A Cabin Weekend

We are very lucky to have access to Christian's family cabin in Alma, Colorado a few miles outside of Breckenridge. The cabin belonged to Christian's paternal grandparents and is now shared by aunts, uncles and cousins. The cabin is a place where childhood memories are made for the Driver clan.

This past weekend marked Grace's first visit to the cabin and Jack's return to this peaceful, beautiful location. The fun began with the drive up accompanied by Foster the People, Fun, Zac Brown Band and interspersed with other of our favorite songs. Jack and Grace love to sing in the backseat and are quick to request their favorite song "You Raise Me Up." Grace is so darn cute clapping her hands after each song ends while Jack belts out the words to the songs he knows and asks the names of the songs he doesn't. These are the moments I dreamed of when I carried these little bundles in my belly, car trips with smiling singing kiddos.

About halfway up to the mountains it struck me that this is our first trip up without our beloved Radley. Radley loved the freedom of the cabin. He spent his days running to the point of exhaustion and digging into the bottom cabinets to devour forbidden food. We have so many funny memories with that sweet, crazy dog and we felt his absence.

After arriving at the cabin we decided to try fishing. Looking at the photos below it seems like fun was had by all.

Fun was had by most, but what the pictures do not show? Jack having more fun throwing rocks into the water than participating in the actual fishing, Grace trying to eat the bait, and me running around too uptight about someone being gouged in the eye with a fish hook to have fun. Christian however was as cool as ever. He just ignored our crazy while he drank a beer and watched the water.

The evening ended with an "adventure" in which Jack and Grace walked too close to the stream trying to imitate Christian's rock skipping and I stood nervously by waiting for the bears to attack.

Saturday offered a morning of fun in Breckenridge where we braked for lunch at the Breckenridge Brewery and stopped in to hear symphony practice in the theatre.

After naps, we journeyed out to drive the Mosquito Gulch trail. Christian drove while I read descriptions from a brochure matching roadside markers. We were well on our way when we noticed smoke clouds over the mountain ridge. Soon after we were turned around by a police officer blocking our way. A wildfire had started and we were headed straight into it if we tried to drive over the pass. We turned around and will have to save Mosquito Gulch for a future cabin trip.

 
We returned to the cabin, after stopping to throw more rocks in the stream, just in time to cook dinner. While Christian cooked our hotdogs and hamburgers; Jack, Grace and I watched a chipmunk eat dandelions.

While cleaning dishes after dinner, I spotted a deer out the window and ran to gather my family to watch the deer up close through the kitchen window. Jack was amazed and it was the perfect end to a typical cabin day.

The laid back charm of the cabin makes me love it. I am more than a little tense most of the time and the cabin forces me out of my over controlled life. Children don't sleep, we eat hotdogs or frozen pizza, we don't wash our hair and sometimes take cold showers. We get dirty and throw rocks in the stream down the way, we find adventures to fill our days and take detours. But mostly we escape from the real world and enjoy our time together.

My hope is the cabin will remain the family for years to come and one day Jack and Grace will bring their future families to make memories.