Bit-O-Me: Winter Family Vacation

Our little family took a 1,716 mile road trip to New Mexico Feb 18-22, 2013. Our first day on the road I coined the phrase "hard core haulin' it" because that's what we did. The first day we left our home at 2 a.m. The girls were carried gently from their beds to the car and we pulled away from the house with our fingers crossed. Hoping they'd fall back to sleep and stay that way until sun up. Did it work? You bet it did! We drove for 350 miles of the trip before the girls woke up. We were pulling into Cracker Barrel five hours from home when the sun came up and the girls came too. The next 225 miles took the rest of that day! We spent one night on the road and pulled into Red River, New Mexico the next afternoon. The photo below is of Marin and me in the snow that first day.

Here is tiny Adalyn's first SNOW experience. She never once hesitated and dove in with enthusiasm!

Below is a shot of the crew hiking up to go sledding. We enjoy the week with close family members.

The trail to the sledding spot had a bridge over a river. I was amazed by the beautiful mallard ducks swimming in, what must have been, frigid water.

Snow has the same appeal as sand for children. There is copious amounts all around and it hold hours of fun! One downfall is if mom doesn't pack waterproof mittens, your hands get cold and wet.

The view from the top of the sledding hill.

I recorded Marin's comments as we drove into New Mexico and began to see snow. Here are some of my favorites: "Oh snow! I wanna FEEL it! Woooooo hooooo SNOW! Oh my goodness. Hold on tight! We made it. Moma, feel your window! Burrrr. Oh look! That was a pile.

Adalyn and Coralee need to wake up so they can see the snow!"

One of the first things she did was to plop down and make a snow angel.

Marin wasn't quite sure about sledding and it took her awhile to warm up.

I was so glad when she finally did.

We took time to do a little shopping. Here are the three cousins together outside one of many shops.

The highlight of our trip was a day of snowshoeing at the Enchanted Forest Cross Country Ski Area. Here is Coralee getting bundled for the trip. There was so much snow, we had to be shuttled into the ski area. The wind was blowing like crazy in the parking lot and Steven and I almost chickened out, but decided that if the shuttle was willing to come and get us, we give it a go!

I think the crew thought we were crazy for taking three little ones out, but we proved them all wrong. Theses three cuties were troopers and we had a blast!

My view for most of the trail. Such an amazing way to see the beauty of a winter forest.

Coralee was content in her pulk eating a grilled cheese with sliced apples.

Here we are coming back into the ski house. Marin asked to pull Coralee for a little while.

Posing for this picture I remember thinking that anything is possible with kids. Attitude and willingness make all the difference in how things turn out. I was so happy we didn't let the possibility of this being too difficult keep us from at least trying and in the end having a blast. I look forward to many more days of snowshoeing as a family.

Adalyn was sooooooo relaxed that she fell asleep in her pulk. I think it must have been the warm blankets and the swishing sound of the pulk as it glided along on the snow.

The last day I spent time with the girls just playing. Here is Marin sliding down one of many HUGE piles of snow. It was record snow fall that week with more reported coming the day after we left.

Not only did Adalyn fall asleep in the pulk while snowshoeing, she also fell asleep in her tube while tubing! It was the funniest thing. Steven would seriously pick her up out of the tube, set her in his lap, slide down the slope get up, put her in the tube hop on the lift and out she stayed. They must have gone down five times and she slept through the entire event.