Mom Swap

On Monday, my sister accompanied her two kids on a flight from DCA to DEN using my buddy passes! I took over her Mommy duties, and then she attempted to use a buddy pass on my airline, as well as her flight benefits on her airline, to get back to DCA. But there were no seats available. So she ended up in New York City and spent the night with Jen...but didn't exactly assume my Mommy duties! She arrived at around 11PM, took Jen out to eat, then to a comedy club, then to an Irish bar. Jen didn't get back to her apartment until 5AM. I can't say I would have done the same - but my sister is younger, crazier, and was kid-free that night! More power to her!!!

In the meantime, I brought my sister's kids to our place in Breckenridge. The kids were pretty tired from their early morning flight, so we kind of sat around and relaxed for the rest of the day. We had hamburgers on the grill (thank you, Matthew!) and corn on the cob. The kids enjoyed the pool and lots and lots of cable TV!

Matthew and Natalie enjoying our deck at the cabin.

Natalie sipping on a full-strength Coke (aren't I a great aunt??!?).

Matthew (not wanting his picture taken) relaxing on the deck.

Yesterday, I took them to the top of Keystone Mountain via the gondola. Boy...did we notice the altitude! We walked around a bit, took some photos, did a wee bit of treasure hunting, and headed back down the mountain.

Matthew and Natalie with the North Peak of Keystone in the background.

Matthew and Natalie with Lake Dillon in the background.

Woo hoo! Natalie standing on snow!

Matthew standing on a snowpile. It'd be a bigger deal, I guess, if they came from somewhere that didn't have any snow...but Virginia is not one of those places!

Natalie on the gondola ride back to the River Run base area of Keystone.

Natalie and Matthew on the gondola ride back down Keystone Mountain.

I had to bribe the kids to get them to pose for this photo...the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory was located just behind this cutout. We ate dessert before lunch!

After eating a lunch of grilled hamburgers (thanks again, Matthew!), we went to Breckenridge to walk around. I thought for sure that the stores, river, and/or scenery would be of interest to teen and a tween, but they didn't seem too enthused. So we drove up to Breck's alpine slide, and I was the one who wasn't too enthused - the last time I rode on that I left a lot of skin on the slide track. But had the kids wanted to ride on it, I would have sucked it up and gone. Fortunately, they didn't seem to be that interested in it (thank goodness!).

So, back to the cabin we went - where the kids had some pool time, some tv time, a dinner of soup and bread provided by "mi Zuppa," and then more tv time! At one point, Natalie came downstairs to watch the big tv because Matthew was making her watch a documentary about WWII on the little tv upstairs!

I need to relax and realize that vacations are supposed to be spent relaxing and rotting brains!!!