I Need a Vacation

And I'm getting one...in July, that is. I would certainly love one right now, but I'll just have to wait. I haven't blogged in a while because, quite frankly, it would have been a very depressing entry. I have had one of the most trying weeks since Ethan was a newborn. I could go on and on with what was happening, but the bottom line is that my amazing sleeper of a baby who sleeps all night and takes two good naps a day was replaced by this cuckoo kid who was up for hours on end in the middle of the night, refused to nap or would not nap for over 30 minutes. My entire week was spent trying everything -- and when I say everything I am including a drive to Dekalb this past Friday to extend a nap in his carseat -- to get him to sleep and feeling so overwhelmed when what I was doing wasn't working. It was not fun. So, what's changed? Well, yesterday, he went down for both naps easily and one went for a record breaking (for this week) 55 minutes. His night sleep is much improved, and while he was still up at 5:15 or so this morning, he slept through the night until that point, and every night he has been sleeping in a little later. The other thing that has changed is perspective. As bad as this week has been for me, I know that things could always be worse and I'm grateful for a healthy child. We know a family whose baby is recovering from his second open-heart surgery right now. He's only 2 months old. So...I'm doing my best to suck it up, calm down, and just take things as they come. Not so easy for a control freak mom like me.

What I really wanted to blog about is my big success of the week: planning our Colorado vacation for this coming July. I called this week and booked our flight using points I've accumlated on my credit card. (Short rant: I had to spend $50,000.00 in order to earn these two tickets but we will have to pay $50 each to redeem them and then an extra fee for having a child on our laps. I looked up the flight we're on and it's only $239 round trip, which isn't bad at all! Now I'm wondering if I should have used my points to rent a car instead...) We leave on July 14th and will return on the 22nd. The most difficult part of all of this has been finding lodging at an affordable price. I would rather stay in smaller, family owned places than a Holiday Inn or Best Western. Plus, I wanted a place to stay with more than one room so that when Ethan goes to sleep at 7PM, Will and I don't have to go to bed, too. And I wanted a kitchenette so we could do our own meals sometimes, saving time and money. The problem is that lodging in the summer in CO is expensive because it's the tourist season and you pay more then. I do think, though, that the places I've found are not only pretty affordable but pretty awesome, too.

Our first lodging will be in a place called Timber Lodge in Colorado Springs. We have our own cabin with one bedroom/bathroom, a kitchenette, a living room, and our own patio. There's an outdoor pool as well, which will be fun for Ethan. Here's a link to this place:

http://timberlodge.pikes-peak.com/

We'll be staying in Cabin #1. I spoke to the owner the other day and she could not have been sweeter. I love staying places where you can meet the owners. It always seems more "homey." The greatest thing about this place is its location. It's literally across the street from Garden of the Gods, one of the places we'd like to hike around:

http://www.gardenofgods.com/home/index.cfm

The owner says she walks her dogs there every day. It's also close to Pikes Peak, another place we'll be visiting:

http://www.cograilway.com/

We'll probably be taking this Cog Railway up, which I've done before and it's beautiful. Downtown Colorado Springs is also a cute area, so I'm sure we'll spend some time there as well. Our main objective on this trip is to be hiking around as much as we can, soaking in the mountain scenery.

And, for this reason, our second major destination is going to be Estes Park, a town bordering Rocky Mountain National Park. We'll be staying at the Swiftcurrent Lodge on the 19th through the 22nd:

http://www.swiftcurrentlodge.com/

Another family owned place, this one is along the Big Thompson River. Our cabin (#9) has a back patio that backs up to the river, so I'm super excited about that. We can also walk right into Rocky Mountain National Park from the lodge property so it couldn't be any more convenient. I'm sure we'll spend sometime in downtown Estes, too, which is full of fun little shops. I've also been here a couple of times, but Will has never been to Colorado. He's going to love it.

Now, you may notice that we have no place to stay on the 18th. Unfortunately, the Swiftcurrent lodge could not accommodate us that night, so we have to find someplace to stay the night inbetween Colorado Springs and Estes Park. We will probably go to a typical hotel since it's just one night. We're just trying to find an interesting place for a brief visit. Any suggestions?