The Real Story
Our car broke down about 20 minutes from the lodge...funny noises...turns out a pulley or belt or something had separated/come loose and the car was no longer drivable. And it was packed to the gills with all our food/bedding/gear for the weekend! What bad timing. Fortunately we weren't alone. Our friends Jenee' and Maddaly had been following us up, so I jumped in with her to go the rest of the way up to the lodge. Our plan was to unload the car and then go back for Peter, Tim and the rest of our stuff. You get the idea...a long process. Man's work. Not something for women and children to tackle. Jenee' did an amazing job of hauling heavy bags/tubs across the highway, up the hill, through the snow...to the lodge pictured above. I kept Maddaly company -- lazy pregnant one that I am. j/k
Once the car was empty, I stayed at the lodge to build a fire and heat up the pizza while the next load was fetched. I made the fire all by myself!!! With two matches! Oh, and a bunch of scrunched up paper. haha But I was still proud. Man's work, remember? So, while the lodge was slowly heating up from subzero temperatures, I figured out how to work the ovens (and how to turn off the smoke detector) and had the pizza ready just in time (without the olives/mushrooms/peppers -- long story). Tim and Jenee' hauled the rest of the stuff up the hill, I entertained kids and changed poopy diapers, and then we all collapsed by the fire, trying to warm up. Hot baths would have been nice.
It probably took an hour for my feet/legs to warm up after I crawled into bed that night. I'm not really sure how much sleep I got since all I remember is trying to climb out of the 'air-bed canyon' made by Tim. Finding comfort with three pillows arranged around me (plus a man) is quite a trick! I managed to have some seriously disconcerting dreams about past 'boy' friends, so I must have slept some. :)
We definitely found ourselves getting stir-crazy on Sabbath -- toddlers can only take so much romping in snow and there wasn't much to do indoors either. We read books, played the piano...attempting to positively entertain. The two kids were actually pretty good at entertaining each other -- when they weren't sleep-deprived. That came next. Something about the unusual environment/stimulus/perhaps a shift in routine caused both our kidlets to miss their usual nap-time. Three hours later and we were still trying! They would play in their cribs, singing and talking to each other. It was really cute! Until the third hour. :) And why did they keep pooping?? haha Peter is normally a 'once-a-day' kinda guy, but had FOUR dirty diapers that day!
Needless to say, we were exhausted mentally and physically by evening and thankful when they finally succumbed to sleep. We were almost too tired to enjoy ourselves, but managed to get in a fun game or two. Sleep came fast for me and I had a better night. Something to do with the indoor temps rising up in to the 50's. Amazing what burning a whole tree's worth of wood will do!
Morning came all too soon, with loud cries from the boy-child. He was WET. Too much milk the day before (to go along with all those attempted naps). So, we had a mess to clean up and a boy needing a bath. Sponge-bath would have to do the trick. After breakfast and clean-up, we lugged everything back down to the cars in blowing snow. Thankfully we were able to stow all our gear in other cars to take down the mountain and we rode home with Jenee'.
The sad little black Honda got a ride down later when we finally found a towing company that would work on Sunday. And go up into the snowy mountains to retrieve it. The slogan on the side of the tow-truck? "We will pick up your junk car for free! ______ Wrecking Company" What a laugh. But not very funny. We want to keep our car around for a while longer!
So how would I sum up the weekend when asked -- "How was your time?" I suppose it depends on who's asking. Do you want the real story?? Or the one presented through rose-colored glasses?
We made memories, that's for sure. I think we even bonded. So, that was worth the time and effort. But I'm not sure I want to do it all again for a very long time.
And if there are any details I forgot, it's because I've already blocked them from my memory. That's what an optimist must do to survive sometimes.