Caedmon's Senior Trip!

We took a week of our Christmas to enjoy a family trip with just the 5 of us - most likely our last one while all 3 kids are at home!  Our first stop was the Texans vs Chiefs game in Houston!  We got a late start due to a funeral at church, but we eventually got outta here and made the 5 1/2 hour drive to Houston!

Here we go!  Ready to be gone for 7 days!

This girl is a MESS.  I can't say that enough. ;)

Quick stop in College Station at Koppe for some GOOD burgers!  

Houston traffic on a Saturday night...whyyyyy???

Finally at our hotel a 1/2 mile from the Texans stadium - time to bust out the Risk!

And to work on her dual credit Winter term college Psychology class..

To be clear, my kids are Chiefs fans, not Texans fans.  Which is ok, since most everyone else at the game was too!

These tickets were Cason's 14th birthday present, and he had a GREAT time!

My guys!

Cambree and I did NOT go to the game.  (Cambree's comment was, "Who would think it's fun to watch football in this weather?!"  (it was 60 and sunny...))

So instead, we spent the day at Ross, Plato's, Jason's Deli, and 1/2 Price Books in Pearland!

After the game, it was time to hit the road again!  We drove 7 hours Sunday evening to get to our hotel in Childress, Texas around midnight!

Starbucks stop for the win!

Cason never says a word in the car until he hears us mention food - then he perks up!  This boy can EAT.

La Espanola in Dalhart, TX had the biggest sopapillas I had ever seen and was also the most expensive meal we ate! 

Shenanigans with Cambree in the truck...

This guy drove and drove...

While Cason slept and slept...

For 4 1/2 hours, I was relegated to the back seat.  It was great.  No, really.

Caedmon drove from Childress to New Mexico, and on the way home from Lubbock to Roscoe to give Blu a break!

More goofiness!

Finally!!  

The Colorado views make the drive so worth it!

As soon as we got to our (VERY nice) Airbnb, Blu and I headed to Target for groceries and I got to work making breakfast casserole for our next 3 mornings!

Such a pretty view from our patio!

Caedmon looks SO much like Blu here!

I learned to play Madden this trip...and I might be really good at it... ;)

We loved The Colorado Store in the town we stayed in!

Hot tea nonstop!

Such a great space!

Lots of games were played - Blu & Cason got in a game of Chess.

Cambree manned the fire nonstop!

My morning view!

Silverthorne, CO was such a great town as a home base! It was way bigger than I pictured (hello Target and Starbucks!), and it was only 15 min from Breck, 45 from Beaver Creek, and 30 from Vail!

So handsome!

So goofy!

Somehow the boys convinced me & Cam to play Risk - yuck!

Blu was going to jump in the river but quickly changed his mind!

We braved a snowstorm to hit up the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for my favorite apples!

I also braved the 5 degree weather to get some senior pictures of Caedmon!

We introduced our kids to Father of the Bride, and they LOVED it!

He looks so OLD here!

I love this face :)

Blu and Blu Jr.

Now this game I like!

Headlocks for baby Cason!

Blu won :(

We saved Scrabble for our last night!

I kissed him even though he beat me. :(

We had 3 days to ski (and we went during the worst winter storm in history to hit the US, but we survived!).  We picked Breckenridge first to get our feet under us since it was the resort closest to us. It was a pretty day, but it was also crowded on the slopes!

If I'm ever laughing in a picture, I can almost guarantee you that Cambree said something ridiculous... ;)

Fun, but I'm old!  BUT I'm so proud of the fact that I learned to ski at the age of 38 after 3 knee surgeries - that's a big deal! :)

My babies ready to hit the slopes!

Here I come!

It was cold - we needed a break!

A fun photo shoot with Cam in the trees!

And in front of an orange wall :)

Caedmon at Breck - Cam and I skied without the boys, so there's not as many pics of them!  (For some reason, they didn't want to stop while skiing for a photo shoot...)

I leaned against this tree and let's just say it was NOT a sturdy tree!

Here comes Cam!

Caedmon's hair had us ALL laughing at this pic!

Crowded in Breck!

More fun in the trees!

And somehow I fell on the easiest green skiing back to the parking garage when I turned around to see where Cam was.. who immediately whipped out her phone and said, "Daddy will kill me if I don't document this!" 

Ski lift for 5!

Caed was tired...

Hanging out!

Cason wants to ski nonstop...he's not very patient when he has to wait ;)

Waiting for the boys inside where it's warm!

Blu planning out the guys' next route!

So pretty!

Definitely the most stylish Tidwell skier! :)

We honestly contemplated not skiing at all on Days 2 and 3 of our trip, because the winter storm had arrived and it was supposed to be SO cold and windy!  There were signs on the highways saying to "brace for extreme cold" and warnings about the roads.  BUT we decided to go for it, and we were so glad we did! 

Beaver Creek is my favorite ski resort!  The slopes are very wide, the greens and blues are awesome, and it just has a very family-friendly feel about it!

Taking a break with some hot cocoa!  Don't let the sun deceive you - it was SO cold!  8 degrees!

Blu was SO mad at me in this pic because I let the kids go ahead and do a run down while he was parking.  ;) He is kinda like Cason - he doesn't want to miss out on ANY of the skiing!

Cason is our big time skier.  He skies blacks at full speed and terrifies all of us!

Cambree was DONE and COLD!  She and I only did 2 runs this day - they were long runs though!

We swapped ski clothes several times!

A jumbo pretzel and nachos for the win!

Fun! (We also took some GREAT senior pics of Caed this day, but those will be shown later.. :)

We spent our last day in Vail.  We were CRAZY for doing this, but it turned out really well.  The roads were horrendous - wrecks everywhere, swirling snow making it hard to see - we drove 40 mph most of the way to Vail!  But once we got there, it was glorious!  Cam and I had turned our ski equipment in early for a refund (because WHO would choose to ski in -11 wind chills?!).  So we dressed cute and planned to explore the village of Vail.  (If you haven't been to Vail, picture Fredericksburg, TX in the mountains!)  We assumed the guys would maybe do one run and then give up, but they said the snow was perfect, the lifts were almost empty, and it was a GREAT day of skiing for them!

There they go!

With some hot chocolate breaks at the top of the mountain of course!

Cason took a hard fall (and hit a tree as well!  Blu told me 2 days after we got home, "Did I tell you Cason hit a tree???"). He's fearless.

SO many road closures and wrecks!

Ready to go exploring!

Ready for the last day of skiing!

Cam and I walked from fire pit to fire pit!

We stopped at the Blue Moose Cafe for pizza - yum!

I love Vail so much!

We hit the jackpot when we found the heated visitor center with a fireplace and couches - we waited for the boys here!

I HATE buses.  I hate public transportation - I hate feeling trapped.  So I was shocked to find myself hopping onto a bus to get from point A to point B with Cam.  It's amazing the things you'll do when you're absolutely frozen!

At least the bus wasn't crowded....

Look, another fireplace!

And then we had to get more chocolate covered apples of course!  

Vail is so pretty!  The town was pretty crowded!

So were the roads...

Cuties!

And that's a wrap!  We drove 14 hours home on Friday just in time for Christmas Eve on Saturday and Christmas on Sunday!  We NEVER would have imagined that we would become a skiing family after living for 10 years in Africa!  It all goes back to the Christmas trip we took 4 years ago to Cloudcroft when it snowed 12 inches in 24 hours and the slopes were amazing and all 4 of us learned and fell in love with it!  We love having something we all do together! (Though after every trip, Cambree swears it's her last one because she hates the cold!)  It was a great senior trip for Caedmon - memories forever!