Have Triplets, Still Travel: Colorado

We are settling back in at home after our longest road-trip yet with the boys. We spent last week in snowy Vail, and it was (for the most part) a wonderful trip!

We left Thursday afternoon with the goal of making it to the west side of Kansas City before stopping for the night. We timed our drive so that we were rolling through St. Louis at dinnertime, which meant we were able to introduce the boys to one of our favorite STL fast food places- Lion's Choice. I've mentioned before that we typically get at least a couple comments when we have the boys out and about. Our trip to Lion's Choice was no exception. Several employees and diners asked us the typical questions- "are they triplets?" "all boys?", and of course the staple comment- "wow, you sure do have your hands full!". One couple and their teenage son stopped by and asked if the boys were triplets. When we replied yes, the mom shared that they had triplets, too! Their son that was with them was one of 3 boys (nearly 17). It was nice to talk to a family who related so much with us. They even shared a piece of advice with us: make sure that all 3 boys are on the same sports team! It will free up your weekends more than you realize. Mentally noted for the future. :)

Dinner in STL

Breakfast in KC

We stayed in Denver on Friday night, then met up with some of Will's college friends for an early lunch on Saturday before heading up to the mountains. There were 7 kids under the age of 6 at lunch, which meant that there was minimal adult interaction, but it was still nice to see everyone, and have our kids finally meet- in particular, our friend Jess's son, Ben. Ben has been a big fan of the boys from very early on, so I think he was thrilled to meet them in person. And special thanks to Mom of the Year Jess for letting our boys steal all the books she brought along to entertain the group!

Watching Dad unload in Denver

Saturday morning cartoons

Lunch crew

The house we rented in East Vail was perfectly set up for our party of five, plus one. We kept the boys on the main floor most of the time- we gated the main entryway off and kept them confined to the big open floor plan with the kitchen, dining, and living space all together. They had freedom to roam around and we didn't have to worry about them falling down stairs (apparently just big Will...but more on that later!). The boys' favorite room in the house was probably the theater room. They really liked watching their Baby Signing Time DVDs on the big screen! The favorite part of the house for the adults was definitely the hot tub. There's nothing better than a nice soak while it's snowing all around you!

The boys' favorite spot

Griffin's favorite toy- we found it at the house

Saying 'chhheeesseee'

Love their little bear suits!

A favorite game during the week- hide in the wine box

Mom and Dad's favorite spot in the house- the hot tub. Yes, we are wearing swimsuits!

Nature's cooler

Winter wonderland

I wasn't willing to join Will on this ski trip unless I had someone to help me with the boys while he was out during the day. Fortunately we were able to recruit our friend Lizzie to fly out and join us for the week. It was so very nice to have her around! The boys loved playing with her, and we were able to get out and about every day since I had an extra set of hands with me.

We love Lizzie!

Griffin really loves Lizzie

Loves her a lot!

Ladies Night!

Aside from Will's mission to ski for 4 days, we had very little planned for the week. While he was skiing, Lizzie and I would hang around the house after breakfast and then pack the boys up to run around town. Some days it was just a trip to the grocery store, but most days we drove to Vail and walked around town. We had hoped to do most dinners out as a group, but the boys promptly proved that they weren't up for that idea on the one night we took them out, Sunday night. They were awful during dinner. It was honestly the worst dining experience we have had with them to-date. Cooper refused to sit in his chair (the strap was broken, so he really couldn't have safely been in the seat anyway), Will screamed nearly the entire time, and Griffin launched anything he could get his hands on across the restaurant. We ordered their food as soon as we sat down, as we always do, and decided while we waited for their order to come that the adults were going to get their food to-go. They were being that bad. Ugh, it was just terrible and frustrating and embarrassing. And extremely disheartening since we had planned to do most of our dinners out as a family. We ended up rotating adult dinners out after the kids went to bed- Lizzie and I had a night out, Lizzie and Will went to diner one night, and Will and I went out on his birthday.

Since dinners were a no-go, we changed it up and met Will for lunch a couple times in between his ski sessions. We went to Garfinkels twice with the boys. Previously thought to be a good apres-ski spot, we were happy to find that it was also a kid-friendly lunch destination.

Outside our favorite lunch spot

Happy bears

The boys got a few rounds of play time in the snow- some (Griffin and Cooper) enjoyed the experience more than others. Griffin and Cooper would have happily stayed outside all day if we had let them. Will, our little cautious one, was not as entertained by the snow but he tolerated it as long as an adult was holding him.

In his happy place!

Loving the snow!

Are we done yet?

He did love it some of the time. :)

But this little guy loved it the whole time!

Showing off his gloves

A rare photo of everyone looking!

Unfortunately there was a hiccup in our fun week. On Wednesday night, his last night as a 36 year old, Will slipped on the steps leading down to our bedrooms when we were taking the boys down to bed. He was carrying Cooper when he slipped. Thankfully, Cooper was just fine, but Will's knee did not fare so well. He and Lizzie still went out to dinner as planned after the boys went down but he was up most of the night hurting. So much so that we ended up taking him to the ER first thing Thursday morning. When I picked him up a few hours later he was sporting some new accessories- a knee brace and crutches- and had some instructions about the rest of the week- no driving back to Tennessee. Technically he could have driven back but it would have been a miserable experience for all parties involved, so we decided to book him a flight home and enlist someone to help me drive home instead. Nana to the rescue! I called my mom to see if she'd be willing to help us and thankfully she was available.

Our CO trip ended up being cut short by a day, but after Will's injury we were all ready to be back home. I was ~~probably~~ definitely not the nicest person to be around on Thursday. I was disappointed that our trip was ending on a bad note, sad that Will was hurt, mad that I was stuck packing up everyone and loading the car by myself, irritated that Will's birthday was a bust, and upset that our family fun days were not going to happen. And I was ~~probably~~ definitely not as nice to Will as I should have been on his birthday. I took my frustrations out on him, which wasn't fair to him. But I tried to make it up to him later that night by going out to a quiet birthday dinner, just the two of us.

Happy Birthday Will!

Friday morning Will was picked up very, very early for his trip back to Nashville. The boys and I hit the road a few hours later so we could get to Denver in time to pick up my mom from the airport. Lizzie stayed behind an extra day and left on Saturday, as originally planned. My mom flew in to from St. Louis and was on the ground long enough to walk to baggage claim where we picked her up and immediately headed back east towards St. Louis. We picnicked at a rest stop somewhere in eastern Colorado, then drove across the entire state of Kansas before stopping just past Kansas City for the night. While I was driving, Mom organized an impromptu family reunion for the next day in St. Louis.

On the road again

Rest stop picnic

Running off steam

Griffin loves the bell carts!

Will, headed home

Amazingly, Molly and her kids, Dad, Shaughn and Andrea were all able to get away for a night so we met up for another picnic lunch in Forest Park, then let the kids run around and enjoy the beautiful day. We had dinner at Blueberry Hill, and the boys enjoyed riding to and from the restaurant in the hotel shuttle- their first time in a car without being in car seats. Molly gave Griffin and Cooper their first haircuts on Sunday morning before I packed us up one last time and made the final 5 hour stretch back home. Needless to say, we were all quite happy to be home. It was quite an eventful trip!