To The Mountains

Imagine you are in a van with an infant that needs to be fed every three hours, a two-year old that likes to have everything within reach which means she is covered in toys while sitting in her car seat, and a 5-year old and 6-year old that like to have dinosaur fights so loud that they drown out the radio. Now imagine driving 12 hours like this with no electronics, no iPAD, no Kindle, no DVD player, no laptop, not even a Leapfrog. This is how we went to our summer vacation to the mountains.

Actually, we avoided this by driving at night. We packed the car, put the kids in pajamas, snuggled them in with pillows and blankets, and were on the road by 9pm. I drove the first half which got us to the middle of Nebraska and the first gas stop. So in the wee hours of the morning, everyone woke up only to request an oatmeal cream pie. It was the start of vacation, so why not? After the sweet snack, I got cozy with the breast pump to feed our infant son while my husband drove back onto the interstate. We drove straight to my sister's house for her homemade breakfast of eggs and bacon.

My niece's graduation in Colorado was the perfect occasion to go on a family adventure. I told the boys the week before we left that we were going to the mountains. The day I told my 6-year old he told his Kindergarten teacher he would be missing a couple of days of school. How responsible? I waited as long as I could to tell the boys because I didn't want to hear, “Are we going to the mountains tomorrow?” everyday. Once I started packing, I had to tell them, or have them think that I was moving them out.

Day one of vacation was pretty laid back. We visited with my sister's family, checked into the hotel, napped, went swimming, and ate supper with my whole family, which included my parents and my other sister and her family.

I'm always amazed at what my kids remember about vacations. The free hotel breakfast is one of those things. My 6-year old son called it junk food, which really meant that they had a lot of sweet things. I think that was the highlight of day two for him. Well, that and playing with his
cousins. We got up early and went to Garden of the Gods, which is where they got to climb on rocks and “mountains.” I went with my sisters and parents to my niece's graduation, while my husband stayed with the kids. The graduation reception followed where all the cousins tired each other out.

The last day of our trip was spent in a lot of different places. We started the day driving to the Royal Gorge and exploring the suspension bridge. The Gorge was obviously awesome, but the kids spent more time at the playground area and looking at rocks. The rocks were such a success that we stopped at a rock store where they picked out their souvenirs, geodes.

We spent the remainder of our vacation eating. We went to my brother's for lunch and my sister's for supper. We said our goodbyes and talked about the next time we would see each other, which would be another year.

We spent Memorial Day driving the 12 hours home, which was not at night. The first paragraph is a direct reflection of this daytime journey home.

Our adventure to the mountains was a great start to our summer. It was also a great confidence booster. If you can take 4 kids all under the age of six on vacation and everyone has a great time, you can do anything. I can rule the world.