Colorado Day 2

Tuesday, May 10th

The tiny person will not sleep in her bed. Up every hour again. Finally I take her into bed around 3:30. But I’m WIDE AWAKE. So, it’s a perfect opportunity to do some hiking trail research, as that is my big plan for my time today.

My goal is to be out of the house at sunrise and have a magical walk in the early morning air. Teeny decides that unless I am laying next to her, pretending to sleep she will scream as loud as she can. We finally end our standoff around 5 and I get Derek up so he can take the screaming little banshee.

Sidenote: Goose is feeling two HARD. I have never dealt with such constant screaming. Or, if the other two were this bad I entirely blocked it out. For example, today in the car she was trying to see what frequency of sobbing would make me drive into a tree and she was asked why she was crying. Keep in mind that we’ve been offering solutions intermittently which, up until now, has only increased the volume. She stops crying and with absolutely glee in her voice chirps, “I don’t know,” and is fine the rest of the trip. I may have inadvertently taught the other two how to roll their eyes while they mutter curses under their breath.

Ok, back to business. I do finally get my walk, an hour late. But it’s pretty fucking lovely so I cannot complain. Any more. We load them up for breakfast and while Derek does some yoga (what?!?) and meditation we finish up. Our meal ends when the littlest terrorist is told she cannot take her juice with her and utterly loses her shit. I can barely hold the wriggling, boneless mess as we leave. I forgot how much fun toddlers in public are.

While we wait for Derek to find enlightenment I take my Gremlins for a story walk around a big ass pond. I like it here. They run, they throw things in the water, they scream at geese – it is a perfect morning walk.

Parent switch.

It’s my time again so I go to Rockie Mountain National Park to hike. The trail is lovely but very quickly turns into an adventure.The trail is part creek and have just climbed over the third fallen tree when I am suddenly in snow up to my knee. The creek is not so much a creek at this altitude. Time to turn around and try something else. But as I start to descend I’m struck by the view and just sit. And cry. And miss my brother. And cry.

I find myself another trail and it’s just beautiful. Exactly what I needed, except I don’t have a lot of time. And I have to pee. I cannot pee outside. It’s a real issue for me. Even drunk, at barrel parties, I could never get myself to do it. I got myself a she-wee thing so that I could pee outside without it becoming a disaster. So. Here I go. It’s a disaster. This thing is not as self-explanatory as I had anticipated. It just turns everything into a sprinkler. I, a 40 year old woman, am standing in the middle of the woods, pee spraying everywhere, a complete mess. It is time to go home.

I get back to the cabin in time to do another parent swap and we go into town for a quick picnic snack by some more beautiful mountains and streams. We find mud to stomp and a playground to round it out. We’re all pretty spent so food, showers, and bed.