Girls escape

I am feeling refreshed and alive from my weekend wonderful winter wonderland retreat with my mom's group. This wasn't just any retreat, but a retreat WITHOUT OUR CHILDREN! We became a group about a year-and-a-half ago, and I feel very lucky to have these particular seven women in my life. I gain inspiration from each and every one of them.

We booked a night up at the Gold Lake Inn near Ward, CO. It was snowing mighty hard this weekend and most of the day Saturday we were inundated with cold temps and flakes falling from the sky. When we woke up Sunday morning the skies were clear and we were completely surrounded by blindingly white snow. It was breathtaking.

The weekend was filled with cheer as we shared stories of our children, drew upon each other's wisdom and thoroughly enjoyed being able to have a conversation without interruption. Cell phone reception was unavailable, and that made it all the better to focus on ourselves and each other.

We sat in the hot pools, dined out at their fabulous restaurant, drank wine, read trashy mags, slept in and went on a beautiful snowshoe adventure on Sunday morning. All in all a perfect weekend.

I tell people all the time about my wonderful mom's group and emphatically encourage new mother's to seek out and find one of their own. Especially for anyone that is relatively new to an area (like I was to Colorado) and without family in town, it is an invaluable local support network.

We are a mix of stay-at-home moms, part time and full-time working moms. We all talk openly about child-rearing issues without judgement, ask questions, learn from others mistakes and so much more. Our kids are all between 4 months of one another and more often than not we discover that we are having the same joys and struggles.

The big topics covered this weekend were potty training, discipline, tantrums, pre-school, daycare, toddler beds and talking. Two of the moms left their little ones overnight for the first time. I feel honored that a weekend away with the girls was the driver of that brave decision.

We vowed to make it an annual event and hope to do an additional one in the summer with the kids in tow. Thanks ladies for such a wonderful time.