill. (Did I mention he was doing all this in -2 degree weather) Of course, my kids were not sleeping, but thank heavens for portable DVD players, 'cause this was going to take a while.
At last, my dad reaches the cabin, changes out of his wet clothing into warm, dry clothes, snow shoes, gloves and hat and gets the tractor/snow blower running and starts making a path. His plan, make one quick pass, then have Greg's truck pack down the snow further as he drives up the hill to the cabin. Then mom can follow with ease and get my dear, frail Grandma into a warm and cozy bed. Good plan, eh? In thought, yes, however, our tires.... not so great. (Let's just say, Greg's wife...not so smart and that being the reason our tires have poor traction in snow) .

So let me tell you what actually happened. Greg puts the truck in gear and my kids shout for joy. YAY! We are going to be at the cabin soon! We head down the road, across the bridge and mom following close behind. After the bridge, the road curves and it's not quite wide enough for our truck. We try to pack down the snow and inevitably get stuck. (I believe by this time it is about 12am.)Dad brings the tractor around and helps us out of the snow bank. My kids yell, "Pop-pop is a super hero! This is the best day of my life!" Now we try to make it up the steep hill. (This has always been an obstacle during the wintertime. But conditions are even worse at night when it is pitch black outside. It is very easy to run off the road.) To make this long story a little shorter, we got stuck. Dad got us unstuck, etc. And Ethan now states, "This is the worst day of my life." After many failed attempts dad asks us to back out of the way to let my mom pass us. We have got to get my G-ma inside. Okay, here comes my parents, full throttle in their 4-WD porsche. They zoom pass us. It looks like they might make it. And for a brief moment my hubby's ego is wounded. What?! Our truck can't make it, but their fancy, schmancy porsche can! However, the porsche does not make it. They back down and get another run at it. Again, another failed attempt. They back down again and end up in a snow bank to the right side of the road. Greg takes this opportunity to prove to himself that he can make it up this devilish obstacle. Up the hill we go....gonna make it? I don't think so. We end up in a ditch to the left side of the road. We're stuck. Mom is stuck. And dad cannot pull either vehicle out with the tractor. What are we to do? Problem: How are we gonna get grandma inside? There is no way that grandma can walk up the hill. She can barely walk at all! Solution: Greg carries my frail, 88 year old grandma, lifts her into the cab of the tractor and she sits on dads lap and gets a slow and bumpy tractor ride. As for the rest of us, Mom carries a kid, Greg carries a kid, I carry the baby and we all hike up the hill to the cabin. Dad and Greg go back down and load the suitcases onto the tractor to bring them inside. We finally get to bed about 2:30am.

(Here are our vehicles. It is hard to see but my parents car is in the background.)

I did fail to mention one thing. The next day, my dad attempted to pull the cars out again and eventually got the tractor stuck! We had to call the neighbors to help us get everything unstuck. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of that.



The kids were so ready to get out in the snow to play. They had a great time!!

This is a picture of Aidan pretending to be his Nana reading a book. I think he pulls it off quite nicely. Although, its not too often that mom puts her glasses on the wrong way and reads her book upside down. This kid cracks me up!

Aside from the horrible events of actually getting to the cabin, our trip was very fun. The kids had a great time. I got to play lots of games with the family. (I love games!) And Greg got to relax before "busy season" at work.