We were not planning on leaving until the 27th, but due to the blizzard of '09 we thought we better head out on the 26th. What a mess trying to get out of Tulsa. For the first 3 hours we couldn't go faster than 35 mph. It was absolutely awful. I thought we would never get there, but once we got past Stillwater, it was smooth sailing. Kansas and Colorado sure know how to take care of their roads!
I'm getting ahead of myself. Hannah woke up that morning with a sinus infection and a fever. And we are headed into high altitude. We tried to find an after hours clinic Saturday morning, but because of the snow and ice nothing was open. So, I had the brilliant idea of calling her doctor in Sugar Land and having the doctor call in the prescription to a Walgreens in Wichita. We picked her meds up on the way! She would have two days of antibiotics in her system before she started ski school.
We drove and we drove and we drove and drove. And if you have ever driven that loooong stretch of Highway 70 across Kansas you know what I am talking about. We finally made it to Denver and crashed in a hotel. The next morning when we woke up and looked out of our window we could see the mountains. What a sight!
It was just about an hour drive to Copper Mountain and we were so thankful we split the drive up. I hadn't been skiing since high school. Two things were drastically different. For starters, I don't remember the mountains being so breathtaking. In fact, I'm not even sure if I looked at the mountains as a teenager. Sure, I skied them, but I don't think I actually looked at them. Secondly, it was much more physical on this middle aged woman than on a teenager. I couldn't believe how sore I was.
Daniel was impressed that I could actually remember how to ski. My claim to fame on the trip is that I didn't fall once. Granted, I wasn't a daredevil, but it was like riding a bike. It all came back to me.
The kids did great in ski school. This picture is of the girls on the bunny slope. They rode this little conveyor belt up the hill and then snow-plowed (these days they call it "the wedge") down. Hannah got to go up on the mountain her first day of school. The second day she was skiing blues. Simply amazing! And all without poles. She got her poles the third day which was a big deal to her.
The other two were stuck on that bunny slope so we pulled them out the second afternoon and took them up with us. All they needed was a little prodding. They did great. We were so impressed.
The third day we skied together as a family. I was a little nervous about it, but everyone did great. It is such a surreal feeling to see your 8 year old fly by you on the slopes. Crazy!
It was negative 2 degrees the morning we got up to leave. We stopped back in Tulsa where it was 15 degrees with more snow. As much as I loved being with family, it's nice to be back to 50 degree weather! The kids played outside on their new spark scooters and skateboards and roller skates. One more day of vacation and then back to reality on Tuesday.
It was a great two weeks of family time. My heart is full and happy!
