Pagosa Springs Part 3

After skiing we split up. Jeff went to the grocery store, Joe kindly watched Harrison (while he slept), and Tosha and I took the big boys over to the resort's pool. I was surprised that they were still awake after such a big day, but they were and so off we went! It turned out that it was really lucky that we were there (esp. Tosha). There was only one other lady there. We chatted a little with her and when she got up to get out of the hot tub she passed out, hitting her head on the concrete. Tosha took good care of her, including playing ambulance driver and getting her to the hospital for stitches. When we got home Jackson said, "Mom! We helped two people since we left Oklahoma."

The next day we took it easy around the house in the morning, building snowmen in the backyard and wearing pjs all morning. Jeff took the kids to play mini golf in the snow and Tosha and I got our hair done. In the evening we went to check out the hot springs and had a great time walking round exploring the town and feeling how warm each spring was.

The next morning all of the boys got ready to hit the slopes again. Just as they were loaded up Jackson threw up all over the van (sound familiar?). After a quick clean up we decided it must have just been the excitement andd sent them on their way. Tosha and I were going to play racquetball and find other things to do, but just a Harrison fell asleep we got the call that Jackson had thrown up again and needed to be rescued. Tosha was kind enough to drive out and get him and helped me take care of him all day. Poor guy is still miserable.

Lincoln took another half day of lessons, with the instructor all to himself and did fantastic. He finished out the day with Jeff and Joe on the green and easy blue slopes. I've heard there is a great video... maybe I'll post that when I've found the video camera. For now, I've got plenty of unpacking, van cleaning and mothering to do!

Pagosa Springs Part 2

I've been reprimanded for leaving out Lincoln's famous quote from our Peyu cliff dwellings adventure. As we were walking up the path he looked down and remarked, "Look! Indian poop!" The tour guide thought it was hilarious and said she might have to use that line.

We made it into town and were so excited to see the snow on the ground. The boys had a snowball fight with uncle Joe as quickly as they could get their gear on. We spent the rest of the day getting settled and ready for skiing the next day.

I had only been once before (without much success), so I signed up for lessons. I spent the morning in a group lesson, which ended up being me and one other guy, who left early to ski with his wife. Tosha worked on her snowboarding skills, Lincoln and Jackson went to ski school and Jeff and Joe hit the slopes. Harrison stayed with a local daycare lady (who was fantastic). I gained some confidence by lunch time and was picking up some speed, but then fell a few times and wimped out. Tosha and I both had sore legs and rested for an hour until the kids were done with school and headed out to get Harrison. The boys both LOVED skiing and were so excited to go back and do it again. After we left Jeff took a crazy tumble (according to Joe he goes really fast) end over end with skis and poles flying everywhere. He is still pretty sore on his rib cage where the video camera in his pocket hit, but it didn't keep him from going back for a second day!

Pagosa Springs Part 1 - The Journey

Tuesday we picked the kids up from school about an hour early and began our journey toward Pagosa Springs, CO. Armed with a couple of Leapsters and a Scooby Doo movie, the kids were great and we had a fairly uneventful drive. We did pick up one man who had run out of gas along the way and dropped him at the next gas station (poor man, he was in the middle of nowhere!). Joe and Tosha traveled with us and we met up along the way. We laughed at how different the timing was on our GPS versus theirs and figured out that there was a time change involved and the factor that the milage was just until our next turn, not the complete mileage. As we patted ourselves on the back for a great day of travel, we pulled into a hotel in Santa Fe, NM. Jeff went in to get us checked in and Jackson woke up. He mumbled sleepily, "mom, I'm wet."

I heard a cough from the back of the van and Jackson looked at me again, completely relaxed, and said, "Lincoln throwed up."

Harrison awoke and let us know that he wanted some attention too. In a matter of one minute our awesome trip had just turned ugly.

We got everyone to the room where I worked to clean everyone up. They were all in surprisingly good spirits considering their states. The big boys had a shower and I took care of Harrison while the rest of the adults cleaned up the van and it's contents. (He managed to get pretty much all of the luggage, etc. What a mess!).

The next morning I was so excited to be in Santa Fe. I had heard that it was a really neat city and very artsy. We only had a three hour drive to get to our destination, so I wanted to spend some time seeing the area. Jeff wasn't very excited about it, but was sweet and amused me. We drove around the downtown area and I'm so glad we did. I'd love to go back and really spend some time there some day. As we made our way north I realized how close we were to Los Alamos where my brother had lived a few years ago. I remembered seeing pictures of cliff dwellings that he had visited and went about finding a way to go and see them as well. It took a lot of work getting past everyone else's grumblings, but I'm so glad we went! We ended up at a different version of the dwellings because we found a closer one to our path. We were able to walk up and see the carvings in the rocks, climb the tall ladders and stretch our legs. It was a lovely day and we had the guided tour all to ourselves. It was one of my favorite parts of our whole trip!