My trip!

Okay!  Here I am....again!  It's been a while, but it's been sort of a crazy week!  I left for Colorado last week, and haven't been home long.  Well, I have been home for a couple of days, but I've needed these days to recoup from my vacation.  I don't think we had a still moment the entire time I was away.  I am not used to that at all.

Colorado was great!  I got to try my hand in skiing.......and that was interesting to say the least.  I never knew it would be so hard.   The morning we left to go skiing I was sick so I knew it would probably be a rough day for me.  I was fine, just a little grouchy I guess you could say.  I honestly thought we would get out there and it would be a piece of cake.  Ummmm.....No.  Even putting on the flippin' ski boots was a task.  I literally was out of breath just from putting them on.  Hey!  They weigh like 30 lbs a piece.......or so it seemed.  I actually put my first pair on, walked out into the snow where we were to practice, looked around and thought "Why is nobody else in excruciating pain?!"  It was not but a few minutes later when I thought my legs would give out due to the lack of circulation.  I asked our instructor if that was normal, and he said no.  I had to go all the way back in and endure that brutal experience of  removing and replacing the boots again.  You never realize just how out of shape you are until something like putting on shoes makes you out of breath.  It made me realize how pitiful I am.  Anyway, I got out there and tried, and even though I wasn't the worst in our group, I knew I couldn't be even close to the best when our instructor sent me over to the 3-4 year old group for them to help give me lessons.  Our lessons lasted a couple of hours so by the end of that, I was drained.  Completely.  I didn't sleep well the night before.  I guess just from being sick, and being away from Hayley.  After we finished our lessons, Eddie wanted to hit what he called "Dead Man's Slope".....LOLOL.......or maybe I called it that after I saw a guy that was in our group come down it and end up all mangled in the net/fence.   It really wasn't a steep slope by any means, but after I failed miserably on the hill the size of my ditch.......I knew I wouldn't make it off that hill alive......or at least w/ bones in tact.  I honestly can say that the whole "ski" adventure was probably the worst workout I have ever had.  Sad, huh?!  I just knew I'd be miserably sore the next day and unable to walk.  Fortunately, I was wrong.

After skiing, I insisted on a nap.  Like I said before, I didn't sleep the night before.  I know it sounds crazy, but I think I had every thought in my head that night.  I guess it was normal thoughts, but who knows?  I'm not away from Hayley much, so I was feeling a little sick to my stomach.  I laid there thinking terrible thoughts.  What if something happened to Hayley??  What if it was something serious and I couldn't get there?  I even thought about the world coming to an end and me not being w/ Hayley when it happened.  I know, I am crazy, but if your a mom, I think you can understand.  Your mind tends to jump to worst case scenarios. 
Once we awoke from our nap we went to an Arenacross thing they had there.  I thought it might be somewhat interesting, until I got there.  Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed it.  We got to drink beer and sit around and laugh.....just relax a little.  I have to admit......the fumes were a little much, along w/ the walk into the arena (it felt like a two mile walk...haha), but aside from that it wasn't the worst.  

The next morning I think we crammed everything we could have possibly done into one day.  We woke up and pretty well winged the rest of the day.  We started w/ ice skating.  I had never been so I was really looking forward to it.  I love to roller skate, and spent a good part of my childhood doing it, so I thought ice skating would be a breeze.  Wrong again.  Skating on a single blade on ice is in fact a good bit different from skating w/ wheels on a floor.  Once again, I was in a spot where the kids were breezing past me.  That really does something to your ego.  I am not an egotistical person at all, but when you're out somewhere like skiing, or ice skating, and you have little kids spinning circles around you, it tends to bump you down a couple of notches.  I used a cone most of the time to skate myself around the rink, and when I wasn't using the cone I was holding the wall.  Towards the end, I thought I would try to be a little brave, but I failed at that as well.  I attempted to cross one leg in front of the other, just as you do when roller skating and turning a corner.  I face planted.  And it hurt.  Badly.  I immediately gave up on the whole ice skating adventure and got off the floor.  I know....I am a wuss.  I am not like most people.  I don't live "dangerously", and I never have.  I just want to live.......live and be pain-free if at all possible.

After ice skating, we went to Walmart to get a memory card for my camera, then grabbed some lunch, and then headed off to the Denver Zoo.  I really enjoyed that.  Aside from my poor shoe choice (I decided I would wear my heel boots), everything went smoothly.  It was a beautiful day and it was fun to see all the pretty animals, but again, my shoe choice was all that was on my mind towards the end of our tour.  My feet were killing me.  The only thing that helped ease the pain was to think "It could be worse.......I could be walking around in ski boots", because that was definitely BRUTAL to say the least.

We left the Denver Zoo and found a Hibachi Japanese steakhouse to eat at.   It was great and I had a ball.  When we left there, we went to see Tron in 3D at the IMAX.  It was actually good, too.  I wasn't too keen on seeing it, but I really liked it.  By the end of the day, I was slammed.  All I could think about was crawling in the bed and passing out.  My feet felt like hamburger meat from the weekend, and I couldn't keep my eyes open. 

Our flight was the next day.  I spent most of the day in bed and then packing to come home. It started snowing that morning there so when we got to the airport the runways were snowy and icy, and it freaked me out a little.  I am really not scared to fly on planes, although I hate it, I'm not scared.  I just get a little nervous when it goes to land, but I was actually nervous to take off that day due to the icy runways.  It ended up okay though, and I am home safe, typing this. I had a great time.  A weekend full of laughs and adventures.  Something that was well needed. 

When we returned I realized that on the 30th (while we were away) marked 4 months since I lost my father.  I didn't realize it on that day because I was so busy, but I was grateful for that.  It's good when you can keep yourself busy and occupied and you don't have time to sit and dwell.  Of course I thought about my daddy.  It's obvious I think about him everyday.  I thought about how much he would have loved Colorado.  Heck....how much he would have loved to have even flown on a plane.  That is something that always saddens me when I think about it......the things he never got to do.  The places he never got to see.  The love he had for being outside and doing things (when he was healthy).  I know he would have had a ball.  I always liked doing new things w/ him.  He was much like a kid, and you could see the excitement all over his face and it would make my heart smile.  Deep down I know that he is watching over me and smiling at the places I am getting to see and the things I am getting to do.  I could hear his voice as I was trying to ski, "Just do it, Taylor!  It's not going to hurt you!" LOL!  I know without a shadow of a doubt had he been there, he would have really hit THE actual "Dead Man's Slope!" LOL!