Ben, the girls & I were very lucky to be able to escape to my parents' house on Colorado's Western Slope for the 4 day weekend (Ben & Caitlin both had Monday off). With the weather man predicting snow after midnight on Friday, we decided to leave after Ben got home from work on Friday night, hoping to beat the storm. I ran around like a madwoman packing up 4 people in a record (for me, anyway) 20 minutes. Ben got home at 6pm and we were out the door at 6:15! We started up and were faced with almost gridlock traffic and snow. At one point, we were going a whole 30-35MPH. Mind you, the snow wasn't even really sticking to the ground at this point. I looked at Ben and said, "If it's going to be like this all the way, I don't think I want to do it". With all of the traffic combined with snow, a pile-up accident was waiting to happen. Thankfully, we decided to stop in a town about 45 minutes away from Denver to pick up some dinner (and a mint tea latte for me). By the time we got back on the road, the traffic had mostly cleared. The rest of the drive was very uneventful, minus a couple of bathroom breaks and a family sing-along. At one point, I was the only one awake in the car and got away with playing some Kenny G! We arrived at my parents' house just after midnight. I'm proud to say that this trip cured my fear of driving through the mountains in the dark.
We had a wonderful visit, as always. It's hard to leave. We were able to visit with my aunt & uncle who live in Colorado part of the year and in Michigan the other half. We realized it had been quite some time since we'd seen them.
The girls woke up on Valentine's Day to see bags of candy, cards and cute Valentine's Day outfits from Grandma & Grandpa. They are two very spoiled little girls!
My parents also treated us to a soak in the Ouray Hot Springs. Nothing like a good soak to melt away the stress and worries as well as cure a sinus cold!
We headed home, regretfully, on Monday afternoon. I'm sure we could've stayed another few days, but I was glad to be home, even if it did mean that I had to do laundry and go grocery shopping. Ahh, the return to the daily grind.
I cannnot wait until this spring/summer. I have a lot of little weekend getaways planned for our family. Just to places within a day's drive of our house that we have yet to visit. My goal is to "explore our backyard" this year.
**By the way, just had to add that we didn't get any snow at my parents' or here in Denver out of this predicted storm. Oh well, I know the girls enjoyed the extra time of being spoiled by the grandparents.**
