Last weekend we took a 4-day excursion to Steamboat, Colorado to ski with Uncle Dave, Aunt Jenn and Katelyn. Our adventure started on Wednesday when Ya Ya picked Roman up for a sleepover in Charlottesville. Portman and I both felt like we were sending him off to college and got so choked up when they left! We realized that this was actually the first time that Roman had been away from us since he was born. For some reason we have only taken family vacations in the last 19 months, and this was his first sleepover at Ya Ya and Pop Pop’s house! Harper was as confused as we were and said things like “I’m gonna leave my wolly-pop in da car because if woah-man sees it he will be sad.” It was definitely a strange day for all of us.
We woke the little princess up at 5:30 AM on Thursday and made it to Reagan in the nick of time for our early flight. Harper was clearly tired (since she usually rolls out of bed close to 9), but was too excited to sleep. We met our entourage in Chicago and the fun really started. Harper and Katelyn immediately launched into a series of very loud songs, an impromptu picnic on the floor at our gate, and made “snow angels” on the floor of the terminal… not at the gate, but smack in the middle of the main walking area between gates. Luckily everyone else thought it was as funny as we did! At one point Harper shouted very loudly “I have a wand and I spelled Katelyn into a pumpkin, and now I’m gonna spell her back into Katelyn!”
The girls sat together on the flight out to Steamboat, and Aunt Jenn won childcare immunity for the rest of the trip for sitting with them the entire way out there. They entertained the entire back of the plane with their antics, and on our second attempt at landing (because of heavy fog), we looked over and they were both reading the emergency landing pamphlet from the seat pocket. It was downright hysterical and so well-timed!
The girls had a great weekend skiing, and even more fun just being together. They pushed through extreme exhaustion and had plenty of ring-around the rosy sessions, dance parties, and pretty much didn’t stop talking for 3 days. They were so tired by the end of the days that Katelyn literally fell asleep at the dinner table… twice! Harper loved skiing with her Daddy, but ski school was not a hit. We had to pick her up early and take her home for a nap, and she declared “there were too many kids, and too many boys!” Rather than torture her again, Portman got a ski harness and was able to ski longer and more challenging runs with her. On the flight home, they told everyone that they had a great time skiing in “avocado!”
