Knee-Deep

A couple of weeks ago B and I were experiencing cabin fever, and decided to pile the kids in the car and drive. Our wanderlust led us up to Breckenridge, where we spent the day. As it turned out, it was one of those wonderfully-sunny days in Denver, yet horribly cold and snowy days up in the mountains. This did not deter us from having fun, however. We walked around Breckenridge for a while and had some great lunch, and K1 found a fabulous kid-size snow shovel and proceeded to do the town of Breckenridge a great community service by shoveling every inch of pedestrian walkways.

We did make one cardinal parenting mistake on the trip, however. We told the kids our plans to go see an old goldmine and actually pan for gold. It was all they could talk about. Upon arriving at the place, we discovered that it was still on winter hours (a.k.a. closed as soon as the sun peaks in the sky). B and I got over our disappointment fairly quickly, but we knew we'd have to tell the kids. We drove up to the mine and the kids started to suspect something when, instead of stopping, B just turned the car around. We explained that the mine was closed and that we would have to find something else fun to do, and right away they started whining and complaining. B said 'quick - think of something fun' and the first thing out of my mouth was 'let's shovel snow!' The kids were instantly excited, and B got a good laugh about the whole exchange. Who knew that the quickest way to get your kids excited again is to suggest some back-breaking work?

So, we stopped right there at the entrance to the mine where the snow drifts were nice and big and we all got out of the car and shoveled snow. The kids loved it, and K1 was particularly happy he was able to put his new snow shovel to such good use. So, if anyone out there needs their driveways and sidewalks shoveled next winter, I'm taking orders.



Isn't B hot? He'd kill me for saying this... but he's a sexy beast!