Colorado 2013 - The Road Trip

Driving 700 miles in a small truck with 3 young children can seem intimidating, but Clint and I totally embraced the road trip.  This may have been the boys favorite part of the trip.  My diaper bag (a.k.a. the tool box) was loaded with snacks.  We had all our meals and cool beverages in the ice chest.  DVD players, ipods, books on tape, subscription to Spotify. Check.  More stuff than our truck should carry.  Check.  The baby.  Check. (I am always paranoid I am going to leave this little guy.)

We left Stillwater on a Friday morning with a few last minutes stops and Starbucks.  We were riding high 60 miles out when the pack n' play wiggled loose and flew down the highway.  That's a critical piece of luggage so we circled around and picked it up.  We made it to Enid to reassemble our truck when a truck driver walked up and started to talk to us about our luggage flying off.  He was nice and only in small town Oklahoma will you get that kind of small talk.  Clint also learned a new trick at the truck stop, inhale on a cigarette and shoot a 5 hr energy all in one shot.  Um we'll stick with coffee.

We made it to GuymonD for lunch.  We enjoyed a picnic, football, and a playground in the barren park.  The rest of the day was uneventful.  We made it to Raton and stayed at our favorite hotel, Best Western Raton.  We ate dinner in the room from the ice chest, had our hotel dance party, went swimming, then watched cartoons.

The next morning Uncle A met us at the hotel for day two.  We ate lunch at the park in Salida and Clint and Uncle A went on a treasure hunt for Twilight beer and a birthday pie for me.  We eventually left Salida and made it to the cabin.  Yes it takes us two whole days to get there with all our stops.

Now as smooth as the way out there was, the way home was memorable.  We left the cabin later than anticipated and ate dinner in the national forest in Westcliffe.  Shortly after that we saw a bear on the side of the road.  We turned around and got a closer look.  It was pretty neat.  Not much further down the road, Sawyer vomited all over everything.  We pulled over and ended up in the driveway of a conspiracy theorist survivalist extremist.  At least that's what the signs all over his gate (Heaven's gate according to the signs) led us to believe.  We got Sawyer cleaned up and finally made it to the Raton Best Western.  It was a late night.

Sunday, our last day went much smoother besides the vomit caked to the ceiling and windshield.  We started the day swimming and eventually hit the road.  Sawyer did better and we made quite a few stops to play football and eat.  Amazingly it was in the 70s all day and we hit some rain.  It was a gorgeous day.

Everyone did great in the car.  Paul did not sleep much, but he didn't cry much either.  He was just a champ. 

Colorado 2013 - Construction

by Clint

With a third helper this year we thought that we would get a record amount done on the cabin. Sawyer and Beau were ready to help at all costs, and Paul was close behind. One activity that they ALWAYS wanted to help me with was lighting matches. Without fail, both boys had to each light a match anytime I lit the lantern, stove, or fire. After a few days, they didn't need my help anymore. No inspections loomed this year, but we set our sights on getting our final inspection completed during the summer of 2014. That meant that we needed to finish nearly all the remaining tasks this year. At the beginning of 2013, we still needed to 1) replace 3 windows with tempered glass 2) insulate the floor 3) install railing on the front porch 4) install the fire and CO alarms 5) sheetrock in the loft.

We wanted to work on the most fun job first, so we decided to tackle the floor insulation. Our plan was to use all the rigid insulation that was currently being stored in the guest bedroom and back-fill with bats as needed. I cut the rigid insulation with a handsaw and rested the pieces on the lip of the floor joists. We all really enjoyed being covered in fiberglass particulates. Good thing Grammy and Grandpa have a shower. We only needed four bundles of bats to finish off the job. Fortunately, Joel and Jase were willing to work with us for a day so we could staple wafer board up to the joists, thereby sealing in the insulation. I could not have done this without their help. We made a trip to Gunny to get the 7/16" wafer board, and Beau enjoyed helping. Before we could staple up the wafer board, Sawyer and Beau helped me nail up furring strips around the perimeter. I'm not exaggerating, they legitimately helped me. Sawyer held the chalk line and Beau snapped it. They held the boards while I nailed them. We had so much fun working together. I anticipate that they will be ready to mow the lawn next year. It took Joel, Jase, and I 5 hours to staple up the wafer board. They had some creative cutting techniques to get around the plumbing. Good times and great oldies!

One of our favorite things about the cabin is sitting at our table on the porch. We eat all our meals out there and spend a lot of time out there drinking coffee and beer. Melanie decided that it was time to give it a coat of paint, so with Paul on her back, she diligently spray-painted the table. We didn't think it was a big deal that he got a faint green tint on his face, it's only spray paint. The table looks great, and I was impressed with her patience.

We cut down a few trees around the cabin, mainly to protect against fires and improve our view.

We really wanted the boys to swing their hammers and work on their own projects this summer. They needed a bookshelf for their room, so we embarked on that project. We didn't want anything that resembled IKEA, we wanted rustic logs with moss and bark. Sawyer and Beau took to the task, and before long, our bookshelf was complete. Sawyer got really good at hammering, and he doesn't even need my help to start the nail now. While working on the bookshelf, Sawyer built a bedside table nearly all by himself. He painted it blue, and it's a perfect fit in their room.

I hung sheetrock on the pony wall in the loft. This was an easy job with no problems. I just hope that Joel and Jase have time to mud and tape it! I also installed the fire and CO alarms when I hung the sheetrock.

With all the construction, we had to make an inevitable trip to the Gunnison County dump. We secretly look forward to these trips because it is liberating throwing enormous amounts of trash in a massive landfill. This year we broke a record with 1,100 lb of trash! Of course, not all of the trash was ours. Grammy and Grandpa made their contributions, most notably the old green ice chest that was a fixture of The Cabin for decades. The "dump tractor operator" (for lack of a better title) decided that Melanie and I looked too clean, so he decided to stir up all of the trash around us while we unloaded. We can still taste Gunnison County!

The only tasks that remain before our final inspection are installing the tempered glass and the railing on the front porch.

Colorado 2013 - The fun stuff

This was our first year to spend two full weeks at the cabin and our first year with three babies.  It was phenomenal.  We had such a great time at the cabin.  All the boys just loved it too.  We really spent most of our time just hanging out around the cabin and working.  Clint worked a lot.  Beau and Sawyer were in heaven just playing together outside all day.  They had so much fun together.  Here's some lists to "summerize" our trip.

Our cabin Top Ten Best list
10.  Playing Guess Who and Back Gammon
9. Playing in the dirt
8. Waterfalls!
7. Watching the boys relationship grow
6. Alpine tunnel
5. Nap time or Happy Hour for mom and dad. Drinking Twilight beer
4. Visiting with old friends, especially the Blomquists
3. Legos
2. Drinking coffee and eating breakfast on the porch.  Please fry that in bacon grease.
1.  Spending all day and night together for two straight weeks


Our Colorado 2013 Top Ten Not Best list
10. Packing up to leave
9.  Getting the dump bulldozer blowing trash all over us
8.  Almost falling off the cliff on the way to the Alpine Tunnel
7. Going to Gunnison
6. Installing insulation
5. Sponge baths or cold showers (we need hot water)
4. The ice chest shuffle (we need a fridge)
3. Vommiting in the car
2. "The Shitti*st Trip to Gunnison Ever"
1. Leaving

Our Colorado 2013 top ten most memorable things
10.  My 32nd birthday. Delicious steaks from Uncle A.
9.  Wearing Paul all the time
8.  Sawyer vomiting
7.  Seeing a bear
6.  Fourth of July at Grammy and Grandpa's
5.  The boys playing Thunder and lightening
4.  Getting a painting and rail road tie from the Alexanders
3.  Sawyer building his own bedside table and helping Daddy
2.  Beau loving waterfalls
1. Harmony among all 5 of us