February: Quartz Mountain Trip

The first weekend in February brought the shortest road-trip this family of four has taken. Our destination: Quartz Mountain Resort. It was only four hours away. :)

Oklahoma has mountains. Who knew?

Way back in September (or October...can't quite remember...let's go with sometime last Fall), a Travel Zoo voucher came out for Quartz Mountain Resort. Some friends suggested that a bunch of married couples should buy the voucher and then all plan to go the same weekend, so we did. Six couples total went on the trip. There were 5 kiddos, with one still in-utero. We left Tulsa on Friday afternoon, all at different times. By 7pm, we had all arrived at the resort and spent the evening checking into our hotel rooms, and then chatting and letting the 2 two-year-olds jump on a hotel bed.

Photo courtesy of Kate

Two meals were part of our weekend package, so we chose breakfast on Saturday for one of them. We all met at the resort restaurant that morning and had a leisurely breakfast. I can't remember if it was this meal or the next, but at one of them we got asked what kind of a group we were..."Is this a family reunion?  A birth class?" Nope. Just a bunch of friends set on having good ol' fashioned fun outdoors. Breakfast was followed by the feature highlight of the trip: hiking. I say "hiking" but really it was more like rock climbing, and kind of dangerous rock-climbing at that, at least with kids in tow. But, the crazy Beauclairs made the "hike", with a Zélie-baby strapped in the moby-wrap and a Blaise Michael hoisted on his dad's back, hanging on for dear life. It was awesome. Really. I loved it, even the scary parts. The view from the top was stunning and really made me miss the nothingness of my Sandhills back home. I had forgotten how free I feel in nature.

Morning view of the mountains

Family picture at the top of the mountain

The kids and I technically didn't make it to the very top. Aaron did, though, and snapped this picture. Can you see us down below?

Zélie slept the whole trip up the mountain and the whole trip back down. What trust!

Relaxing in the afternoon sun. Zélie borrowed a hat from her friend, Paul, because the morning air was a bit crisp.

After the family hike, the guys went on their own manly (read: more daring) rock climbing excursion. Afterwards, we all met up again for a picnic lunch at the amphitheater. The two toddlers ate quickly and then ran off to play again. The picture below is again courtesy of Kate, Julia's mom. She claims it could be used as either an ad for emo toddler jeans OR as a save the children photo. I couldn't agree more, particularly with the edited version! I mean, look at those two. Can Blaise GET any more serious?

The rest of the afternoon was filled with naps, board games, and talking. Aaron took both kids at one point so that I could have a nap. Thank you, husband!

Hanging out with Dad and big brother.

That evening we used our second meal voucher and ate together for supper. Supper was followed by bedtime for the kids and then a thrilling couple-of-hours-long game of Catchphrase, guys vs. girls. (Guys dominated the girls, but they didn't let it get to their heads at all. Yeah right. A rematch is much called for.) Our hotel rooms were all pretty close to one another, so we brought our baby monitors and left the sleeping children in their own rooms. At one point, there were three baby monitors sitting in the hallway (that's where they got the best reception). We got several stares, but it was well worth it. Aaron and I stayed up way past our bedtime, but getting to spend time with friends (while the kids slept!) was well worth it. It's so easy to forget what socializing is like once you become a parent!

Sunday morning Blaise woke up at the crack of dawn, so he and Aaron went on another hike while Zélie and I slept in. (How they didn't wake her up while they were getting ready for their hike is beyond me.) Upon their return, we showered, ate breakfast in our hotel room, packed up, and headed back to Tulsa. 

A cave Aaron and Blaise discovered on their hike.

Blaise on his perch overlooking the resort. Look at that sea of nothingness!
So beautiful.

Sunday was February 3rd, the Feast of St. Blaise. We made it back to Tulsa around 3pm. Blaise didn't take a nap in the car (surprise, surprise), so he fell asleep on the way to 5pm Mass...and slept through half of it. It's amazing how much more of Mass is able to be heard when the toddler is resting peacefully in Dad's arms. :) He woke up after the Homily, but was still out of it for the rest of Mass. Right before the closing prayer, Father Jack announced that we would have a blessing of throats for the Feast of St. Blaise. He invited one member of the parish to come up to receive an individual blessing...Mr. Blaise Beauclair himself! Still groggy from his nap, Blaise received the blessing quite peacefully. A general blessing of throats was given for the rest of us. I'm still not sure how I feel about that. I guess we'll see how well it works. ;)