It’s #BackToSki Week!

September 22, 2014 By

Dog sledding Breck!

Sure, I’m posting about fall this week but I’m dreaming about winter!

My friend Mara from Mother of All Trips asked me to participate in her Back to Ski Week at Pit Stops for Kids.  All this week, we’ll be sharing tips on packing and planning your family’s ski vacation, information about preseason deals, and chances to win great prizes.

She asked me to share my reasons why skiing Breckenridge is a perfect family vacation. Be sure to read about our awesome trip last winter–everything from dog sledding to skiing to shopping.

To learn more, like Back to Ski on Facebook, follow on Twitter, or visit www.backtoski.com and sign up for the email newsletter.

Oh, and don’t forget to#Backtoski – because it can’t snow soon enough!

Filed Under: Colorado, Family travel, travel

Colorado’s breath of fresh air at Alderfer/Three Sisters

September 20, 2014 By

Today was like a breath of fresh air. After our month-long road-trip to Canada in July, I needed a break from traveling and we have become relative homebodies as we’ve fallen into our back-to-school routine with Bode’s soccer, Hadley’s volleyball, me coaching another volleyball team, church activities and poor Jamie working all the time.

Even though we had a busy morning with games, the fall weather was 70-degree perfection and I bribed the kids that they could skip chores if they came to play with me in the mountains that afternoon.

This is also known as being a bigger kid than your kids.

So, while Jamie watched the BYU football game and worked, we headed to the hills. One of our favorite areas to explore is Alderfer/Three Sisters Park in Evergreen, Colo., which is a gorgeous 30-minute drive from our house. Fall colors are beginning to emerge and my gosh if our explorations didn’t make the three of us exuberantly happy. I don’t think we realized how much we needed that adventure until we started doing it.

Though we enjoy hiking the extensive network of trails, what we love most at Alderfer/Three Sisters is bouldering on the steep granite quartz blocks that are piled all around the park.  I’d be lying if it doesn’t make me a bit nervous for safety reasons but today, we achieved summit firsts on various formations and had a blast!! Hadley, as always, was our mountain goat while Bode was initially cautiously adventurous, weighing various drops as “Hmmm, it seems a bit risky.”

And me? I rested from climbing at one point and was just content to watch the kids explore. Until, that is, Hadley accused me of “needing to be more like J.D.’s Grandma.”

Now, normally when someone accuses you of being a grandma, they’re insulting you but she was goading me on to become like J.D.’s hardcore grandma who was a butt-kicker as we climbed the Great Sand Dunes National Parks’ highest peak.

I wanna be just like her in my 70s.

Hadley’s fuzzy picture of one of many mountain bluebirds

We discovered hidden pools in the rocks.  Bode bravely role-played he was on American Ninja Warrior’s Mount Midoriyama as he leaped over crevasses. Hadley squealed at the influx of mountain bluebirds on their namesake trail. We acted out Y-M-C-A as our shadows projected onto our craggy movie screen. The afternoon sky burned blue and gold leaves whispered in the wind as we climbed our granite islands amidst a sea of Ponderosa pine and meadows.

After a couple of hours, Hadley was just getting warmed up and could have explored all day but I tempted them with ice cream and she took the bait for the second time that day (no chores and ice cream?)

Evergreen was bustling with activity and prior to getting our ice cream, we opted to stop into Seasonally Yours Evergreen Taffy Co. and Fresh Fudge for the first time. We spent an hour exploring this colorful, funky and fun shop that had everything from toys to novelty items to candy to the most gorgeous decorations.

After Hadley and Bode devoured birthday cake fudge and pumpkin ice cream, we raced down the serpentine Bear Creek Canyon with windows down, music blasting and the kids’ feet out the window.

Dare I say it was the perfect afternoon?

As we drove into Denver, we passed one of the few places we have yet to explore in Green Mountain. Hadley queried, “Mom, why haven’t we hiked there?”

My heart sang a little more because of her love for the outdoors. It doesn’t matter where I am in the world, if I see a trail all I want to do is climb it.

And today we achieved some incredible summits.

 

Filed Under: Bode, Colorado, Family travel, Hadley, hiking, Humor, outdoors Tagged With: ,

Dreaming the Dream of Living Abroad

August 31, 2014 By

Jamie thinks I’m a lunatic. What else is new, right?

One of my lifelong dreams is to live abroad with my family. It stems from the fact that I lived in the same house my entire life and always dreamed of experiencing new cultures. And by experiencing, I don’t mean visiting, I mean living there.

Many years ago, I shared this dream with my Utah-born-and-raised missionary companion when we served together in Switzerland. She thought I was nuts, too.

And then she married a diplomat and has lived abroad with her family most of her married life.

I love almost everything about where we live in Colorado: Our home, family, schools, friends, church community and fabulous mountains. I don’t want to permanently leave and we have a truly blessed life so why rock the boat?

I guess I just want more for my kids. I want them to see beyond the confines of their social circles to live in a different culture and be exposed to a different way of life–the good and the bad.

There are many in the family-travel-blogging space who are permanent nomads, homeschooling their kids as they travel the world.  That is way too extreme for my blood but a semester- or year-long sabbatical would be food for my soul.

My fire was stoked when two fellow LDS bloggers uprooted their families: Design Mom spent a couple of years in France with her six kids and recently, Shawni from 71 Toes announced she was moving her family of five to China for a semester.

I am greeeeeen with envy.

Design Mom was able to swing it because she and her husband both work from home and like Jamie and me, all they needed was a Wi-Fi connection and could work anywhere in the world. In Shawni’s case, her husband has dealings with China and he will be working from their Shanghai office. In today’s world where so many are working remotely, it’s a wonder that more people aren’t uprooting themselves.

Another reason why I’m newly obsessed with investigating living-abroad options: my kids are perfect ages. Hadley is in fifth grade and Bode is in third. Next year would be the perfect time to go before she starts middle school and we become inundated with sports, camps, YW/YM, hormones and summer jobs.

On my wish list?  Europe (especially England, France, Switzerland or Scandinavian countries with access to international/English-speaking schools) or Hawaii (not exactly foreign but the culture is so gloriously rich).  Asia is an intimidating pipe dream. New Zealand/Australia would be amazing but their schools and holidays are on a completely different track.

So like the lunatic I am, I’ve been trolling all the house swap/house sabbatical/house sitting sites while also dreaming of house sitting for a senior LDS couple who lives abroad that have been called on a mission.

It will likely never happen, mostly because I have a husband who thinks this is just another one of my hairbrained ideas.

But a girl can dream, right?

Filed Under: Family travel, Favorite Posts, travel

St. Mary’s Glacier: On top of the world!

August 29, 2014 By

Hiking St. Mary’s Glacier has been a tradition in our family since I moved to Colorado almost 12 years ago. But this year was my favorite yet because we pushed the boundaries and went higher than ever before.

And because we didn’t run over Hadley’s foot with the car. Or have our friend’s daughter get sick and then their car wouldn’t start.

In June, we went on weekly hikes with our hiking group but July was a lot of boating and hanging out with grandparents, which means both my kids are out of shape. Though St. Mary’s Glacier is only about 1 mile to the base of the glacier, it is a steepish, rocky mile through a high subalpine forest and the 10,000+-feet elevation can sometimes be problematic. Bode got an altitude headache early on but recovered fairly quickly. His whining about his tired legs was another matter.

Hadley started out slower than usual, “wow, I really am out of shape!” but quickly regained her strength and was blazing up the trail as usual. She has been begging to climb to the top of the glacier for years (a slippery, steep, arduous climb) and we’ve been putting her off because we knew Bode wouldn’t make it. I figured this year would be no different so we took our usual pictures at the base of the glacier.

But then something amazing happened. Hadley and I started climbing on the glacier, followed by Jamie and a reluctant Bode. And they didn’t stop!

The base of the glacier is bottle-necked with crowds but as we hiked the masses cleared and we had that entire river of ice to ourselves.

Looking down.

It was awe-inspiring as we snaked our way up one of the largest moving objects on earth. Bode and I had a blast holding each other as we slid down, shouting “1, 2, SLIIIIDE!”

Hadley reached the top of the glacier first and upon finding a trail announced she was going to keep going. Climbing the glacier was one thing; continuing higher to the Continental Divide Trail was another. I instructed her to only go as far as the next ridge because there was no way we would convince Bode to go higher.

But that day, we went just high enough. How proud I am of my little clan.

Filed Under: Bode, Colorado, Family, Family travel, Hadley, hiking, outdoors, travel Tagged With:

My own private Idaho

August 27, 2014 By

Idaho isn’t exactly on most people’s bucket list for beauty.

Sure, there are pretty areas. Sandpoint and Coeur d’Alene in Northern Idaho stun. I went to Rick College (now BYU Idaho) and though Rexburg was nothing to write home about (read: not scenic), it is surrounded by beautiful forests and sand dunes. Sun Valley’s Sawtooths are world famous and my gosh, if I’m not dying to get back to resort town McCall after a quick drive-through several years ago.

But I’ve had an abiding opinion that southern Idaho is downright ugly and when you’re driving I-84, it really is. Until you venture off the freeway.

Boise

Following a loooong drive from British Columbia (complete with flying, suicidal cows), we spent the night in Boise with my former mission companion, Katie, and her darling girls. Katie and I have history–we strolled the streets of a charming Suisse village together and that bonds you for life.
She hasn’t changed a bit, unless you count her new sassy “I’m 40 and don’t care what people of think of me/love it or leave it” attitude. I loved it.

The kids had a blast at Ice Cream Allie (the coolest ice cream/candy shop ever) and playing in the Boise River,

and then Bode thought he’d died and gone to heaven when she took us to an ’80s arcade, Grinkers Grand Palace.

I was pretty stoked, too until I played one of my old favorites Q*bert and realized my gaming days are far, far behind me.

Twin Falls

Facebook can be a beautiful thing and one of the swell things about it is reconnecting with old friends. Jenny and I were roommates at Ricks my sophomore year and her freshman year. She was fiercely independent, a clean freak and there was no way she was marrying young like so many of those silly Ricks College girls.

Which is why I was delighted when she met her awesome husband Travis and was married within the year.

Now she has 9 wild and crazy kids so those days of OCD cleanliness are over. But one thing she is now is FUN and we had a blast exploring Twin Falls.

I was blown away by the beauty of Snake River Canyon, which resembled a tropical rain forest more than the barren wasteland you see on the freeway.

My kids have only kayaked once by themselves. Each had separate freakouts, worked through them and eventually beat us all back to the docks.

And then we hiked…lo, did we hike. I used to think we were outdoorsy but then her family reduced us to mere city folk as we scrambled over boulders, needed a machete to cut the trail and skirted around poison oak.

But who would have thought such gorgeousness was found here?! And yep, that’s blood streaming down Hadley’s leg but her little tumble didn’t slow her down one bit.

That night after dinner and swimming in the Snake River, I unleashed our Canadian candy on them.

I think the treats were a hit judging from the way her 10-year-old twin boys stuffed them in their pockets.

Early the next morning, Jenny and I sneaked out at dawn for another kayaking adventure. The Snake River was a ribbon of turquoise that cut through deep tropical green cliffs as waterfalls gushed around every bend–a dizzying array of diversity.

Beckoning waterfalls in the distance

Southern Idaho, I misjudged you. Let’s definitely be friends because I certainly have two wonderful ones who made me fall in love with you.

Filed Under: Family travel, travel

When cows fly

August 21, 2014 By

When you embark upon a 3,000-mile road-trip, you expect the unexpected. Except for when the unexpected turns really unexpected.

Following our week-long family reunion in Vernon, B.C., the kids and I dropped Jamie off at the Kelowna airport to fly back to Denver while we continued on our vacation. We had an 11-hour drive to Boise, Idaho where we stayed with my former LDS mission companion, Katie. This was to be the longest drive yet. Many parts of Washington are gorgeous; central Washington and Northern Oregon are not.  A stretch on Highway 17 after Dry Falls State Park was particularly tedious and I couldn’t wait to race through…until we ran into a huge traffic jam. Cars were making U-turns and a few people informed us there was some kind of rock slide that resulted in the closure of the small highway.

My phone’s GPS didn’t work (remember, we were in the middle of nowhere?) so I pulled off the side of the road to ask the State Trooper when they planned to reopen.

“No idea,” he replied.

“No idea? I thought there was a rock slide and I see crews out there working.”

“It’s not just a rock slide. There is a huge wildfire on top of those cliffs. Cows are getting backed up on the edge and are either jumping or falling off. The falling rocks you see are when they hit the side of the mountain.”

I stared at him in disbelief. Could this really be happening–jumping cows? As I stood there for a few moments, I saw it: a cow doing several backflips in the air.

I felt physically ill. Like everyone, I’ve seen my share of dead animals and road kill but have never actually seen anything die. It gave me a small glimpse at how horrifying 9/11 must have been to see people jumping from the buildings.

I walked back to the car, unsure how to deliver the news to Hadley and Bode. I gave it to them straight.  They were as incredulous as me but morbidly fascinated and started peppering me with a gazillion questions.

We ended up doing a huge detour on a back road, got lost for a time and eventually made our way back on another freeway, adding an extra 1.5 hours to an already long day.

A friend later sent me a legitimate road sign of exactly what we had witnessed.

Who knew suicidal cows was a thing?

For lunch, we opted for Subway instead of hamburgers.

It was our way of honoring the poor, ground beef.

 

 

Filed Under: Family travel, travel

Okanagan Lake: A season to soar

August 8, 2014 By

‘Twas an awesome week-long family reunion at Okanagan Lake in British Columbia where we:

Learned to wakeboard

Walked on water

Birthday partied

What else was there left to do? Turns out, plenty! When we weren’t boating, swimming and kayaking, we:

Caught plenty ‘o fish off the docks.


Played a lot of Rook, Scum and inhaled Jane’s delicious cooking (we’re not talking sub-par food, either. We’re talking a menu that included grilled tenderloin, Eggs Benedict, pina colada chicken burgers and smoked pork tacos).


And the woman even hand-delivered Screamers in her “spare” time when she wasn’t busy cooking and teaching everyone to wakeboard and surf.

We also:

Had campfires on the beach,


Spent hours building sand castles…

Mothering from my hammock

Or rather, sand toilets which are so much more practical.

We brought our volleyball net. My brothers and I were all MVPs of our high school teams and what started as our Return to Glory Tournament…
…ended with the one-bounce rule.

There was plenty of time for just hanging and chilling out.

Superhero cousins

Is it just me or does The Pumpkin Man glow orange?

We visited charming Davison Orchard Country Village where the six cousins posed for cheesy family tree photos.

Touched the sky.Toured the beautiful orchards on a “Johnny Popper Apple Train,” sitting in authentic apple bins as we were pulled by an antique John Deere Tractor.

And we bought jams, syrups, fudge, cobbler, fruit and lots of pies from the Country Market.

Aunt Sue and her pies

We had plenty of cousin time and on the last day, I asked cousin Connor (the blonde in the middle) if he had a good vacation.

“I’m glad I don’t have sisters” was his only reply.

Of course, a family reunion isn’t complete without family photos. Do you know those people who color coordinate and micro-manage every last detail of their perfect pictures? We are not those people. We were unshowered. Unmatching. Unclothed.

Grandkids

The menfolk

The “winners” of the unshowered club

And I wouldn’t have them any other way.Thanks to my awesome family for letting us soar with them this summer.

Filed Under: Canada, Family, Family travel, Humor, travel

Vernon, British Columbia: A week walking on water

August 5, 2014 By

My entire family hasn’t been together since our glorious trip to the Outer Banks four years ago (how could you forget our poetic and HILARIOUS crabbing by moonlight adventures)?

My brother Pat and his family are big boaters, have top-of-the-line everything and are so generous with their time and expertise with our family of newbies. The kids and I joined them in their lake house in Vernon, British Columbia for the second year in a row. New this year were Jamie, my brother Jade and his boys. It was surely a week to remember.

Though I’m just trying to forgot those 100+-degree temperatures. Remember how I like to spend July in Canada to cool down?

Regardless, if you’re going to have searing heat, 135-km-long Okanagan Lake is a good place to be and what a fun week we had full of crazy adventures.

Of course, there was the boating where the kids tubed, kneeboarded and my sister-in-law Jane taught them to wakeboard while she tutored Jamie and me in surfing. We spent oodles of time on the boat cheering everyone on as we marveled at my family of experts…

Wakeboarding Hadley

Pat clearing the wake

My bro Jade and his boys

Perfect views, perfect day while getting her wakeboard on

Meet the parents

Sisters

The pumpkin man and me

Boat babe

Nerves before wakeboarding

With my technicolor nieces

I love boating over to the West Side where the water is calmer and the views prettier. We jumped overboard and splashed, played, dunked each other off the tube and competed. Least memorable was Jade’s “crack dive” (just say ‘no’ to crack; I’ll leave that up to your imagination).

Even more disconcerting was Jamie’s initiation into the family dive-off. I had high hopes for him. He’s the strongest swimmer in our family and I just knew he could dethrone Pat and my niece Ashton for being able to dive the longest and furthest.

Oh, how quickly my hopes came crashing down.

I’m not sure what happened. We counted down and everyone did their sleek missile dives into the lake. Everyone except my dear husband who unceremoniously plopped into the lake. Sadly, my brother Pat was once again crowned king of the dive-off.

Jamie represented himself in his defense case. “I was pushed!” he accused and I believed him. Until I reviewed the photographic evidence. He is on the left in front of cousin Connor and there was no physical contact in the previous photos.

There was only a man who apparently slipped and entered the water looking like a prissy school girl skipping to school.

Better luck next year, Honey, and remember: say “no” to crack.

Stay tuned next time for more Vernon adventures!

 

 

 

Filed Under: Bode, Canada, Family travel, Hadley, Humor, Jamie

A day to remember at Okanagan Lake

August 4, 2014 By

We’re coming off a week-long boating vacation with my family in Vernon, B.C. I’ll have many more details to come but it was on our second day I was so darn proud of my kiddos. They’ve never tried wakeboarding and have had a strange/unhealthy fear of it, which is surprising given how many adventures they’ve been on and what stellar alpine skiers they are.

But all the grandkids were given the same edict: you need to try at least three times. If you don’t want to do it after that, fine. But you need to at least try.

My sister-in-law Jane is the perfect teacher. Not only is she patient but she gets down in the water with them and walks them through every step.

Eleven-year-old Connor was first. An excellent athletic and superb hockey player (his team is nationally-ranked), it was no surprise to anyone when he popped up and boarded around the lake.

Next came darling 6-year-old Naomi who got up..and then down a few times, an awesome effort given how little her legs are.

My brother Jade’s son Jaxson had us laughing the most. Extremely cautious, he kept babbling to Jane over and over again “do you know how dangerous this is?”

Cousin Jaxson, the epitome of cool

Yep, how can you tell and Bode are related?

With each passing kid, we could see Hadley increasingly freaking out on the dock. “Get her on the board now,” Jamie called out. When she gets worked up about something, it takes her a long time to talk her down.

She dragged herself over to cousin Emily who set her up on the wakeboard and over to Jane.  After a few minutes of instruction, she yelled “hit it.” At first, Hadley’s expression was panic but within a couple of seconds, she popped up and was cruising around the lake. She was the only one who was surprised–I absolutely knew she could do it. By her second run, she was already carving back and forth and begged to go again after all the kids had their turn.

Wakeboarding Hadley

Bode was next. He was surprisingly nonchalant on the dock and started to look worried when he went in the water with Aunt Jane. His first attempt was a flop (literally) and that was when he got scared, realizing it was tougher than he had thought to get up. Then he had another failed attempt. By now, he was scared. Tears started flowing down his cheeks as Jane soothingly talked him through his final attempt. “This is it,” I thought. “He’s so freaked out there is no way he’ll be able to do it.”

But gosh darn if he didn’t muster every ounce of determination that he had in that little body. As the boat started to drag him, he leaned forward and fought, fought, fought his way up, almost falling several times but eventually regaining his balance and was standing. He proceeded to wakeboard for several miles until my brother called out to him that it was OK to let go of the rope. :-)

Bode fighting to get up

I’m telling you I’ve never been more proud of him. I want him to always remember this day. How he tried something hard, something he never thought that he could do. How he worked through his tears, conquered his fears and literally floated on water.

That day was one to remember.

Filed Under: Bode, Canada, Family, Family travel, Hadley

Calgary: My Home and Native Land

August 1, 2014 By

Bode and I have just returned from a 3,000-mile roadtrip that covered two countries and 8 states–and that’s not including the 4-day jaunt I did out to California for BlogHer while the kids stayed behind with Grandma in Salt Lake City.

Can you say whirlwind?

What made this trip particularly taxing was Jamie usually drives at least one leg of it with me but he flew in and out of Vernon, B.C. to save time so that meant I spent 50+ hours driving with the kids.

Hadley is staying in Utah for another week with Grandma and they’ll all be driving out here next week for Bode’s baptism and then school starts the following week.

Can you say whirlwind? (Sensing a theme here?)

We had a great time in my hometown Calgary and I only wish we could have stayed longer. For six blissful days, we played in the mud pits, played and biked in Fish Creek Provincial Park, terrorized the neighborhood on the golf carts and raided the Bulk Barn’s 4,000 bulk products. My mom was generous and let the kids have at it and she paid for a lot of food.

Me: “I can’t believe we spent almost $100 in candy!”

Cousin Connor: “Is that so wrong?”

For my mom’s birthday, she requested we go to Peter’s Drive-in, an iconic eatery infamous for their shakes.

Hadley, Bode, Jaxson, Connor and Grandma

One of the reasons we go to Calgary in early-July is so we can hit the Calgary Stampede. This ten-day event bills itself as “The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth” and features one of the world’s largest rodeos, a parade, midway, stage shows, concerts, agricultural competitions, chuckwagon racing and First Nations exhibitions.

The entire city comes to life. Everyone dresses western, parties and there are literally hundreds of free stampede pancake breakfasts setup in parking lots all over the city (SCORE!) For the third year in a row, my friend Stacey and I volunteered serving dinner at the Stampede Roundup.

My sister-in-law Jane’s family was visiting from Washington so we had to hit the midway and finally quit 11 hours later.
Stampede is alllll about the food. While we opted out of the popular scorpion pizza (ewww!) we ate a lot of tasty fare.
How do you say red velvet mini doughnuts covered in cream cheese in Calgarian?  You say OHHHHH YEAH.

I wish we could have stayed in Calgary for a month but our next stop was Vernon, British Columbia. Located in the heart of the Okanagan Valley, this bread basket of Western Canada has hundreds of orchards, fruit stands and glorious lakes. I drove it for the first time in years last summer and I had not realized we needed to go through infamous Banff National Park to get there. This year, I resolved to make at least one detour to glacially-fed Moraine Lake nestled in the Valley of Ten Peaks.

Since we had a long drive, my only intention was to hop out, take a few pictures with the kids and be on our way.

Like that is going to happen in one of the most beautiful places on earth.

“We have to hike up the Rock Pile,” Hadley insisted, pointing to the popular interpretive trail leading up, up, up.

And how those views were worth it.

My new favorite picture

An hour later, we dragged ourselves away, vowing to spend some quality time in this stupendous place next summer.

Gotta tell you, sometimes I miss the Motherland so much it hurts.

Filed Under: Canada, Family travel, Humor, travel
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »