When Chris got approved for 5 weeks of family leave "to bond with our new baby" (who was 6 months old by the time the paper work was filed and approved), we decided that most of those weeks would be used at home in the context of normal life to recalibrate as a family. We desperately needed some recalibrating.
Let me tell you, it was a riot traveling on that very small plane with the fancy LA to Aspen crowd. As a dear friend put it so well, "you could be a circus side show and yet you are in Aspen." Yep, that pretty much sums up our whole trip...a circus side show in Aspen. Hey, CARPE DIEM we always say.
There are so many pictures and so much I could say about this family adventure, but in keeping with past posts I will limit myself to our Top Ten. Here is #1-5.
1. Just Aspen. "I'm talkin' about a place where the beer flows like wine. Where beautiful women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano. I'm talkin' about a little place called Aspen." Name that movie! And if you can name it I'm sure we are already friends.
This is a super special place for us. We celebrated our anniversary in Aspen every Fall for years when we lived in Colorado. On some of our anniversary trips we even brought our dog, our new baby, Chris' parents, or friends (nothing says romantic anniversary getaway like babies, friends, and in-laws). Aspen is one of those magical places on the planet for us. It is a small town in BIG mountains with an isolated, European feel. We had never been there when there was snow (Nov-April) and decided it would be great to take our family for some cold weather fun and change of scenery. We found a good end-of-ski-season deal on a condo at VRBO.com and our goal was just TO BE there. No agenda. No plans. Right here...
2. Just the five of us. As I alluded to in #1 we aren't very good at getting away by ourselves. With one exception in 11 years we have never taken a trip or used a vacation day that didn't involve being with friends or family. We wouldn't change anything about how we do things, but we are also realizing that as our family grows it is important for us to get away just the five of us. We so enjoyed the down time together.
3. The weather. There was plenty of snow on the mountain, but the temps in town were mild and the Colorado sun shone brightly. It was perfect. We needed coats, but not boots. Some people around town were in shorts and sandals. There was even a dusting of snow one night that resulted in all the trees being freshly covered in the morning. MAN I miss that!
4. Wandering. Aspen is a small enough town that you don't need a car. We enjoyed simply wandering around with the kids. When we wanted to wander further out of town there were great FREE buses to the other fun areas nearby.
5. Ice skating. Samantha is on a big ice skating kick lately. We knew we needed to make this happen for her, so we did. She did amazing. Abby even got to get on the ice in a cool sled they let us use. We had the whole rink to ourselves.
