The idea was to leave at 8:00 a.m. and head for the high country, it was 20 minutes to eight when my daughter called me to ask me if I was ready and to find out what time I was leaving. I said yes I am ready (which was a lie as I was still in bed) but told her I wanted to talk to Nikki to see if I could hitch a ride with her. Her reply was, "Oh no Daddy, we can pick you up". So 15 minutes later they were picking me up and yes I was ready to go. Being a man is easier than a woman in situations like this.
The leaving at the same time but driving on our own went down the drain immediately, my kids just love doing things together and so we all headed for my son's house where we all met. After a short wait for my daughter in law we finally hit the road. It was 9:30 by this time. My niece and her family were already half an hour ahead of us, they were traveling in two cars, later my sister in law called to let us know that her family was behind us by about 45 minutes too.
So off we went, all six cars and 27 of us. Traffic was good, no accidents thank God, no construction, no road blocks, it was smooth sailing all the way. We were blessed with great weather, I always take a bag full of extra jackets, scarfs, gloves, etc. As someone always get too cold or too wet up there, but this time the sun was shining nice and bright, some of the guys were wearing only t-shirts, and the coldness of the snow which by the way was plenty felt pretty refreshing.
I am paying the price today because going up and down that slope with the grand kids took a toll on me, but it was worth every minute of it. As they are a bit older they now appreciated the beauty and fun of sledding down the hill. The "I'm having so much fun grandpa" statement came out of their mouths more than once. Even the toddlers loved it and actually got upset when we said we were leaving.
Last year most of our regular family outings were put on hold but I have bowed to get the wheels moving forward again and to engage in all these fun activities we so love doing together as a family.
The only downside was that the park was so packed that it took us forever to get in and actually the car that was 45 minutes behind us was denied entry to the park because I was full to capacity. Obviously they were not going to let this spoil their trip, they found a nearby play area were they too played in the snow and had lots of fun too.
We are so used to make the best of this situations and I for one am looking to our next family adventure.
Many of these images "borrowed" from Michelle's Facebook page. Thanks Michelle!