Weekend Getaway

After a lot of planning, some agonizing over finances, some stress with finding sitters for the kids, and a lot of excitement, Eric and I made arrangements to join his siblings with their spouses for a weekend getaway. It was a surprise for Eric's mom for her 70th birthday!

We were the first ones to arrive at the Denver airport on Friday, and it was so fun seeing everyone else who flew in as they arrived. Eric's mom was definitely surprised, and she even got a little teary at the sight of her "babies" waiting for her. We went to dinner together that night and then traveled to a huge cabin in Dillon, Colorado where we would stay for the weekend.

Saturday was nice and relaxing. We woke up to a very quiet house, chatted in our pajamas over breakfast, and ate lots of caramel popcorn and candy. In the afternoon when the rest of our party arrived we went to a little restaurant in Frisco all together. Then some of us went back to the cabin to watch football, while the rest of us piled into Eric's sister's suburban to check out Breckenridge and go shopping. We ate gourmet cookies, looked at fabric and quilts, checked out some clothing shops, and enjoyed the beauty of fall in the mountains.


Saturday evening was the highlight of the weekend. We watched a slideshow of pictures Eric's sisters had put together, along with letters the kids had written to their mom when they were little, and we laughed and laughed at childhood memories and stories. There were also tears shed as children recounted special moments with mom. It was wonderful--one of those few-and-far-between experiences. We were so glad we were there.

Sunday some of us had to take off in the morning.


Eric and I went to Church and then came back to chat with everyone else before the rest of us headed out.


Just as we were the first ones to arrive, we ended up being the last ones to leave. Our flight was three hours after most of the others, so we took our time driving back into Denver. We stopped at some scenic views on our way, saw a nature reserve museum and Buffalo Bill's gravesite.




I think my favorite part of the trip, besides Saturday night, was getting to do this:


Even though I was uncomfortable on the airplane, and had a really hard time sleeping that weekend, I was happy to have the chance to just sit next to Eric and hold his hand, or lay my head on his shoulder. Instead of trying to keep my kids from kicking the seat in front of them, quiet them down during a tantrum, or be in and out of the lavatory with them the whole flight, it was great to just sit and read while enjoying my chocolate chip cookie. (Isn't that the best snack? We were pretty impressed with Frontier Airlines.)

We didn't get home until almost 2:00 am Sunday night/Monday morning, but we were happy to get up so we could go see our kids! It's nice to have time away so you realize how much you love them and how huge a part of your life they are. When we walked in the door at our friends' house, Jolie was waiting and ran up to us and hugged us. Then Mierae saw us from downstairs and smiled a huge smile, ran to us and hugged us. They had such a great weekend with all of the four families who watched them. Even though they were happy to see us, they didn't want to leave! We tried to smooth things over by taking them out for donuts before we had to get them to a dermatologist appointment that morning. That cheered them up. :)

Eric and I are still trying to recover from the weekend. Yesterday I fell asleep and was late picking up Jolie from preschool! And last night I fell asleep on the couch after our long bout with Mierae about going to bed, and sweet Eric put some foam on the floor to make a bed so he could sleep next to me.

We're happy to be back in the routine with the kids, and even though we're back to bedtime fights and grumpy mornings getting off to school, we're so happy with the life and family we have. Eric's mom said on our last day together, "this is what having joy in your posterity is."

Family is everything.