"If You Give a Kid a Moose" Tour - Colorado '07

This is the story ...

1 mini van (special thanks to the Andersens)
2 moms (Whitney & Andi)
4 very small children (Ari & Xan- 4, Nico & Nina - 2)
and 973 miles of the open road. (Route 40 to Grandlake CO)

You remember my disaster of a Friday the 13th last week? In a desperate attempt to change my luck, on a whim I called my longtime friend and hero, Whitney Bushman.

Andi -"Hey, what 'cha doing this weekend? Want to do something insane and drive to Colorado with me tonight? You know, 10 hours each way with screaming kids. Are you in?"

Whitney - "Wow, I thought road tripping was something I gave up with being single. Of course I'm in."

Andi - "Great, I'll be at your house at 7:00 pm and we will drive all night and gossip while the kids sleep. What could be better?"

Whitney - "That's in 10 hours, Andi. And I have to work all day. Sounds great ... um, I think I am going to have a heart attack."

Luckily, we didn't have to drive all night because my really nice dad called ahead and got us the very last room in Craig CO complete with continental breakfast. After leaving Whitney's house we realized two things. First, the car converter for the DVD player didn't work and second, the four little whippersnappers were far from being sleepy. The were as excited at the thought of a road trip as we were. They were great but the ride over was somewhat a kin to getting a tooth pulled with out Novocaine. Thank goodness Whitney and I have exactly the same mothering style. Basically if there wasn't any blood involved, why intervene in the natural development of a young mind.

We pulled into the hotel parking lot at 1:00 am and schlepped our little sleeping bundles up two flights of stairs where we all collapsed in a heap of bodies and blankets. My mom always said that co-sleeping with babies is like sleeping in a washing machine. Imagine sleeping with FOUR of them. These are some well traveled tots and no strangers to hotel life. Here they all are far too early the next morning with Ari making his own "Boys Don't Cry" music video with the flicker camera. (Ari is the hippest kid I have ever met. He can sing ALL of the Cure's songs and will sing them for Nico when he is upset until he stops crying. Now that is brotherly love.) Next you have breakfast in bed a'la Best Western. Mmmm, ripe bananas and two year olds. Maybe I should have left a tip for the cleaning lady.

But the trip there was definitely only half the fun. This is the view from the front of the cabin. These are twin moose yearling calves and an osprey bird of prey swooping in across the meadow from a recent fishing trip. Ari nearly got trampled by the momma moose for trying to get too close to her babies. She was 15 feet away from him and staring him down with her ears pinned back. I would have taken a picture but I was busy saving his life. Later when Whitney asked him why he was running towards the moose, Ari explained that he wanted to ride them. If you give a kid a moose - he will want to ride him.

(p.s. It's nice to be back online again and I promise more Colorado pics soon.)