The great road trip of '08 - part 2

SUNDAY

Sunday's highlights included only having to answer questions about whether the mountains between Denver and Breckenridge were taller than the Eiffel Tower and Mt. Everest a few thousand times on an otherwise uneventful trip up the mountains. Andrew is obsessed with how every structure we encounter compares to these two objects in height. Both boys responded with oohs and aahhs as we went up into the Rockies, which made the long drive completely worth it. Also, no one's ears exploded as we climbed which was a major bonus.

We met everyone else for lunch in Frisco and after a meal marked by maniacal running by the kids around the restaurant - both inside and outside - and very little eating, we headed to Breckenridge to try and nap Thomas. The upstairs bedroom had been saved for us and it featured a queen bed with two sets of bunk beds. Andrew immediately began lobbying to sleep on a top bunk and Thomas immediately began lobbying to go home.

We decided to pull a mattress off a bunk bed and put it on the floor for Thomas, knowing that we would need to push pillows up around it to keep him on it, after our experience the night before. By the end of the week we had every suitcase owned by a Henderson, Schmidt or Rock all pushed up and around Thomas' mattress on the floor to create a walled fortress to keep him on his bed. By Wednesday he was finally sleeping well and no longer asking to go home every other hour.

We also discovered that night that PaRon had the foresight to book a condo right on the Blue River, which runs through Breckenridge, and that the boys all LOVED to throw rocks into said river for as long as someone would supervise them. This was a recurring theme during the week. Someone's upset? Take them to the river. Someone's bored? Take them to the river. Someone's got too much energy? Take them to the river. By some miracle no one ever ended up in the river.

The biggest highpoint in our Sunday was realizing that our camera was with us, but the battery was still charging in the outlet at home, rendering the camera difficult to use. As a result, you'll need to use your imagination with these posts until someone (hint, hint) sends us their photos.


MONDAY

Monday's highlights included watching Wyatt emerge from his bedroom asking for "cousins!" first thing in the morning and the jumping and running and pushing fest beginning pre-breakfast. I believe it was this day that the two little boys discovered that the mattress being used for Thomas' walled fortress was also suitable as a trampoline. We would realize they were missing and inevitably find them upstairs jumping to their hearts' content. Video of this fun exists and hopefully the owner of it will post it on her blog soon. Parallel play, my butt.

Other activities for the day included riding in a miniature train, and by miniature I mean miniscule, around a little plaza area. We squeezed every one of us into this thing and the kids loved it.

An afternoon hike on this day is listed by Andrew as one of his top three trip highlights. We found a trail on Swan Mountain that was essentially flat and looped around a one mile route providing views of Lake Dillon as we went. It was beautiful and even the little boys did well. That trail started out at a plaza area with signage where there were 8 squilion chipmunks and a kind family already there offered us peanuts to feed them. Andrew and Aunt Steph both allowed chipmunks to come and eat right out of their hands. When they were finished Andrew asked for hand sanitizer. That was, he explained in clear terms, not because he had been feeding rodents but because he had been holding peanuts. The aversion lives.

After that taxing hike we needed to stock up on privisions. Wyatt told everyone in his car, and later those of us who weren't in his car, that we needed wine and beer the whole way down the mountain. I love that kid.

Each evening was marked with two things. Rock throwing and Olympics watching. Perhaps someday the two can be combined? If so, I know three little boys who would be fierce competitors and a PaRon and Grandma who could coach!