We're into December. What a quick year. A week ago we came back from our Thanksgiving trip to Estes Park. Here's the breakdown:
We left mid-morning on Sunday after we packed all the stuff in the car and dropped Libby off at the kennel. Things seemed to go smoothly. The drive was fine. It was like 10 hours or something and we made a few stops. Not too many, though, which was good. We got in at like 7pm, which was way faster than I was expecting. For some reason I was expecting for us to get in at like 10pm or something. We stayed at a hotel near Chris' house right at the I-25 exit. It was fine. The next day we hung out mostly at the house except for a bit where we went to the nearby park. The kids had fun.
The next morning, we left a bit earlier than I had wanted to head up to Estes Park to get checked in. We got to Estes park at like, I dunno, 10am maybe? I can't remember, but we had A LOT of time to kill. Didn't know at the time of check in, but we wouldn't end up getting into our room until like 5pm. We had gone into town to kill time and shortly after, everyone except the McGuires came up and we ate lunch, sort of, at Penelope's. After some strolling, we ended back up at the YMCA at like 1:30 or 2 and then hung out there playing in the gym for a couple of hours. The McGuires came up and then most headed to the check in building to wait for our rooms to get ready.
After getting our rooms and picking them for who stays where, there was a little debacle with some folks playing in the gym without masks. The rest of the night went all right. The cabins were close, but not next to each other. They were separated by one other cabin, which wasn't bad. It was like a less than 1-minute walk to and from the cabins. I also set up the wifi monitor when I got there, but good thing I brought my laptop to share internet with or it wouldn't have worked too well. The internet wasn't the strongest so there were some connection issues in the beginning, but for the rest of the time, it worked well.
Overall, it was a fun time, although, a bit too stressful for me, especially with all the kids there together the entire time. They got frustrated a few times, especially Emmeline since the boys did whatever. The kids always wanted to go to the gym, which I went like 3 times. It seemed as though there was a lot of prep and cooking for dinners and such. I think everything should be bought if it happens again. Too much stress with having enough ingredients at the right cabins and so forth. The biggest issue was time and the kids being bored a lot of the times. Thankfully, the cabins had an upstairs and downstairs, so they were downstairs most of the time. The evenings were nice and relaxing. The fireplace was gas, so there was no need to buy any wood and/or try and get the fire going every night.
It didn't snow this time, at least, not like the last time we were there when there was a blizzard for a day, but there was a little dusting after the first night, then it was all gone. That's fine, though. We drove more than I thought and the area our cabins were at was high up on the hills of the YMCA, so snow would have made it super hard to get around. We saw some wildlife, although I don't think we saw any elk. Turkeys were around a lot this time and the trees that they roosted on every night was right off the back deck of one of our cabins, so that was cool, I guess.
Now that we're back and settled in and the weather is getting colder - this week is very cold, but the prior week was super hot, it's starting to feel "Christmas-y" in a way. I did put up the Christmas lights, but there's a couple sections along the fence that has the lights out and I spent some time trying to fix it, but I gave up. I don't care that much to try and fix it. Maybe when we take it down. Was just way too high to keep changing light bulbs.
I asked my Mom if she wanted to come here for New Year's and she said she doesn't think she can travel anymore. Whatever. She still hasn't gotten her vaccine, either. The kids actually just got their 2nd shot this past weekend. That's a relief. Emmeline was scared each time, but she did it without any screaming, which is a big step forward. I also got my booster shot a couple of weeks ago as well. No symptoms really.
Currently, I have/am getting over some kind of cold. Been coughing and my throat's been mucusy a bit. Laura thinks it's covid. Last week, I did A LOT of leaf baggin and leaf blowing, so I'm kind of blaming it on that. It was warm and I remember one particular day my allergies were really bad. I'm hoping that was just it.
Lastly, we spontaneously ordered a Peloton after a long time of Ellen trying to get Laura and Kelly one. It was expeeeeensive! They're coming Thursday to install it and I'm nervous about that because they need to come in and set it up themselves. I just don't like people coming into the house.
That's it. Next update around Christmas time - just a few weeks away!