Thanksgiving in CO!

So this Thanksgiving we decided to load up the fam and head to Colorado...sounds simple right? Not so much!!

For the last month or so we had been trying to plan out the logistics of getting to Vail and how long we would drive before stopping and assuming what time Kyle would get off of work...after what can only be described as an eventful weekend picking up Kasen, I finally packed up everyone's bags on Monday. We were going to be leaving as soon as Kyle could get off of work on Tuesday {he thought as early as 2, I knew that was the funniest joke I had ever heard!}. So at 4:30ish on Tuesday, everyone got in the car and we headed on our way! {Of course as we were leaving, my mom and stepdad were already meeting up with Kyle's stepdad in Vail...LUCKY!!!}

I will give our kids credit. They are pretty amazing in the car!! There are times when I just want to get out of the car and run around and make a bunch of noise, so I KNOW they have to be dying!! But we traveled up the panhandle and after much debate spent the night in the fabulous town of Dalhart. Yuck, the entire place smells a feed lot and the only decent hotel backs up to the train. But everywhere in the panhandle apparently backs up to a train so whatever. Poor Kyle took a cold shower in the morning, I decided to just be gross until we got to Vail!

So off on our second day of driving and I decided to work on a Pinterest craft :) We quickly figured out two key differences from our last family road trip to CO back in June...Maddox is a MAJOR talker and Kasen is SERIOUS walker! The only problem is Maddox doesn't articulate too well just yet and Kasen doesn't understand the concept of chilling in a carseat. But we made it through and finally got to Vail in the afternoon! My mom called on our way and asked what we wanted to do first. Without hesitation I said SHOWER!!! We were staying in the Juniper house with my parents so we got everyone inside and Kyle and I quickly retreated to our room for showers and a nap!

Now we were ready for some fun in the snow and a great Thanksgiving! Wednesday night we had dinner in the Village at Blu's. The Christmas lights and the snow and the trees are so amazing! I could live in Vail, no problem.

The kids were too too cute in all of their snow gear and I don't think I heard one person complain about being cold, so you know they were having a good time!

Thursday we spent most of the day getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner. Larry had a Greenberg turkey shipped to the house {of course} and my mother-in-law made every traditional Thanksgiving side you can think of! After being extremely well fed we all watched some football and laid around...well some of us hung around {on GP!!}

 We totally reinstated the kids table this year!

After all of the food had settled, Kyle and I headed over to Mims and GP's house to watch what can only be described as the most awesomely fantastic LoneStar Showdown EVER! At least for me, GO HORNS GO!!! Have fun in the SEC Ags...I digress.

Friday morning is when the real fun started. The kids go to go sledding!! There is a park within walking distance of the house and it has the perfect hill for first-timers :)

Sledding is hard work, so we headed home for a nap. Friday night the kids hung out with the most fabulous sitter ever and the adults {yes, that includes me and Kyle} had dinner at Sweet Basil. So good and the most fantastic croutons I have ever had. I could've eaten a bowl of them :-) Kyle and I finished the night off with a movie date at CineBistro {quickly becoming a Vail tradition}. We saw Breaking Dawn. Now I am a Twilight fan, but that was some weird stuff. The robotic voices coming out of werewolves was a little much for me...once again, I digress.

Saturday morning was another walk to the park. First we played on the playground.

After snow angels, walking the dogs, and climbing the hill to the slide, it was back to the hill for some sledding. There was a pretty serious snowstorm on Friday so the kids were excited to play in the new snow!

And now for the videos, some are short and don't show much, but the sounds of laughter are totally worth the watch!!

Saturday we headed back to the Springs to cut some time off of our drive back home on Sunday. So at 5:00 AM Sunday morning we were in the car and headed back home! The trip felt short but we once again had an amazing time! Kyle and I both hope that the kids will look back on these trips and have some of the same funny memories we have of our family road trips!