Internet! I’m so proud of us – we tackled a roadtrip AND skiing with our offspring successfully!

Spring break 2019 is in the books and a GREAT time was had by (pretty much) all. I’m not going to lie – my anxiety was elevated a bit as we drove off into the sunset last Friday towards Colorado.  Just what were we doing? We’re warm weather people – heck, we’ve gone on a cruise for the past six years! And let us not mention how Archer was a notoriously bad car rider for the first half of his life, and I didn’t honestly know how this was going to go down. But! Simon and I were both shocked and delighted that both boys were a total joy for almost the entire trip. At eleven hours one way from OKC to Crested Butte, it’s not exactly an easy drive, but we broke it up into a couple of days both ways.

On Friday night, we met up in Walsenburg, CO with all of our Carlton Landing buddies who we were tagging along with. And then bright & early on Saturday, we filled up on breakfast and headed north to Crested Butte, the cutest little town you ever did see.  The amount of snow was insane – literally up to the eaves of the houses in town. And the town itself is absolutely darling. Imagine the cutest little houses dotted along the road, with local restaurants and shops aplenty.

Our friends like to stay at the Elevation Hotel at the base of the mountain. It was literally steps to the ski lifts, and we had a ginormous room with full kitchen. It felt less like a hotel and more like condos – pretty casual and easygoing overall.  There’s plenty of ski shops within steps of the slopes so you can rent (and store) all your gear.

And O M G the gear. SO. MUCH. STUFF.

SKI SCHOOL

All four of us Shingletons were enrolled in ski school on the first day. Three out of four of us cried. And one of us went on to Olympic glory and fully realized his skiing potential. I’ll let you decide who was who – haha.

Every night, we rode the free bus into town for dinner with our friends – one night, we had 28 Carlton Landing friends all together at one big table!

By the end of the week, we all found our skiing mojo – my favorite memories were holding hands with Archer while we went up the magic carpet and snow-plowed down the little incline. And I loved seeing Jude fly down the mountain with his best friend and Simon.  Internet, I’ll be honest – I’m totally a timid skiier and I am more than happy take it wayyyyyy slow. But it really was a beautiful place to be.

Don’t we look like stylish ski bunnies here –  hahahahahahaha.  The weather was almost too warm – and we were all stripping down layers like crazy.

Finally it was time to pack up and head back home to OKC. We ended up driving to Santa Fe by way of Taos with our friends, so we could explore the town and break up the long drive home.

I hadn’t been to Santa Fe since I was 13 or 14 — and it looked much more enticing to me as a grown-up than it did back then. So many cute shops, restaurants, and art galleries — and no wonder I didn’t really like it when I was a tween. It’s not much of a kid town. We stayed at a pretty little resort and then? At 1:30am, Jude woke me up vomiting.

And the poor thing yakked all night long. Saturday morning, I ran to the pharmacy for supplies of ziploc bags, trash bags, wipes, and Imodium and I prayed hard that we’d make it home either (1) before the rest of us came down with it and (2) without thoroughly ruining the car.  I’m happy to say that we hauled the mail all the way home to OKC with little incidents and we have all never been so happy to sleep in our own beds as we did that night.

Good memories, and above all, a fantastic time spent with dear friends.  I’m grateful for a group of like-minded friends who are parenting their precious kiddos in much the same way that we are. It’s so nice to have that community for support and love.