Why you should totally feel sorry for Bode

November 19, 2012 By

Bode is pretty darn delightful these days–he is always humming or singing a song he’s learning in music class and is a happy kid. I’m convinced kindergarten/grade 1 are about the best years ever of a kid’s life. You’re old enough to really do things for yourself yet young enough to not shoulder the responsibility of any real demands or homework.

Unless you’re Bode who begs me to make up homework for him. (While I can’t force Haddie to do hers).

And of course, there is play. After a brief hiatus from sleepovers (likely recovering from the previous ones) Jamie’s sister Lisa generously offered to host each of the kids on their very own sleepover. Haddie’s was a few weeks ago and Bode has been chomping at the bit for his turn. The problem is, our travel schedule will be starting to heat up with some pretty epic trips.

Bode’s uphill climb

Last week, Lisa sent this email:

Would Bode like to come over for a sleepover on Friday?  Let me know.

Jamie’s response:

Bode I know would love to come over for a sleepover.  He has a B-day party on that Saturday at 11:30 a.m. that he needs to go to.  Will that be a problem?  Other than this Friday Bode is booked until mid-December.  It is hard to be the Bode.  So very hard.

 

 

Filed Under: Bode, Family, Humor, Jamie

One prayer I REALLY want answered

November 16, 2012 By

Today is the most dreaded day of the year. Not because I’m getting sick but due to the kids’ annual physical. I’ve never been one who is afraid of doctors or shots but in the last few years, Hadley has developed a paralyzing fear of needles.

Actually, a fear that resulted in paralysis would not be a bad thing thing compared to her violent reaction.

I bribed offered a reward to both of the kids if they were brave and strong: a large gingerbread shake from Burger King!

Her nightly prayer summed it up best:

“Please bless me that I won’t be scared when I see the doctor. And that my shot won’t hurt too much. Oh, and that two nurses and Mommy won’t need to hold me down this time to get it.”

AMEN.

Hadley before her fear of needles & when food bribery still worked

 

Filed Under: Hadley

Loews Coronado Bay Resort Loves Kids (and me!)

November 15, 2012 By

Confession: when I was invited on a recent trip to Loews Coronado Bay Resort, I had never heard of Loews and figured the hotel must cater to business-folk. Then I saw their “Loews Loves Kids” program, their expansive deck area with three pools (one of them just for kids), ping pong, humungous Connect Four game and over-sized chess board. For the first time in my life (cough), I was wrong.

Check-out all the fun and more confessionals at Travel Mamas today!

Filed Under: Family travel, travel

The Pumpkin Murderer

November 14, 2012 By

The pumpkin season ain’t over until the Fat Lady sings. Or rather, The Pumpkin Man takes a shovel to dismantle The Great Pumpkin.

We usually destroy it shortly after Halloween but Jamie has had some health problems lately and hasn’t been up to the task. And really, there was no rush. Usually the pumpkin is oozing down the driveway rotting out because he cuts it off the vine late-September. But Christine the Pumpkin held together marvelously well and only started decomposing this week. It was time.

That’s a nice way of saying the wife was going to start nagging him very soon.We invited Jamie’s brother over and first fattened him up with Chicken Tikka Masala  (think cannibalistic witch strategy in Hansel and Gretel). He and Jamie then annihilated the pumpkin, loaded it in his truck and hauled it over to the pumpkin patch to compost. Allegedly. For all I know they could have made it into a delicious, rotting 837-pound pumpkin pie.

Just so long as there weren’t any children inside.

Filed Under: Humor, Jamie, pumpkins

Berry Patch Farms: A Glimpse of the Simple Life

November 13, 2012 By

A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to accompany Haddie’s class on yet another field trip…this time to the Berry Patch Farms in Brighton. I’m convinced I’m the only person in Colorado who had yet to visit this 40-acre working farm.

Popular in the summer months for its abundance of pick-it-yourself currants, raspberries and strawberries, their certified organic farm’s market is infamous for their abundance of just-picked produce. They also sell their own honey and eggs as well as grass-fed beef and naturally-raised chicken from the neighbors. Their fresh fruit pies are allegedly drool-worthy.

We were one of the final school groups to come through because they’ll only be open on Saturdays through the winter. Now that the growing season is over, I wondered what on earth we would do there.

Turns out, there was plenty. We learned about honey-making and toured the hives. We made gourd necklaces. We went on a hay ride and played in the hay maze.

I shared the story of my childhood when I was at my Grandpa Wilde’s farm playing on the two-story high stack of hay bales. As we raced around, I stepped on what appeared to be an overlay of hay between bales but it was only a false shelf. I shot straight down a chute, trapped between those claustrophobic bales of hay.

I remember my brothers screaming I had fallen and my mother running around like a lunatic trying to find me, only to discover I was deeply submerged IN the heart of them.
Hadley and her friends were properly horrified.

And just when I thought pumpkin season was over, we gathered in a barn and watched the 20-minute video, The Pumpkin Circle, that followed the lifespan of (you guessed it) a pumpkin. The kids were then allowed to pick out their very own pumpkin to take home!

Pumpkins. BECAUSE I NEED MORE OF THOSE.

Regardless, we had a lovely time. Both of my grandparents were farmers and I harbor the romantic notion of moving out to a mountain ranch in the middle of nowhere. Where the kids can roam free and our days would be spent caring for animals, harvesting our huge garden, learning mother nature’s never-ending lessons on the trails and teaching them in the ways they learn best (that don’t include an endless barrage of worksheets and drills). Though I’ve only ever lived in the city, suburbia sometimes suffocates me–hence my almost-daily escapes to the mountains.

Then I woke up and we went home.

“I wonder if anyone else has an ear so tuned and sharpened as I have, to detect the music, not of the spheres, but of earth, subtleties of major and minor chords that the wind strikes upon the tree branches. Have you ever heard the earth breathe?” -Kate Chopin

That day at Berry Patch Farms, we all did.

Filed Under: Colorado, Family travel, Hadley, Humor, pumpkins

Mickey and Snowmamas Do Dallas in a Memorable Conference!

November 12, 2012 By

I’m back after a whirlwind four-day trip to Dallas and I’ll admit I haven’t been a big fan of Texas. I remember the first Texan I ever met: Amy Lemon. It was our freshman year of college and she was a loud-talking, big-haired, uproarious gal who boasted about Texas at every turn.

“What makes it so great?” I finally asked. “Do you have amazing beaches? The mountains? World-class destinations?” I then proceeded to expound upon the many virtues of the Motherland.

“Naw,” she said finally said. “It’s great because it is TEXAS!”

That was my first lesson that Texans are not lacking in confidence.

I’ve been to Texas a couple of previous times. We got stuck in Dallas en route home from our Costa Rican honeymoon because there was 0.00000003-inch of snow and the entire city shut down. Following a cruise, we over nighted in Houston and the humidity about killed me.

Suffice to to say, Texas has not been on my must-visit list.

My latest stay was by far my best and I caught a glimpse of why not to mess with Texas. I fell in love with our accommodations at the luxurious Omni Hotel. I was in a group fortunate enough to tour the Presidential Suite and most impressive to me was the bathroom. So, why this picture? Because the bathroom was completely ensconced with floor-to-ceiling windows, allowing a killer view.

Apparently presidential types like to let it all hang out.

I also learned a lot about producing videos at the Family Travel Conference. I met a lot of great bloggers and event sponsors that included Disney (I’m now obsessed with their Adventures by Disney Guided Vacations). These are my beloved Denver blogging friends connecting with Mickey in Dallas. It was all a bit confusing.

Park City Mountain Resort’s Snowmamas sponsored a breakfast and PR ace Krista asked each of us to take a few minutes to share a magical moment we’ve had at PCMR. I enthusiastically shared a condensed version of From Injury-faker to Superstar: How Bode Got His Groove Back, during which time one of the attendees tweeted:

For the Twitter-challenged, @TheMileHighMama is my Twitter ID. And yep, being known as The Mile High Mama has been really swell now that Colorado has legalized marijuana.

And what would a Snowmama event be like without snow?

It should be noted the snow totals in the Omni ballroom exceeded those of when my plane was grounded in Dallas.

As I was driving home from the airport later that day, I realized I was ravenous because I had skipped lunch. I have been craving Burger King’s gingerbread shake so I grabbed one. I was tempted to polish it off but opted to wait and share it with the kids.

Upon entering the door, I was greeted with my loving family who jumped out to surprise me, an immaculate home, beautiful flowers and delicious dinner. I handed over my shake and within moments, the kids were hogtying each other for it.

Nothin’ like bringing a bit of Texas home to Denver.

Filed Under: Disney, Humor, travel Tagged With:

The coolest bathroom ever and why I’m suing DIA for discrimation

November 9, 2012 By

Here’s a quick update. I’m currently in Dallas for the Family Travel Conference and I’m staying at the luxurious one-year-old Omni Hotel.  Just how opulent are the 1001 luxurious guest rooms and suites? In addition to floor-to-ceiling windows and sleek furniture, there is a TV screen hidden in the bathroom mirror.

I would never be able to drag Jamie out of there.

I’m having a great time hitting Dallas’ hot spots like Iron Cactus (OHMYGOSH–guacamole made table-side with a splash of orange?) and Chop House Burger  (don’t miss the Parmesan truffle fries). I arrived a day early for meetings and woke up my first morning at 5:30 a.m. “Don’t worry,” I groggily consoled myself. “It’s 6:30 a.m. Denver time so it’s OK to get up.”

And so I did. I worked out in their state-of-the-art fitness center, grabbed a quick breakfast and showered. It wasn’t until I turned on my computer that I realized the horrible truth: Dallas is on Central time not Pacific like I’d assumed in my sleepy stupor. I had, in actuality, woken up at 4:30 a.m.

Apparently Haddley isn’t the only one who struggles in math.

And here’s another blonde moment. I signed up for Instagram app several months ago without fully investigating its photo-sharing program. I have been primarily using it as a digital filter to make me look like an ace photographer on my iPhone without realizing its social networking capabilities. And that people have actually been following my pictures. I posted the following revelation on Twitter:

Thanks to Kim-Marie’s Instagram tutorial at #FTCDallas, I realized I actually have followers & am supposed to follow back. And I also learned I’m being followed by “ThirdBoob” on my account. #KindaUnsettling

Consider yourself warned.

Then, there is the Granddaddy of them all: My HAIR got searched at at Denver International Airport’s security. Big enough to hide an entire drug cartel?

Filed Under: Humor, travel

Following in the Anasazi’s (Extreme Adventuring) Footsteps at Mesa Verde National Park (Part II)

November 8, 2012 By

Hadley’s third grade class camping trip to Mesa Verde National Park wasn’t just about play (see Part 1). We were there to learn and spending only a few days exploring the archaeological sites and hundreds of cliff dwellings was worth weeks in the classroom.

Spruce Tree House

And what a cool classroom it was.

We were given National Park Service handouts that were specific to school groups with great questions like, “Visit the spring area and describe how a deep spring functions.” “Count the number of kivas and describe two possible functions.”  After exploring the Chapin Mesa Archeological Museum (be sure to watch the free, 15-minute film) we hiked the short, steep trail down to the Spruce Tree House.

“I feel like I’m gonna cry!” Haddie excitedly squealed.

She held it together but was thrilled to discover the third-largest Anasazi village in the park with 130 rooms and eight kivas (places of worship) that was constructed sometime between AD 1211 and 1278. Because of its protected location hugging the cliffs, it is well preserved and made for some fun explorations.

Grinding food

When I informed Haddie she could climb down into a kiva, she cut me off and hurriedly prepared donning her headlamp, gloves and compass. I didn’t have the heart to tell Adventure Girl she was simply climbing down a ladder and not doing some extreme backcountry mountaineering expedition.

Also, it helps when your headlamp doesn’t cover your eyes.

From there, it was onto the Balcony House for the highlight of our entire trip. This is a ranger-guided tour only (purchase $3 tickets for the one-hour tours at the Far View Visitor Center) and Ranger P.T. was informative, fun and engaging. This medium-size cliff dwelling had 45 rooms and two kivas but what made it so awesome was the adventure that went with it.

From the stellar views.

To the beautiful hike.

To crawling through a 12-foot tunnel, then climbing a series of toe-holds in a cleft of the cliff.

Precipitous cliff scaling

But the coolest feature of all: a 32-foot ladder. Well, cool unless you’re afraid of heights in which case, it was terrifying for a few people.

Of course, Adventure Girl had no problem. She could have even done it blindfolded blinded by her headlamp.

After scaling the ladder, we huddled together on the edge of a kiva. P.T. shared the rich history of the Ancient Puebloans and how they believe their ancestors emerged from the Third World through a sacred hole known as Sipapu to the Fourth World where we were sitting.

The lore wove its mythical spell and the children were entranced. As we looked out at the hundred-mile views of Mesa Verde’s wind-swept mesas and the azure desert sky in our outdoor classroom, anything seemed possible.

And I guess that’s the point of an experiential education.

Filed Under: Colorado, Family travel, Hadley, hiking, outdoors, travel

Surviving (and thriving) a class camping trip to Mesa Verde National Park

November 7, 2012 By

The main reason we switched Hadley to her new Waldorf charter school was for their experiential, arts-based education. The week before school started, we received an email from her new teacher announcing the first class field trip in early-October would be a three-day camping trip to Mesa Verde National Park.

[Insert Haddie's squeal of delight here. OK, if we're really being honest I did it, too. Hence the reason I signed up to chaperone.]

Spruce Tree House

I had only been to Mesa Verde briefly many years ago when I was writing about the Four Corners region (see the article here). With some of the best-preserved cliff dwellings in a world, the 81-square mile national park in southwestern Colorado features more than 4,000 archeological sites and 600 cliff dwellings of the Ancestral Puebloan people.

In third grade speak: “This is soooooo cool.”

It had the makings of a disaster: 23 kids, a 7.5-hour drive and many children were away from their parents for the first time or were camping newbies. But it was one of my most enjoyable camping trips ever. Not only were the kids angels but 12 incredibly capable parent chaperones took three days off work to accompany the class.

Getting There is Half the Fun

Remember the 7.5-hour drive? That’s not counting gas stops and a lunch break so we spent a good portion of our day in the car. Before you start feeling sorry for me, it was one of the most beautiful drives I’ve ever done in Colorado and the fall colors were at their peak. In the wintertime, Wolf Creek Pass outside of Pagosa Springs is treacherous. In the fall? A different story.

Durango, Colo.

View from car window from Mesa Verde

But still, after a long drive like that you have to wonder is this going to be worth it? That, and more.

 Campin’

We stayed at Morefield Campground in Mesa Verde, which has single and group camping sites. The first item of business was helping the kids set up camp. Hadley was assigned to a tent with five other girls and my co-parent Christine and I helped them set-up, after which there was plenty of time to explore, eat, snuggle up for storytime and eat some more.

If there’s a tree, Haddie will climb it

The party grove. I was never invited. #shocker

Tent mates at breakfast

Dinner

Bustling camp

I scored and set-up my tent in a cossetted site tucked away in the trees.

Christine made the mistake of pitching her tent mere feet away from the girls so guess who they went to all night long for their needs? “Don’t worry,” I assured her. “I’ll take care of them on our second night.”

They miraculously slept straight through. [Insert evil, relieved cackle here]

For once, luck was on my side.

Stay tuned tomorrow for our adventures in Mesa Verde National Park, including scaling a 30-foot ladder. Go here to read that post.

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

Steamboat Springs: Adventures at the Upper Fish Creek Falls

November 6, 2012 By

Every Colorado resort has one: a popular hike that is bombarded with tourists in the summertime. In Steamboat Springs, that hike is 283-foot Fish Creek Falls in the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest. And for good reason. It is:

1) Lovely. The falls spill over a hanging valley, formed at the junction where a small glacier joined a larger one.

2) Accessible (only four miles from downtown Steamboat Springs).

3) Easy. From the upper lot (which has a $5 fee to park), it is only a 1/4-mile trek to the falls with some scenic picnic areas.

During my October visit to Steamboat Springs to speak at the Governor’s Tourism Conference, I resolved to hike the still-popular yet not as frequented Upper Fish Creek Falls, a 4-mile round-trip hike. But here’s the catch: a storm was blowing in and I needed to drive back to Denver. And the trail was pretty unrelenting and steep.

But I was a woman on a mission. I hoofed it through the conifer forest with its Englemann spruce and Douglas firs for what seemed like an eternity (really, it was only 50 minutes) until I was finally rewarded above treeline with this stunning view of Steamboat Springs and the Yampa Valley.

I chugged along another 10 minutes before I finally reached the falls. For anyone keeping track, it took me one hour to hike 2 miles, attesting to 1) The trail’s steep pitch or 2) That I’m more out of shape than I thought.

The Upper Falls. This picture taken as a testimony I actually made it.

For those ambitious sorts, Fish Creek Falls is the jumping-off point for miles of hikes and the 6-mile hike to Long Lake leads to the Continental Divide trail where the real backcountry explorations can begin.

But that time around, I was perfectly happy with my four-miler.

Filed Under: Colorado, Family travel, hiking, Humor, travel Tagged With:
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