Lucas and I took our first guys trip together when we visited my sister in Colorado in late January. From the time we got to the airport to the time we landed back home 4 days later, Lucas was an intrepid and inquisitive adventurer. He loved every minute of it and got to spend fun, quality time with Kym And Marc.
After picking us up at the immense Denver airport Kym and Marc drove us up the mountain to Dillon, where they live (elev. 9000 ft.!).
Lucas slept for most of the car ride, but awoke just before we got to Kym and Marc's place. Opening his eyes and seeing the steep, snow-covered peaks got his attention and his eyes were focused out the window until we arrived.
For his first time ever experiencing snow, he didn't skip a beat - as soon as we arrived, Lucas lept out of the car and treaded into the knee-deep snow, wearing blue jeans and a pair of sneakers.
That first afternoon we went sledding at the school behind Kym and Marc's house.
Lucas LOVED his snow outfit that Kym had borrowed from a friend, especially the helmet and goggles. Lucas even wore the goggles and helmet when we were walking the streets of Breckenridge, looking at the ice scupltures.
The second day we went for a hike and Marc graciously pulled Lucas in the sled while we trudged up and down the hills and through the snowy aspens and pines . Lucas loved it! Especially the downhill sections, where Marc would start running to keep up with the sped of Lucas' sled. They disappeared off in the distance as Kym and I walked, but you could hear Lucas' voice echoing through the trees "FASTER! FASTER!" His screams interrupted only by histerical giggling as Marc complied.
Occasionally we stopped for a snow ball fight, or just to jump in the deep powder.
We went skiing in the last full day we were there. Lucas was excited about the cool ski boots and skis and initially did great.
We took a short easy trip down a gradual hill that went to the ski lifts. Straddled between my legs he did great, even yelling, "I'm doing it! I'm skiing!"
Unfortunately our ski outing was cut very short because soon after going down that first gradual hill, Lucas got cold and tired and refused to put his skis back on, so we headed into the ski lodge and got some hot chocolate. Lucas was pretty much fried after that and the rest of the afternoon all he wanted to do was to stay inside where it was warm. And I don't blame him - it was COLD.
On the drive back to the Denver airport, we stopped at the railroad museum in Golden. What an awesome experience - they had restored old steam and diesel engines that you could climb into and pull the control levers, open the coal furnace, ring the bells and pretty much pretend you were the engineer and conductor of an old stem locomotive.
Of course, Lucas loved every second of it.
