A Sleepover, a Storm and Our “Adventure”

Emma loves going to our cabin.  It has become a tradition to spend the night there at least once during any given trip to Aspen.  Yesterday was our designated “sleepover” night and Emma was beside herself with excitement.  We packed backpacks and some bags up, put them into the front of the 4-wheeler and set off.  This is our equivalent of taking a fully equipped camper out to a campsite and calling it a “trek.”  I made a number of derisive comments about our lack of adventure (aka laziness) while Richard and Emma ignored me.  At one point Richard stopped the 4-wheeler and said, “No one’s stopping you from walking, you know.”  Which pretty much shut me up.  Until we ran into this –

Richard, not one to be easily deterred, proceeded to put the 4-wheeler in reverse in an attempt to go around the tree branch, and in doing so went up a steep incline and over a large boulder, while almost flipping it.  After much excitement (aka me yelling in a hysterical voice, “you’re going to flip it!” causing Richard to say, as one wheel hovered a full foot off the ground, “you know, you’re not exactly helping.”  Eventually he brought the 4-wheeler to a stop with all four wheels planted firmly on the ground (much to my relief) and we abandoned it.  “Well you get the best of both worlds,” Richard remarked, as we hoisted our backpacks and bags (some filled with Emma’s books) on our backs.  “Now you get to walk.”

When the cabin came into sight Emma, carrying the bag with her books in them, began to run.

“It’s the cabin!”  Emma yelled as she bounded up the steps.  We settled in, put the screens into all the windows, swept up the cobwebs and made up the beds, while clouds began to roll in over the mountains.  A number of red-tailed hawks flew overhead calling to each other, or at least that’s what I assumed they were doing.

The rain came first preceded by a smell I cannot describe, but one that I recognize as being the forerunner to a storm.

Lightening and thunder followed.  The rain came down in sheets.  Emma stayed inside.  She peered out the window and made loud crashing noises.  “It’s scary,” she said.  “I don’t like it.  Mommy come.  Sit together.”  So we did.

But eventually she felt safe enough to go sit next to her dad on the porch.  Together they watched the storm.

Within an hour the storm had blown past and Emma was happy.

By 10:00PM all of us were asleep.  Emma slept until after 8:00AM.  This was noteworthy as her usual waking is 6:00AM.  Reluctantly we packed up and made our way back to where we’d abandoned the 4-wheeler.

When we got back home, where Nic and my mother were I said, “I bet you guys were worried about us during that terrific electrical storm!”

My mother smiled and said, “No.  Actually when it began to rain we said to each other – Boy am I glad we stayed home!”

They have no idea what they missed.

Related articles

• Huffington Post, Life and What’s Really Important
• Emma’s Momentous Sleepover And How We Barely Coped
• Sleepovers, Staycations, Sixteen Hours & Other Words Beginning With the Letter “S”
• Expectations and My Reluctance To See What Is