YoMaWiKi Camping Trip

We went camping with our small group in August. We went up the Poudre Canyon to a campground called Jack’s Gulch. It rained for most of the afternoon/early evening, but cleared up in time for dinner and campfire. Around dinnertime, one of the kids got hit by a rock on the head, and it split pretty good. His dad and one of the other dads took him to get the split glued shut, and the rest of the trip passed without incident. We enjoyed s’mores and singing around the campfire.

Nerd Alert

For my 30th birthday, Seth surprised me with tickets to Comic-Con in San Diego. We’re not into comic books at this house – yet, anyway – but a lot of great tv shows and movies are promoted at the convention. Most of my favorite shows have panels where actors, writers and producers talk about the show and give away one-of-a-kind swag.

Originally, we were only going Friday through Sunday; however, one of the reasons for going to Comic-Con was the Psych panel, and when they finally published the schedules, Psych was on Thursday. Seth surprised me by getting extra tickets for Thursday and changing our plans to leave a day early, so we wouldn’t miss it.

Panels we saw [actually, we saw a ton of panels; these are just the ones we cared about]:

• Psych
• We got some awesome shirts and foam pineapples, like the foam fingers you get at sporting events.
• Also, we saw Dule' Hill (Gus) get his tap on - check out the slightly blurry photo to the right.
• Big Bang Theory
• We sang the theme song with Barenaked Ladies...that's right; they were there, live and in person!
• White Collar
• Check out my homage to Matt Bomer's hat collection - I found it at a store downtown.
• Chuck

Movie previews:

• Harry Potter 7…trailers for BOTH movies!!!
• Sucker Punch [looks pretty rad, despite the fact Vanessa Hudgens is in it]
• Cowboys & Aliens [sounds dumb, but looks cool]
• Harrison Ford showed up as a surprise, his first Comic-Con appearance ever.
• Thor [looks decent]
• Paul [looks funny, but stars Seth Rogan, soooo...it's going to be R-rated]
• Captain America
• Green Lantern [looks amazing...of course!]

• Oh, yeah…Ryan Reynolds was there, and he was amazing…even from far, far away. Squeeee!!! 
• The Avengers
• This is huge; apparently, there are a bunch of legal and rights issues that have led fans to fear this movie would never happen, but Joss Whedon (!!) is slated to direct, and it’s going to have a ton of huge stars. Robert Downey, Jr. as Ironman, for one.

We also met up with our friends, Joel, Michelle, Bryan, Tiffany and Val, for a great night in downtown San Diego. We hung out on a rooftop bar, then went to a very chic hole-in-the-wall wine bar, which looked inspired by Alice in Wonderland. Loved it!

Our Coolest Family Road Trip Yet

We tried to think of a cool, but inexpensive, trip to take this summer. We decided to combine camping with a road trip. Our route: Fort Collins to Colorado National Monument [Grand Junction], through the mountains to Durango, to Sand Dunes National Park, and home through Pueblo.

Colorado National Monument
One of our main reasons for choosing CNM was the Dinosaur Journey Museum located nearby. We figured this would be the highlight of our stay in Fruita, which is near Grand Junction, in western Colorado. The highlight was most definitely not the Grand Junction shopping mall, which was curiously filled with pregnant teenagers and punk kids. While the museum was cool, the highlight of our stay was our camping spot.

We ended up on top of a bluff in the CNM park, nearly at the edge of a cliff, staring at a huge expanse of red-rock walls across the valley below. Seth got up early and took amazing photos of an incredible sunrise. The campsite even had flushing potties…and cell reception…happy mama. We walked on trails around the park, and found places where dinosaur bones had been excavated. We saw Balanced Rock, and several other formations that the boys gleefully pointed out whenever we drove past. Walking along the tops of plateaus had me sort of freaked out, so I spent a lot of time trying to drill safety into the boys’ memories. At one point, after I had, yet again, warned the boys to stay away from the cliff edges, Alex said, “If you jump off the cliff, you'll die & all your bones will be breaked." Message received.

Our original plan was to stay two nights at CNM, but there wasn’t enough to do to keep us busy. Plus, it was really hot. So, we decided to spend an extra day in Durango.

Mountains

We drove to Durango through the San Juan Mountains. We passed through several towns, but Telluride and Ouray were by far the most impressive. Telluride was stunning – it’s nestled in the mountains, among lakes and streams and green-covered red mountains. We drove on the “Million Dollar Highway” to Ouray. We walked around Ouray, which is an old mining town with a cute downtown and beautiful scenery. It was interesting to see how the San Juan Mountains differed from the Rocky Mountains, mostly in color.

Durango
This was the first time we’d ever been to Durango. I expected it to be similar to Grand Junction, but the only similarity I could see was the southern location. Actually, Durango reminded me a lot of Fort Collins – college town, a river the town uses for recreation, quaint downtown. We ate dinner at a great little Mexican restaurant called Gazpacho’s.

We stayed in a little cabin at a cool campground; our cabin was right next to a little stream, which the boys absolutely loved. We spent two days sitting on the rocks in the streambed while the boys splashed around in the water, shaded by huge trees on the bank. Very relaxing. The campground also had bathrooms with showers, so everyone got cleaned up. Not surprisingly, the boys were pretty grimy after only a couple days, so the showers were appreciated. Mostly by me.

Since we had an extra day in Durango, we decided to check out Mesa Verde. We weren’t sure how the kids would do on the tours of the cliff dwellings, but we figured we’d give it a shot. The kids were the darlings of our tour group. They behaved so well, and charmed our group so that by the time we were climbing the exit ladder from the dwellings, the whole group was cheering the boys on. They enjoyed learning about the history of Mesa Verde, and climbing on ladders to get up and down the dwellings. Zach was brave enough to go down into a kiva with Seth, but it was too dark and enclosed for Alex’s taste. They saw lots of little lizards on the nature trail, which was pretty exciting…each and every time we saw one.

Sand Dunes

The boys loved the dunes – we walked on the sand, barefoot, and splashed in the inch of water flowing at the base of the huge dunes. The sand is amazing – it feels just like beach sand, with no ocean for thousands of miles. The dunes are in the middle of mountains and plains – it’s crazy to see huge mountains of sand surrounded by normal Colorado landscapes. We camped in the dunes park; the rangers told us to make sure to put anything with a scent of any kind into the bear-proof metal box at our campsite – including toiletries and make-up! Apparently, they’d had some trouble with bears in the park, which freaked us out a little. We didn’t see any bears, much to the boys’ dismay. We hiked in the mountains; Seth and the boys took an early morning hike, which led them to a beautiful waterfall. The rangers held an informative program at the campground amphitheater, where they talked about the different types of animals in the park.

The Ride Home

We drove home through Pueblo and Colorado Springs. In Pueblo, we found a tiny little Mexican restaurant that sold homemade, authentic tamales. Seth bought one for me, and as we drove away, I devoured it. Months later, I still dream of those tamales…I think a trip to southern Colorado will be on our agenda in 2011. I foresee a good portion of the back of our car being devoted to transporting muchos tamales back to my freezer.

Colorado Springs was experiencing incredible thunderstorms the day we drove through; we literally watched clouds pour buckets of rain as we drove from Pueblo to Denver. Fortunately, we made it through safely, and pulled into our driveway having logged a thousand in-state miles.

Fun Family Weekend in the Mountains

Our traditional family trip to Silverthorne took place in May this year, as opposed to December. Having been to Silverthorne several times during the winter, it was neat to see how beautiful this area is during the spring. The males, young and…younger, spent time at a fun park and the shore of Dillon Lake. The ladies shopped.

Together, we had epic Catan battles and the game playing stretched to midnight and beyond. All in all, this family tradition is one that we all look forward to each year.

The Happiest Place on Earth

Some of my most favorite memories, as a child and as an adult, involve one of the Disney theme parks. We’ve been chomping at the bit to take the kids to Disney World, especially after our great day at Disneyland last year. Finally, all the factors aligned and we were able to plan a family trip to Disney World in May. We wanted to do Disney right, at least for the kids’ first time, so we saved our sheckles and splurged on an onsite hotel. We compromised by ordering groceries through a service (GREAT, by the way) for half of our meals, snacks and drinks.

Plane Ride & Hotel

Our trip started on Saturday with a plane ride – Alex’s first – from Denver to Orlando. Alex loves transportation vehicles, so he was thrilled to finally be airborne. We were a little nervous to see how the kids would do on the three and a half hour plane ride, but they did great. At the Orlando airport, we boarded the Disney Magic Express bus, which took us to our hotel, the Wilderness Lodge. The Lodge is modeled after the lodge at Yellowstone National Park, and it is stunning. Huge timbers, lots of fun Disney details, a fantastic pool and even an ‘Old Faithful’ geyser that erupted on the hour. We spent the first afternoon and evening swimming, exploring the hotel, and excitedly planning our first day at the parks.

Sunday: Animal Kingdom

On Sunday, we went to the Animal Kingdom park. This was the first time any of us had been to AK; either the park wasn’t yet built, or it wasn’t a priority on any of our past DW trips. We thought the boys would really enjoy the animals, and most of the dinosaur-related attractions are at AK. It was a fun park, and a great way to ease into the hustle and bustle.

We saw some fun live shows, including the Lion King, Finding Nemo and It’s Tough to be a Bug. We had yummy BBQ for lunch, rode fun rides – included a ridge based on the movie Dinosaur – and the kids played on a dinosaur-themed playground.

Seth, my dad and I went on the Expedition Everest rollercoaster, which was incredible…and scary. We all went on the Kali River Rapids ride, and we all got really wet. We went on the safari, and saw a ton of animals just hanging out on the grasslands.

Monday: Magic Kingdom

Monday was our first day at Magic Kingdom. Staying onsite had a fantastic advantage – we were able to make use of the special “Magic Hours”, which are extra hours at certain parks on certain days, but only for those who are staying onsite. Monday had late Magic Hours, so the park was open from 9am-11pm for everyone, and from 11pm-2am for hotel guests. We hit everything we could in the park.

Unfortunately, Alex was still an inch too short to ride some of the rides – he was particularly disappointed that he couldn’t ride Splash Mountain, despite our best efforts to fool the ride attendant into letting him on.

We enjoyed the classic rides – Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, Country Bear Jamboree (“Lester’s Possum Park!”), Peter Pan, Snow White, Pinocchio, Hall of Presidents, Haunted Mansion, Tomorrowland Speedway (let the kids drive and someone broke down), and Carousel of Progress. We also enjoyed the new rides – Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger (on which we shot as many of Zurg Zs as possible to get points), Mickey’s PhilHarMagic (a 3D musical adventure that freaked Alex out – he didn’t like the trombones popping out), and Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor (where Zach got to tell a joke into the microphone).

Seth, Nicole, and I stayed late at the park that night and closed it down. We even convinced Coley to ride Space Mountain for the first time…then, we made her do it again. Go, Coley!

Tuesday: Hotel & Relaxation
Tuesday was a ‘chill’ day. We spent most of it at the hotel pool, which had a great waterslide. The hotel staff had activities to keep people busy – games in the pool, fun music and more. We rested our feet, read books, enjoyed the warm sun and walked on the beach.

Another great thing about the Wilderness Lodge is that it is one of the hotels that gives access to the free taxi-boats, which were like a ride of their own. The boys loved each ride, and made getting to and from the parks an adventure. We took a taxi-boat across the lake to a neighboring hotel (Camp Wilderness) for a campfire sing-along and movie…hosted by Chip and Dale. We made s’mores and ate popcorn, and finished the night with the Electric Lights Parade on the lake.

Wednesday: Epcot

Wednesday was Epcot Day. Lately, there haven’t been many perks to being an HP employee – other than being employed, that is. But HP technology was part of the Mission: Space attraction at Epcot, and Seth learned that showing his HP badge at the attraction got us into a special behind-the-scenes lounge (free Coke and cookies to boot). The ride was really cool – only a few of us went on it, because the rider experienced “several Gs”.

We also went on the nostalgic rides, like Universe of Energy (more dinosaurs=happy Zach), Spaceship Earth (the ride inside the Epcot “golf ball”), Imagination With Figment, and more. We checked out The Land and The Seas, which were revamped since our last visit. At The Seas, we got to sit in on ‘Turtle Talk with Crush’, from Finding Nemo – this was a cool, interactive show where the animated Crush talked to live audience members.

We rode the new Test Track, which is a cool “crash test dummy” type of ride - the boys loved Test Track, and we went on it twice. We also rode on the new Soarin’ ride, which is a simulated hang glide through California. It was amazing – like IMAX, but your seat moved so that your legs dangled, as though we were really hang gliding. Alex wasn’t tall enough to ride, so he and Babi waited for us; Zach loved it, and wanted to ride it several times.

We visited a bunch of the countries in the World Showcase, and the kids enjoyed making a craft at each country. An employee from each country’s store would help them, and did something special to the craft that was representative of that culture. We ate lunch at the German Biergarten restaurant – an “all-you-can-eat” buffet. Maybe “we ate” isn’t the right phrase here…we stuffed ourselves full of delicious, authentic German food, until we practically needed hand-trucks to get out of the place. Before we got too full, the live “oom-pah” band played a lively polka, and I took each of the kids onto the dance floor. After all, they need to be in touch with their German heritage.

We finished the night with the ‘Illuminations’, the laser-light and fireworks show, and to a monorail and a boat ride back to our hotel.

Thursday: Magic Kingdom & Chillin' by the Pool

We went for Round 2 at MK for half a day, and hit our favorite rides again. The males all went back to the hotel to chill and swim, and the ladies stayed to power-shop for a few more hours. We rendezvoused at the hotel, and went to Downtown Disney for dinner and shopping, and returned to the park for the parade and fireworks show.

Friday: Hollywood Studios

Our last day at WDW just happened to be the first day of ‘Star Wars Week’ at the Hollywood Studios park…guess who planned our week’s itinerary…we were sooo there! Our day started out with long lines to get into the park, overseen by storm and clone troopers on the tops of the awnings. Oh, yeah. Star Wars merchandise and characters were found throughout the park. It’s really too bad the boys weren’t in their ‘Star Wars Obsession’ phase yet; as it was, I was the one freaking out the most. We found the perfect shirt to encompass Alex’s entire WDW experience. Check it out in the top-left of the collage next to this section.

We rode the Tower of Terror, the first time for both Coley and Zach. Zach looooved it, screaming every time we bounced up and down; Coley wasn’t nearly as thrilled, but she was a good sport. We rode Star Tours, which is now being renovated – we were part of the last month of classic Star Tours. We went to the Playhouse Disney Live on Stage show, and Alex was ecstatic to see the characters from Little Einsteins in person. He jumped up and down, sang and danced, and yelled out all of the answers to the questions. It was such a cute show.

Seth and I made Dad ride Aerosmith Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, which was rad. Toy Story Mania was our last ride – it’s the newest ride at Hollywood Studios, and FastPasses sold out three hours before the end of the day. The lines had two hour waits, and even FastPass was a 40 minute wait! It was worth it; the ride is like an old carnival – you sit in a seat with 3D glasses, and the seat moves through different game booths. You have a gun-thing, and use it to sling rings over bottles, pop balloons with darts, and so much more – the crazy part is, it’s all virtual reality! The kids thought it was the most amazing ride ever…and the adults agreed! We were bummed that we’d waited until the end of the day before riding it; next time, we get FP first thing, and again after lunch.

Home
Our week at Disney World was incredible – we had wanted an unforgettable first trip for the boys, and we got it. Even still, months later, the boys talk about our trip and the fun things we did. Someday, we’re going back…but we’re waiting until Alex is tall enough to do everything.

In a Cabin in the Woods

The kids have done such a great job camping and playing around in nature, we decided to take them up to the cabins at Hermit Park in Estes. Since HP sold the park to the county a couple of years ago, things have changed a little – no more flushing potties or showers, for example. The Parks Dept. does a great job of managing Hermit Park; there’s a port-a-potty outside every cabin, and they’re even clean. I know; it’s the little things. Since we were staying only one night, we decided to bring Jack, figuring the fresh air would do him good…and sort of hoping a bear or something would scare him into being a good dog. Fat chance, but hey, a girl can dream, can’t she?

The boys loved our “little house” in the woods, especially the bunk beds, which they climbed up and down incessantly. I guess, Zach climbed them – Alex, legs still a little too short to reach the slats, needed some help getting up and down, which required a lot of up-and-down from Seth and me. They also discovered the wonder of headlamps, and the joys of settling down with a good book in a cozy sleeping bag. All in all, it was a great mini-vacation…even for Jack!

On the Road Again!

My mom and her family in Iowa organized a surprise 60th birthday party for my aunt Maureen. We had planned on staying home – I had a closing coming up, and Seth couldn’t miss any school. Then, Seth found out he was being sent to Arizona for work, and my closing was clear and ready to go, so I had a crazy idea: I could drive myself and the boys to Iowa for the weekend, and surprise everyone! It’s only a 10 hour drive…well, 12-ish, with a potty-trained kid in tow. No big deal, right?

Actually, it ended up being okay – the kids were great on the drive, and thought it was a fun adventure. We made it in one piece, thanks to the GPS, and in pretty decent time. We made it in time to spend time with the families, and were happy to be part of the surprise party. The boys loved playing with the cousins, 2nd cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and anyone else they met. We also spent a morning at a farm, riding on a tractor-pulled wagon hayride, and checking out the pumpkin patches and cornfields.

The drive home was a little less enjoyable, because both boys were very sad to leave and kept asking me to “turn around and go back to Auntie Maureen’s house, pretty please!” We’ll probably be making that trip again in 2010…but I probably won’t be driving solo.

July: Camping

Fun Week concluded with a camping trip in Estes Park. Last year, we camped overnight in a little one room cabin; this year, we graduated to camping in a tent. We figured we may as well go for broke, and brought the dog as well – go big, or go home, I guess. Once again, the kids took us by surprise, behaving as though they were born to camp. Even Jack did well, spending most of the time laying in the warm dirt, and occasionally perking up when he caught a whiff of some interesting scent. We all slept in one tent, and while it was fine, we’ve decided we need to upgrade tent sizes before next summer – it was just a little tight. We did all the usual camping activities – roasted hot dogs over the fire, making s’mores and even popping a Jiffy Pop over the camp stove. Our site had a big “mountain” for the boys to climb, and we’ve come to the conclusion that they’re part mountain goats. The kids used their battery powered lanterns once the sun went down, and actually settled down pretty well in the tent when bedtime came. All in all, camping was a huge success!

April: California, Here We Come!

Never let it be said that Seth and I are afraid of a challenge. We decided to take the boys on our first road trip without any other family members. Figuring we might as well go for broke, we set our destination: California! Our theme song for the trip: “Life is a Highway,” the version sung by Rascal Flatts in “Cars.” It was played incessantly on the trip, with both kids singing it (or their own interpretations) throughout the journey. We left at 5:00 pm on Sunday, April 12, hoping the kids would fall asleep and minimize the potential for tantrums and whining. After driving for hours, and catching a quick nap in the parking lot of a motel, weresumed the drive across the desert. The kids did great when they woke up on Monday the 13th, enjoying the dvd player and “Distraction Bag,” which contained new books, coloring books (go, Color Wonder!), stickers, Hot Wheels cars, and more.

We made it to Vegas, and spent the rest of the day exploring the hotels and resting in our room at the Planet Hollywood hotel. As night neared, Alex began getting really fussy and pulling at his ears; we realized he was feverish, and found the nearest Target, where we bought a thermometer and Children’s Motrin. His temp was already at 101*, so we pumped him full of Motrin (per the package instructions, of course); fortunately, we had comfy beds in the hotel room, and got mostly good sleep that night. The next day, however, Alex was totally miserable. We ended up detouring in Barstow, CA, for a few hours; the ER diagnosed him with yet another ear infection, and prescribed antibiotics and anesthetic ear drops for the pain. The drugs did the trick; within a few hours, he was sleeping comfortably in his car seat…and the rest of us were more comfortable as well.

We rolled into Anaheim on Tuesday the 14th, and the kids were over the moon when we discovered our hotel was literally across the street from Disneyland. We checked out the stores that evening, finding some great souvenirs and soaking in the Disneyness. The entire next day, Wednesday the 15th, we spent in the park. The boys loved the rides, and we enjoyed experiencing the magic of Disney through their eyes. It was so much fun watching their reactions to ‘Small World,’ ‘Dumbo,’ ‘Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride,’ ‘Snow White,’ ‘Peter Pan’…every ride that provokes such strong feelings of nostalgia when I remember my childhood trips to the Magic Kingdom. The ability to create new memories with my own kids in the places that hold such wonderful memories of being a kid myself is such a blessing! We ran ragged, but the kids behaved so amazingly well; we couldn’t have asked for a better day together.

The kids were sad to leave Disney, but our itinerary was only half complete. We made our way to our friends’ house in Huntington Beach. Joel and Michelle showed us a great evening, providing yummy, pre-dinner, kid-friendly snacks, and a great dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. The next day, we were able to join Joel and Kona (their puppy) for some time at the beach and a great lunch. The day was cooler than expected, and we didn’t think the kids would want to get wet, so we didn’t bother putting them in their swim trunks that morning. That turned out to be a big mistake – we underestimated Zach’s sense of adventure, and Alex’s fascination with wet sand. Zach’s favorite part was finding seashells and running into the waves, which Alex avoided. Alex’s favorite part was digging around in the sand, piling globs of it into his bucket, and turning it upside down, usually on himself. Kona had his own water “sled” (Zach’s term for Kona’s doggie boogie board), which delighted the boys (although it didn’t really get used by anyone, human or canine). By the time we said “goodbye” to “Cousin” Joel and Kona, the boys were dirty, tired and satisfied with their day’s adventures.

We left the LA area, and headed south to San Diego for our next stop. No hotel this time; my aunt Michele was brave enough to put us up for a couple of nights, for which she earned our total admiration. By this point in time, Alex seemed to be feeling pretty good – the antibiotics were working very well. Zach, however, woke up in the middle of the night and threw up, something he’s done maybe 2 or 3 times in his entire life. Fortunately, he made it to the bathroom in time; unfortunately, he freaked out and cried loudly, waking up everyone in the house and probably the neighbors as well. The next day, Friday the 17th, we spent at the San Diego Wild Animal Park with Michele, to whom Zach had taken quite the liking. He wanted to walk with her, holding her hand and listening raptly to her as she pointed out animals and plants along the way. We took the "Journey into Africa" tour, riding in a caravan and learning about animals who call Africa home. We saw the park's new baby elephant, the giant condors, giraffes, zebras, many different bird species, a pack of lions lounging on top of an old Range Rover, and tons of varieties of flowers, cacti, and foliage. We thought the vomiting incident from the night before was an isolated episode, but, alas, it happened again at the park. Afterward, Zach spent much of the afternoon in the stroller, and actually fell asleep inside for the first time ever.

On our way back to the house, we saw a funky little vineyard, and decided to stop and see if they had a good bottle of wine to go along with our dinner. Michele and I sampled a couple of vintages, but weren't sufficiently impressed, so we bought wine at the store instead. (It was still good.) Needless to say, after the adventures of the day, we ended up spending a quiet night at Michele’s. She fixed us an amazing dinner, and we were joined by her friend, Martin, who was great company as well.

On our final morning in California, we had breakfast at Michele and Martin’s favorite place, which was excellent. After our goodbyes, we made our way to the nearest gas station, each of us ready to be home. At the gas station, I took our cooler bag out of the car, intending to refresh our ice supply. As Seth pumped the gas, I went into the store, bought a bag of ice and some snacks, and headed back to the car…which was now sitting in front of the store. Unfortunately, Seth hadn’t realized I had left the cooler bag outside the car; we found it a few moments later, completely crush and full of squashed food and drinks. Fortunatley, we were able to salvage Alex’s medicine (which had needed to be kept cool), and a few things, but the bag and most of the contents went straight into the trash. We took this as a sign that our vacation had run its course, and we headed home as quickly as we could.

The drive home was wrought with tension, but everyone hung in there and we made it home, safe and sound, on Sunday, April 19th. The kids declared the trip as the best ever, and continue to talk about their adventures. We have declared the trip a success, and have vowed to take our family on road trips in the future.