Escape to the mountains

Last weekend we went on a "stay"cation of sorts, since we didn't have to drive very far to get to our destination.  We made plans with three other families to rent a very large mountain cabin for a long weekend, that just so happened to have very special meaning to us, as it was the place where we got married.

The cabin (photo taken on the last day when the river was flowing freely)

It was so much fun to be back in that beautiful home and yet be able to make new memories with Evan and all of our friends.  Evan had plenty of other kids to play with, though most were considerably older than him and all of them were girls.  However, he didn't seem to mind.  He chased them and they chased him, and he had plenty of space to run and ride his ride-on toy.  He really did a good job of wearing himself out each night that he went down for bed wonderfully!  This was the first time in all of our travels that he went down on the first night (and every night thereafter) without us having to stay in the room until he was asleep!  Despite being in a strange place, the overwhelming sense of exhaustion took over him!

Evan loves to play "hide" under blankets...so he was even more thrilled with 3 of the girls joined in!

Evan and little Tori (pardon the red eyes...this came straight from my phone)

While we had booked our trip for mid-April, we weren't sure what kind of weather we'd encounter in the mountains this time of year given it's such a transition season for us and thus we could have had springlike weather or wintery conditions.  This April has been very snowy for us, so we had the latter.  In fact, when we first arrived there was over 2 feet of snow on the ground around the property!  They had shoveled off most of the deck, but there were piles of snow everywhere as well as icicles hanging all around the house.  Some were quite large and dangerous looking and one even connecting from the roof overhang all the way to the ground!

Just a sampling of the icicles hanging around.

Remnants of the deep snow on the deck (photo taken on the last day)

Also when we first arrived we were treated to a view out our bedroom window of at least 4 elk hanging out on the property.  What a beautiful place to be!

(Pardon the "grid" thanks to taking the photo through a screened window)

The first full day in the cabin we just took it easy and didn't do anything in particular.  We played games and rested and ate snacks.  Great way to start a holiday if you ask me!  We avoided spending too much time outdoors near the house, as snow avalanches were falling from the roof, and could have been a little dangerous given they were often mixed in with plenty of ice and icicles too!  It was always fun though to hear the sound of the snow sliding down the roof and see it pouring off the side out the window.

By the second day, the weather had warmed up quite a bit above freezing and thus the snow was melting fast.  We headed up into Rocky Mountain National Park to do some sledding with the kids, and  Evan joined in too.  While he didn't make it down the full hill more than a couple times, he sure enjoyed being pushed around on the snow in the sled.  Finally, he enjoyed some play in the snow (up until now he just whined because he'd get "stuck" in deep parts or fall with his face getting wet and cold in it).

I love this picture of my little man and his daddy walking up the sledding hill.  My, how big he has grown!

His squeals as he was getting pushed along were just adorable!

On the third day, the ladies gathered to get lunch and do some (mostly window) shopping in town.  The weather had really cleared up and was fairly warm so the kids played outside more on this day too (the roof avalanche threat was nearly gone at this time).

On nearly every night, John and several others enjoyed the outdoor hot tub on the deck at night.  I didn't get to have this luxury given my pregnancy however.  We had lots of great food, thanks to every family chipping in to cook one dinner during the weekend, and we had plenty of snacks and munchies (I can't believe how many bags of chips we polished off during the trip!).  And we got to enjoy elk out the window on at least one other day, and we also got to see some wild turkeys on most days.  Evan thought that was pretty neat, and thus when we said "Evan, there's the turkeys!" he'd run to the window to see them.  Sometimes he'd even go to the window saying "tuh-key" even though they weren't out there, just wishing they were.

Hello turkeys!

By the last day, the property grounds that had been so buried in snow when we arrived had cleared up and were more muddy and wet than snow-covered.  The river that runs by the cabin was nearly snowed over when we arrived and by the end of our trip it was a wide open flowing mountain stream.  It was sad to leave the home that we've made so many memories in, and it seems like the vacation went by way too quickly!  We definitely will have to come back again some day.

As we left the sunny skies and the high altitude air to descend back down to the front range flatlands, we were yet again greeted with more winter!  Another 4-5 inches of snow fell around our area later that day (not sure how much the mountains got).   Like I said, it's been a very snowy month for us.  We certainly need the moisture, but I'm also looking forward to this upcoming weekend in which the forecast calls for sunny skies and highs in the 70s (F).  Maybe spring is finally here!