After spending an early Thanksgiving with Grandma Beth and Papa Steve in Durango, we drove up to Montrose to celebrate it with Grandma Marlene. She and I even ventured out on the dreaded (at least to me) Black Friday, but we went to safe places, like a quilt shop and a book store. 🙂
The next day, we packed the kids up to take the long way home and stay a few nights in Breckenridge, planning to meet up with my dear friend Erin and her family, and surprise them by inviting my other dear friend Nicole and her family to join us. In case you are counting, that is six adults and eight kids. If we could have had my other dear friend Shannon and her family there as well, it would have been eight adults and ten kids. Love it! Just for reference, at my wedding, Erin was the yellow bridesmaid, Nicole the red, and Shannon the green.
We did not make it to Breckenridge for the first night, however, since they closed the highway because of snow right outside of Vail. Against our wishes, we had to stay the night there before completing the journey in the morning. That Saturday, we had a mini-reunion of friends and ex-roommates (before everyone went off and got married!), with plenty of kids thrown in the mix to spice things up. We went for a walk, rode the gondola, had hot chocolate and crepes, and enjoyed the Thomas Kinkade beauty of the little town in the mountains, in all its Christmas glory.
We even got to spend an extra morning sledding with Nicole, Jon, Connor, and Dominick. Sledding, by the way, is Prince’s favorite thing ever. Especially since he figured out how to do it himself.
