Wed Dec 12
Daycare calls and informs Jason that Rachel has a terrible cough and they suspect croup so she needs to go home immediately. Jason happens to have the car that day so he can go to an appointment after school. Meggan has a meeting in Denver and has arranged bus and car pooling so neither of us is able to get Rachel. Our friend (Jason's assistant principal) Johnny saves the day, and is able to watch Rachel for a little while until Meggan gets home. Rachel has a terrible barking cough and runny nose, but is happy and energetic.
Thurs Dec 13
Jason calls in sick and stays home with Rachel. A trip to the doctor confirms no major illness but just a bad cough. Meggan works, Jason and Rachel play and run errands.
Fri Dec 14
Meggan has day off as usual on Friday and plays with Rachel, who seems to be improving and enjoying herself. It's pretty cold so lots more indoor play time and packing for ski weekend in the mountains. Jason has big day with a district competition for his students in Denver. After school, we pack up the car and depart the house. Before leaving for the mountains, we go to Meggan's staff Christmas party. Rachel spends most of the time running around the restaurant. As usual, we find the prices for our food way overpriced for what we end up getting. I just don't think we're meant to be fancy.
We drive from restaurant to REI, where we buy Rachel new snowpants because she has grown out of her others. Then we drive up to the mountains. At about Georgetown, Jason gets very sleepy and Meggan takes over driving. Meggan drives toward the tunnel as the snow starts coming down more heavily, so after the tunnel Jason takes over again. Jason gets us down the mountain safely into our Silverthorne hotel, and we all go to sleep. We scored an awesome room for $70/night with huge bed, fireplace, jaccuzi tub, pull out sofa-bed.
Sat Dec 15
Rachel wakes us early as usual and Jason eventually leaves for Keystone. Meggan and Rachel walk around Silverthorne shopping and playing in the fresh beautiful snow. Jason catches fresh tracks on North Peak all morning and has a great time before crowds get thick and he comes back to the hotel for lunch. Meggan heads out after lunch while Jason and Rachel start having a bath in our large jacuzzi tub.
Meggan has never been to a resort by herself to ski by herself. How simple! Grab skis, walk to gondola, get on gondola, ride up, on to 2nd gondola, get off top of North Peak. Step into binding.... on no!!! Grabbed Jason's skis by accident. While our skis are the same brand, Jason's are much longer and purple with white writing while Meggan's skis are white with purple writing. So no choice but to download 2 gondolas back to car, exchange skis, and ride back up again. An hour wasted and frustrated, finally ski down the icy, skied over snow. Another run on North Peak proves to be full of rocks, so the black diamond ends up being quite a challenging run. Cold wind blows through and Meggan does only one more run before calling it a day. The morning lovely snow couldn't last with such a thin base.
From Silverthorne we head to Breck and watch the 'Dew Tour' Snowboard men's 'Big Air' finals. Rachel says the snowboarders 'flew into the sky' and then cheered if they landed with everyone else. But if they fell on their landing, Rachel said 'aw... man! owy on their bum-bum!' and everyone around us would laugh. As a Canadian rider was leading the last couple of runs, we headed home and out of the cold.
Jason goes to bed early that night with a tummy ache. Our friend Kaitlyn arrives late to stay on the sofa and we plan to go together to Breck in the morning.
Sun Dec 16
5am Meggan wakes up with stomach pains and feels nauseated. Rachel wakes up shortly afterward and wants to snuggle. Jason feels ill. Meggan begins to vomit and has a hard time getting out of bed. We send Kaitlyn on her way to enjoy the slopes and try to pack up our things and figure out how we will get home alive. We both feel awful. Jason recovers enough to get Rachel dressed, fed, and our stuff packed up. Meggan hobbles to the car. Meggan cannot even keep water down. Rachel is unimpressed with her Mommy's lack of snuggling and playing and cries and cries.
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| Back in the car Sunday morning... going home instead of skiing ... boo! |
Somehow, Jason drives us away from Silverthorne. Meggan requests several pull overs from time to time and uses Rachel's potty as a catching bucket. It's snowing and cold. Jason's whole body is sore and aching and he is uncomfortable sitting in the car. The snow stops by Georgetown. Rachel sleeps the whole way home and Meggan manages to nap some.
We get home, take turns napping, and slowly pack our stuff away. Eventually we manage to keep a little food down before bed Sunday night.
Mon Dec 17
Jason is significantly better and heads to school. Rachel is still fine and heads to daycare. Meggan is recovering but not well enough to work so stays at home.
Next year, we will be getting our flu shots!!! We are really bummed that we missed out on skiing at Breck and spent the money to stay in a hotel and it didn't work out. Also, we really wish during these tough sick times that we had family closer that we could call in for help.
The great part is that we'll be healthy as can be for our upcoming Canada trip!
Hope you are healthier than us!
