New Year's Road Trip

Happy New Year from Winter Park!

We celebrated New Year's Eve by going to bed very early and driving to Colorado on New Year's Day. (And also being woken up by a sick Cora from 2-7 am and delaying our trip to take her to urgent care where it took forever to find out she had justavirus and the result was just everyone being tired and getting to my sister's house in Boulder hours later than originally planned.)

Luckily, Cora rebounded in the fresh Colorado air and no one got altitude sickness this time, so despite our ominous start, the journey was a medical success.

I did an insane cardio class workout with my sister the next morning- it involved climber machines and ski machines and I thought I was in pretty good shape but I nearly died. I cheated so much at the ski machine I kept expecting to get in trouble with the teacher/authority figure, but not even that grave fear could get me to pull harder on the handles. Altitude is no joke and neither is group fitness, something I hadn't done since the last time I was in Colorado and did a yoga class with my sister in April.

With my first workout of 2024 checked off, and my heart still beating (if perhaps too fast and loudly), we packed up and headed up the mountains to my parents' house in Winter Park. Now with a hottub on the back deck!

Which Landon turned into his own form of hot/cold therapy that made me hurt just to watch him. Exhibit #1 million that he is way more James than me.

We missed skiing last year- our first year without a family ski trip since Claire was born, so we made it work in a tight turnaround this year between Landon's equally dreaded and highly anticipated New Year's Eve swim practice (20 x 500's; he did the last one all fly because he is a crazy person) and the amount of work I need to do in the first half of January. This was my road trip reading for part of the ride:

It was a lot of driving (for James; I don't drive on family trips), but I think we all missed the mountains and I forgot how much I love watching the kids ski.

The five of us headed out early to hit the slopes when the lifts opened.

It was a gorgeous day- about 20 degrees and bright blue skies.

Cora had a moment where she forgot she liked snow when skis were on her feet (I mean, she did spend about 7 years absolutely hating it), but luckily she was back on board by the time we got halfway down her first green and she was all the way happy as we cruised down our first blue.

She gets such a grin when she's going fast.

It's possible Landon has more confidence than actual skill, but he enjoyed himself, swerving in and out of trees and getting down the slopes first.

Claire is smooth and controlled. Nervous, but game to try, and I'd see her smiling whenever she made a clean swish of a turn.

The conditions weren't perfect- the mountain needs more snow and the runs were a little icey, but the views are so beautiful, and you just feel so lucky to be able to see them the whole way up and down each run, it doesn't really matter.

James usually leads the way, then Landon, then Cora, then Claire, then me, making sure no one falls or that I can grab their skis or poles if/when they do.

Halfway through the day, I released James to go do all the double black diamonds he loves so much while I met my parents, sister and crew at the base to eat our packed lunches.

After lunch, my sister and brother-in-law went back to the bunny slope with the littles, while my parents joined me, Landon, Claire, Cora and my oldest niece Sky.

It was so fun. My parents are great skiers and enjoy skiing with the grandkids so much.

I think maybe the best part was listening to Cora and Sky encourage each other as they skied. Every time they paused, you'd hear "you can do it Sky!" and "great job Cora!". Cora's my only kid with a cousin close in age and it's such a joy to watch them.

Towards the end of the day, as we got to our last run right before the lifts closed, Claire's legs just decided they were done.

She kept falling and she was tired and I was SO PROUD of her every time she got back up and kept going down. My dad stayed back with us and it was a long, slow way down, but she did it and she was smiling at the end and told my dad she had a GREAT day and it was.

We were kicked off the mountain at 4 pm and trudged our way back to the car with our skis, boots, and poles. That walk is always the worst part of the day, but the kids were in good spirits and can carry their own gear now, so it's not nearly the hellish march it once was. We stopped in the village to get cookies for everyone, stopped to swing on swings, and then made our way home.

We finished the day back in the hottub, which was lovely.

The next morning we slept in, which was ALSO lovely, and lazed about the house (and/or answered a bunch of work emails, depending on your current professional status). I also made two kinds of scones which were AMAZING and, I decided, calorically neutral after all the skiing we did the day before.

We only bought lift tickets for one day because skiing is so freaking expensive and we only had two days and wanted some time to play, so we headed off to the historic Fraser Tubing Hill for some afternoon fun.

I got to tube with my girls, with my boyfriend, with all of my nieces, including a round with each of my tiniest ones in my lap and it was so fun and fast.

We love a snowy play day.

Unfortunately we got some bad health news about my Grandma when we returned from the hill, so my parents packed up and started the drive back to Texas right behind us. Thanks to her sweet nurse, we were able to FaceTime with her. She couldn't open her eyes, but she recognized my mom's voice immediately and we all sang "You Are My Sunshine" to her and she even sang along. I'm so grateful we all happened to be together at my parents' house in that moment- my dad, sister, me, all our kids.

She's holding steady right now, but my parents are glad to be back in Texas and nearby. And I'm so glad we were able to fit in our mini ski trip, nestled between hosting Christmas, recovering from hosting Christmas, and school/work starting up again. It was a lot of driving for one full day in the mountains, but as always I'm so thankful for James and his willingness to drive us anywhere and the kids for being such good travelers.

And now I'm reunited with the pets and the couch and my much bigger monitors for my work computer. I have thoughts on the New Year and I'll write about them next. But for now, it's off to bed wish good wishes for a Happy 2024 to you all!