Not Me Monday

It's that time again! But this story starts almost three years ago... In July of 2006 I planned a vacation for our family. It was Todd, me, our four boys, my mom and sister and we packed up and flew across the country to beautiful Colorado. I was super excited and proud of myself for getting Todd further West than Alabama and while the logistics were my responsibility the activity agenda was Todd's baby. FYI flying with eight people is an adventure in itself especially if some of your entourage includes male children ages five, three, two and six months and let's just say getting from the Airplane to Frisco and then getting from Frisco back onto the airplane are "Not Me Monday" post worthy stories...for another day. We stayed in Frisco, visited friends in Littleton and relatives in Arvada, toured some sites in Denver, walked around Breckenridge and spent a day in Aspen. Getting from Frisco to Aspen without taking a three day tour of Nebraska, Wyoming and Utah requires a little jaunt on Highway 82 (or so Todd's story went). Highway 82 made a Yahoo Travel article called America's Scariest Drives and if you want to check it out you can go here. There aren't words...really. I'm not sure I would do it again. We saw a family pulled off to the side wiping vomit off of a carseat! We had to stop ourselves to breathe in some of the oxygen deficient air and let Aunt Katie and Tucker's stomachs rest. Experiencing the fear of plunging to my death for hours at a time is a little much for me. Clearly we survived but I would never put myself in that position again...nope, not me, not ever!!!!

Here are Jackson and Tucker playing in the Aspen fountains (they are the squirps that are dressed in the middle):

Here's one of my favorite pictures from our trip. Todd took little Jackson and Tucker on a short hike one afternoon in Frisco and they picked flowers for mommy...awwww!

And here are all four boys in front of the Denver Children's Museum. This picture is most certainly not bringing a little tear to my eye! I would never well up looking at pictures of smaller versions of my little people...never, not me!!



And having escaped death by plunge once I would never, ever put myself in that position again...not me!!! On our way home yesterday from Asheville I might have suggested that we find a scenic spot to take a family picture. And then might have suggested that we head off I-40 towards a sign that said Great Smoky Mountain National Park. I was thinking "National Park" would mean nice, wide, paved road with a spectular spot meant for taking cute pictures with ease. It probably added about an hour and a half (for a whopping 14 mile round trip adventure I might add) to our normally 10 hour trip and included some white knuckling and deep breathing. The road was windy, single laned, washed out in places and did not include guardrails. Todd reassured us all by telling us that if we slid off the edge we couldn't possibly go ALL the way because the bigger trees would stop us. Thanks babe. Honestly, this road paled in comparison to highway 82 but I'm not sure it was worth this...


but it might have been worth this...


I would never endanger our lives for pictures...at least never, ever again...not me (unless it's for the "perfect" shot)!!!

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