skiing in BRECK

Another weekend with the Davis family is in the books and it was certainly one to remember. We flew up to Colorado Wednesday morning and what is usually a quick easy flight should have clued us in to the day to come. We got to the airport with time to spare, cruised through security (even receiving compliments for how well we negotiated all the people and bags in our care), got some lunch to eat on the plane, and found our seats. Just as the airplane doors were closing I started to look in my purse for Brother's bottle so I could feed him during take-off. It was gone. The TSA folks had taken it away for screening purposes along with the kids' water bottles but the baby bottle never made it back to us. Guess our security pass wasn't as flawless as we thought. So, we have a two-plus hour flight ahead and a trip to the rental car place at a minimum before Brother is going to get fed. Problem. Lucky for him he is a good little eater and downed one of the baby food pouches I had in my bag. It wasn't nearly as satisfying as a bottle though and I had to wrestle him to sleep. Eating lunch on the plane sounded like a good idea. An activity, right? Somehow it was just stressful and messy. And it felt like hours before the kids and Graham were finished and I could pass the baby off to eat myself.

We landed just before the snow storm hit, which meant that our two hour drive to Breckenridge became a perpetual two-hours-left drive. It seemed like every time we checked the map we were still two hours away. I think it took about four or five hours in the end. We were basically going 30mph the whole way. Amazingly, the kids were pretty well behaved. Lots of snacks! And we had stopped at Walmart for a bottle. The other side of the highway was shut down at one point due to a 50 car pile-up! It was unbelievable. Nobody looked in too bad of shape - it was just a giant heap of cars in a huge tangle. I was so grateful not to be in it or on the other side of it, stuck for hours on the highway. Anyway, we arrived a little later than expected but we arrived in one piece.

We spent the next days skiing, sledding, eating, and sleeping. Each day had a morning and an afternoon shift and we all rotated kid-duty and ski/free time. Blue threw up in his bed in the middle of the night on Thursday and we chalked it up to altitude and dehydration. He woke up feeling good and went to ski school all day Friday. He was so brave. He was nearly in tears when Graham and I dropped him off. He was nervous and gave me a long hug but he walked away with the teachers without a fuss. We checked in on him several times throughout the day and he was having a great time so his bravery paid off.


IMG 5546 from Micaelan Davis on Vimeo.

By the days end he was cold and tired but had done a really good job focusing and learning some new skills. He threw up in his bed again on Friday night and we thought, again, that it was altitude related. He had a slow start on Saturday morning but after an unusual morning nap he was good to go for the rest of the trip. I enjoyed sledding with the boys until Wiley-girl started getting sick as well. Poor thing. Being cold is not her favorite thing. Especially cold and wet. She spent most of the trip doing sparkle play-doh on the kitchen table (which Suzanne and I then had to scrape off piece by glittery piece). But then Saturday hit and I don't know how many times that girl threw up. Of course, we had spaghetti scheduled for dinner that night which is her absolute favorite. She was so sad when all I would give her was plain noodles.

By that point, the only adults left standing were Graham and Jeb. Suzanne and I were getting by and able to help here and there. But Ashley and Edward were out for the count. We had a huge pan of spaghetti sauce and no one really felt like eating. Turns out we all had some quick stomach bug. I was better by the next morning and it hit Graham for a bit once we got back to Austin on Sunday afternoon. Thankfully, the drive and flight home were drama-free. For most of the the trip everyone felt good and the skiers had a great time on the slopes. We just bookended the trip with a bang.