Tuesday morning turned out to be a pretty sluggish one for us. The dogs both decided to wake us up in the middle of the night…first it was Asta barking at heaven knows what, and then Islay needed to go outside around 3am.
Now normally I’d be pretty annoyed to go out in the cold at 3am, and did start out that way, but this case was a major exception. It had been pretty cloudy and dark when we turned in, and you couldn’t see much around us. But at this point of the night, the moon was apparently casting enough light to illuminate the nearby mountain.
It was magical. Dark, but the snow on the mountain was practically glowing. This was yet another one of those things no picture could do justice to, but I was thankful for having seen it.
Still, the late night wake up kind of squashed our original plan of getting up early to hit the hot springs one last time. It instead felt a lot better to have a little bit of a lazy morning before packing up. And as for the dogs, it’s hard to stay irritated with them, they are mighty cute.
It was the day of Erin’s 40th birthday, so we had a mimosa toast and nice relaxing morning. After a little breakfast, we got the car loaded and said so long to Avalanche Ranch. It was bummer to have to head home after having such a great time, but we will definitely be back. It also helps that the drive home is breathtaking, too. So many great views along the way.
It was a little jarring leaving the chilly mountains and discovering it was almost 70 degrees back in Denver. Once we got unpacked, I took the kids to the park for a little while to run some energy off. They had both gotten new stuffies…a dog and a bear…and they brought them to the park with us.
After a short visit to the park, we headed home to make Erin’s birthday cake. Amelia was proud to help and did a great job.
Erin and I ordered in some Indian food and the kids had chicken nuggets. Everyone was happy. Then it was time for Erin to blow out the candles. Amelia insisted on using the whole pack.
I’m not sure what Erin wished for, but when I looked around at my lovely family, I sure know that mine came true. It was a really fun weekend, and I hope the birthday was as special for Erin as it was for all the rest of us. Because special is what she is.
