Our Spring Break at the Arnold's Cabin

We spent our Spring Break in snowy Fraser, Colorado at the gorgeous home of Bob Arnold (Jeff's best friend and workout buddy for over 15 years). They have a lovely cabin in the mountains and were so welcoming to let our crazy family stay for the week. We had the BEST week and wanted to share all of the great memories.

The trip to Bob and Val's home was something I had been dreading for quite a while. It was a 19-hour drive (that's just one way!) from Houston and let's just say that our kids aren't the greatest at riding in the car, especially since they've been spending up to 4 hours a day in the car lately due to our Katy commute. I was very nervous about how well they would handle the trip, despite loading up with as many distractions as possible -- DVD players, iPhones, games, and coloring books. The good news is that they handled it SO much better than I expected. I was very pleasantly surprised (although the night-time Benadryl dose might have helped a little, ha!) because both little ones slept completely through the night as we made our long drive.

What we didn't anticipate was the weather. Sometime during our drive, we discovered that the Denver area was expecting blizzard conditions right near the time that we would be driving through. Sure enough, right we were driving through Denver, the heavy snow started and the highways quickly became dangerous. When we came to I-70, the interstate with sharp inclines up the mountain, there were flashing signs that the chains (for tires) were in effect. We just assumed that applied to everyone, so we pulled to the side of the road with a lot of other vehicles so that Jeff and Kevin could put the snow chains on the tires. Keep in mind, neither of them has ever done that before!

Reviewing the snow chain installation instructions after the heavy snow started.

On the side of the snowy freeway, trying to install the snow chains.

Look at the snow coming down and on the door handle!

Needless to say, it was quite a stressful situation being on the side of the freeway trying to get snow chains on the tires when none of us had any experience with that! But Jeff and Kevin did a great job and got them secured safely. We started driving slowly down the snowy/icy freeway with the THUMP THUMP THUMP of the chains on the tires, and we noticed that so many other (and some smaller) vehicles were passing us without any chains. We called Bob to ask him about it, who called his brother Mike, and finally we discovered that the snow chain law only applied to 18-wheelers! UGH! So we pulled over yet again in the snow and ice to take the chains off and started to head slowly up the mountain to Bob's house.

After a long and slow drive up and down many icy hills, we finally made it to Bob and Val's cabin. I was never so happy to arrive somewhere. Apparently in my "old" age I have developed anxiety over winter weather conditions so that was one of the scariest drives I can remember!

After the car was unloaded, we had a tour of Bob and Val's beautiful cabin. It is HUGE and is decorated in such a wonderful, woodsy decor. Absolutely gorgeous! We felt so lucky to be their guests!

After we were settled in the cabin, the kids were itching to get outside and enjoy the snow. All of the kids were giddy with excitement over playing in all this white stuff that we rarely get to see in the South. And the snow just kept coming down, it was crazy!

Bob and Val in front of their Colorado cabin. 

Kevin pushing off down a snowy ramp.

Due to all the snow and frozen conditions, we weren't able to leave the cabin until the following day when it warmed up a bit. Bob took us on a drive and showed us some of the great sights near their home.

The Winter Park ski resort is just minutes from Bob's home, so on Monday we took the kids to the bunny slopes to see how they would handle skiing. Kaitlynn wasn't quite ready for the experience so she just came along for the ride while we helped Connor with his skis and Kevin with snowboarding. Being back at Winter Park really gave Jeff and I the itch to ski again!

Can you tell how tired everyone was from just a couple hours on the bunny hills? Ha! Kevin and Connor did so great that we agreed to sign them up for full-day lessons later in the week. That night, we went out for pizza in Winter Park.

Kaitlynn with Kara, Bob and Val's youngest daughter.

Our entire gang at dinner.

The next day, the older guys headed back to Winter Park for skiing while Val and I stayed at the cabin with the younger kids. We went outside and let the kids enjoy the homemade sled ramp that Jeff, Bob, and Kevin built on the first day. It was super fast and fun, but we had to shut it down before someone rammed into a tree!

On Wednesday, it was my turn to ski! I was so excited but nervous because I haven't been in over a decade! You hear all these horror stories about people injuring themselves, and I didn't want to be one of the statistics. One thing that has changed a lot since the last time I skiied is that most skiiers now wear helmets. I was totally on board with that idea!

Jeff dropped me off at Winter Park for a full day of skiing, and it was heavenly! The views from the mountains were breathtaking and I stopped often to take it all in. I skiied slowly and cautiously, but loved every second of it! I'm not sure what I enjoyed more, the skiing or the "me" time.

While I was skiing, everyone else enjoyed an afternoon of tubing. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures, but the kids loved it and had a blast!

On Thursday, we were lucky to get a spot in the onsite childcare for Kaitlynn so that the rest of the family could ski one last time. Kevin took a huge spill and slightly injured his wrist, so he was done for the day pretty early but Jeff and I stayed the entire day to take it all in.

While Jeff and I skiied, Connor took a full-day ski lesson. It was his first real skiing experience and he LOVED it! At the end of his lesson, he was anxious to try some of the bunny slopes on his own. I went with him and took this iPhone video of him skiing on his first "green" (the easy slopes). I loved how he took a little tumble but then got right back up to ski some more.




On our last day in Colorado, the kids and I stayed in the cabin to pack up while Jeff and Kevin went for their last excursion. They rented snowmobiles for a couple hours and had a blast. I made Jeff take these pics with his phone, and when I saw them I could really tell how much fun they had!

Phew! Now that was what I'd call a super fun Spring Break! We were so exhausted from our busy week, and then we had to make the 20-hour drive back home. I have to admit, driving home was WAY harder than the first trip. Jeff drove most of the way because I was having such a hard time keeping my eyes open to focus on the road. Despite the long drive, we had such a wonderful week with the Arnolds in Colorado and are so grateful to them for opening their home to our crazy family. We created such amazing memories, ones we'll cherish for a lifetime!