Crash!

We couldn't resist.....

This is one little boy who absolutely loves his cars. ADORES 'em. Who'd never be the same in a world without them.

So it's really no surprise to find him clutching one in the backseat of Daddy's Tacoma:


It's just too adorable catching our little fella snuggled up & passed out with his favorite toys!

Snowed in on Summit Peak

I wish my cellphone hadn't run low on batteries this weekend....
Otherwise we might have a plethora of crazy white-out photos from the mountain top!

It started out as a family ski trip plus Moriya, with all of us bunked up at Lake Dillon for the weekend. Then one teething toddler plus one screaming baby next door (impressively thin hotel walls!) meant Cortney managed less than 4 hours' rest our first night out. She weenied out instead, bailing on Saturday skiing & taking one for the team to hang with an exhausted toddler all day. And despite sleep deprivation, Dan & Moriya still went to play at Keystone until well after sunset, which was just about when the storm began....

By Sunday morning, Moriya was selling Daniel on an early departure time.
And no time would've apparently been early enough, given how things turned out!

Moriya still made it to the mountain Sunday.
Dan and I stayed back, managing to pack the room and car, stick Mason on a sled, and discover that while the little fella fancies the snow, he doesn't particularly enjoy it being whipped into his face on bone-piercing gusts of gale-force arctic wind.
Who knew??

We made our way up to Keystone early though, loaded up, and began venturing back to I-70 by 2 p.m. Yet even at that hour, it was already too late. We found our backup plan to bypass sluggish traffic & 3-hour waits just to get onto the interstate stymied early on with backroads closures (whiteout conditions, ice, and 80+ mph wind over two 11,000 passes), but luckily, our second fallback plan-- working our way around to 70 via a secondary route-- was a seamless move.... ultimately resulting in over an hours' wait in parking lot conditions once we made the highway.

Then CDOT closed the interstate, leaving nowhere to go except exactly where we sat!
70 coming up (Vail Pass), 70 coming down (Loveland/ Tunnel to Georgetown), and we were marooned on top of the world.
Which wouldn't've been a poor fate had Daniel & Moriya not needed to get back to work.
But they did, and Moriya really did, so there we were:
Still sitting in traffic.
At a standstill.

For more than an hour over just 3 miles of highway.
Before it was closed AGAIN, even further up the mountain.

All in all, we were on the Summit 4 days and 3 nights.
Total ski/ board day counts:
Moriya - 2
Daniel - 1
Cortney - 0
Mason - 0

Total hot tubs visited: 2

Rooftop/ open air hot tubs visited mid-blizzard:
Daniel - 1
Cortney - 1
Mason - 1

Total hours spent in traffic on Sunday: 6

Total miles traveled Sunday:
approximately the same

What time we started Monday morning:
Cortney - 3:30/ 4 a.m.
the crew - 6:15 a.m.

Miles traveled in first hour of traffic Monday: 5

Total hours in traffic Monday a.m.: 3

Cumulative miles covered:
approximately 75+/-

Slip & slides in truck:
Few

Slip & slides down frozen embankments by all-wheel drive Subauru Outbacks, nearly resulting in rollovers into Clear Creek, stopping just short of a REALLY "really bad night":
1

Attempted tows of other overpriced, non-4WD SUVS:
1

Failed tows: 1

Comically big-haired ladies in early morning full face paint and fur coats, slipping on side of I-70 in teetering 3.5" heels in a blizzard, while spun-out SUV-in-snowbank received above-referenced tow:
1

Not exactly the smiling chocolatey-face we saw after this weekend's gridlock debacle...
(photo snapped post-Tuesday a.m. organic truffle binge)

Looks like we have another two winter storms blowing in the next 2-3 days;
Hopefully we'll be back next week with more pictures and higher ski/ slide tallies to post then!

TrIcK or TrEaT, 2008 ! ! ! !

(carved by Cort while expecting Godzirra, fall 2006)

Halloween 2008 began bright and early Friday, with Dan taking the day off to show Mason the ropes for Daddy's favorite holiday. First up, it was Littleton's preschool & toddlers' costume parade!

It's Godzirra!

Unfortunately, the parade was right before Godzirra's naptime....

The morning's activity lineup took place at our local library.
And the scene inside, looked alot like an exercise in herding cats:

Godzirra teaches his friends a few programming shortcuts...

Time to line up!

This is gonna be FUN!

The parade =
early trick-or-treating,
to boot


"What'd we get?!?!?!!"

Whatever it is, it's not enough for this candy thief!

You're BUSTED, dude, complete with hand-in-other-kid's bucket!

"Whattya mean, there's no candy in this one??"

"YUM!"

Speaking of "Yum"....
Watch out, Great Wall! It's GODZIRRA!

After morning parading, it was back to the house for a quick nap (we do mean quick; this little guy still fights sleep like the plague) and snack. Oh, mom and dad even joined in the fun too, going all out for Mason's first night of trick-or-treating!

Who's that?

Yep, it's Mommy!

And mommy is a deliciously dark drama queen....

...at least on Halloween.

One strikin' vikin'-- yuk, yuk ;0)

Soon enough, we were off to Estes Park, CO, to rendezvous with wonderful friends, the Eamonn family. Last year, Godzirra was still so ridiculously colicky we were only able to get him out briefly... even then, it was to a party.
For less time than it took us to drive there.
Before everyone there was so miserable, we took him home.
Where Godzirra's little tummy continued to churn,
and Halloween '07 was spent in tears.




Ben & Leah (2008):
Annual Halloween party hostees with the mostees--
a distinction that last year included one screaming offspring extraordinaire

And why they understand.... :0)
Princess Kiera, our gracious hosts' personal been there-done that factor
(it's her first BIG Halloween this year, too!)

So this year, when the invitation came, we certainly couldn't resist taking Godzirra trick-or-treating his first time in this wonderful mountain community! Estes has been a second home to us since we've been in Denver, and it's admittedly charming to be a part of our child experiencing his first real Halloween with the children of a friend YOU grew up with yourself. :0)

Anticipation!
Cedar can't wait to GO!!!

Ori's ready for mom & dad, brother & sister, AND those silly Glausers to GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD!!!
(note Dan's battle-axe in the background?)

Anyone else notice our dragon's always sleepy??

The city awaits...

Jody-taj, patriarch of the Eamonn krewe

Cedar:
Heir to the throne.... and knight in shining armor, to boot

A sprite-ly middle child!

(Orien)

And their revered queen,

Natalie

Everything and everyone eventually show up in Estes.....

.... from hold-up artists,

to Viking kings,

Martian leaders,

and sassy things,

a drowsy dragon,

a mischievous sprout,

even our 401K came out!



As the night wound down, Mason found his second wind courtesy of sugar and chocolate.
It may've made for a tough crash later on, but at least his pictures came out nicely:

Out past bedtime??

Stuffed full of chocolate??

And in mamma's arms?!

Life just doesn't get ANY better than Halloween!

Obama Rama!

More pics coming from the Rally at Ft. Collins..... yes, Caribou Barbie may have a killer wardrobe (and at the tune of $150K, she should) and nice legs, but does she have..... Dan's wife's bootie????

;0)