the kids' first ski trip

I guess it will be catch up for a little bit...not that I'll catch up on everything, but maybe the big stuff.

So here's a little trip down memory lane... all the way back to the week after Christmas.

Kind of seems like forever ago already. 

But it was pretty fabulous.

 We traveled with Dave's entire family to Breckenridge the weekend between Christmas and New Years.  8 adults, 8 kids  in 3 vehicles headed to the mountains.   Even the 8 hour car ride was pretty fabulous.  Riding with cousins and getting to switch cars a few times is much more fun than being stuck with mom and dad only.

                            We had lots of combinations of riders by the time the trip was over.

The interstate had closed down to Colorado a few days before we made the trip and a few days after.  So we picked the perfect time to get there and back with no weather or road problems.

 We rented a "ski-in" townhouse so we could all be together, and be close to the slopes.  Just a quick and COLD 5 minute walk to the main street with shops and restaurants.

  It didn't take the kids long at all to find the hot tub. 

  

We had never spent time in Breckenridge before, just high school ski trips straight to the slopes.  But the main street is so neat with all it's cute shops and restaurants.

Day 1:  The kids went to ski school from 9-3, or something terribly long like that.  I was pretty nervous and had NO idea how they'd do.  It helped they'd be with cousins, but dropping them off was a tad harder than I thought it would be.  But it was worth it.  We were able to have a day of skiing with just adults, and the kids ended up having a blast. 

It was just a tad cold.  As in cold enough that we had to be careful about skin being exposed.  I had my fingers out of my gloves for just a few minutes and they hurt for over an hour afterwards.

I braved it and took my goggles off for the picture.

Gavin stayed back at the house with Papa and Nana.  But he still insisted in dressing up in all his gear when everyone else was.  Luckily there was a hill right outside the house that he could sled on. We just had to watch for skiers because he sledded right out onto the ski path.

It was so fun taking our kids back to Colorado after having been there this summer.  Colorado was beautiful in June, but nothing beats it when it's covered in snow.

Day 2:  Time for the kids to show us what they could do on their first green. The first run of the day was a nightmare.  Tears, frustration, arguing.  Basically the conversation went like this...

 "I quit!!"

"do you have ANY idea how much this cost, there is NO way you are quitting already!!"

It was ugly and I had no clue how we would make it through the day.  And to top it off, Dave had been struggling with what we thought was altitude sickness.  Major shortness of breath and heaviness on his chest.  As the morning went on he was feeling worse and worse.   So at a time that he needed extra energy and extra patience, he had none. We were kind of falling apart.
 We each stayed with the kiddo who we tend to deal the best with.  Each run we did got better and better.  Actually the 2nd run of the day was almost a complete 180 to the first. But Dave wasn't doing well at all.  We skied in for lunch and he knew he couldn't go back out.  I kind of freaked out about being responsible for 2 kids on the mountain, but luckily there were enough adults and enough kids that didn't need quite the supervision that mine did, that we divided and conquered and the rest of the day went great!  Mason tended to go pretty fast down the mountain, so someone always had to ski ahead with him.  And Taylor and her girl cousins worked hard at turns and taking it slow.

We were the "slow crew".  The biggest cousins were off skiing elsewhere and getting a lot more runs in a less busy area than we were able to get to. 

  

Can you see how big the crowd was to get in line of lifts by the base?

It was New Year's Eve and as the day went on the lift lines got longer and longer and longer.  And when you have a bunch of beginner skiers who can't go any further up the mountain to get away from the long lines at the base, we were stuck in lines almost as much as we skied.  There were a few meltdowns in lines and some attempts to lay down in line while we waited to move forward.  But all together they were troopers.  Skiing is HARD. WORK.

The kids ended up loving it and doing so well!  We finished the day being able to get down green runs with no falls.  And at the end of the day they were good enough to take the little-bit-harder run that led us to our townhouse. 

2 days is all our family could handle.  The other day everyone else skied it looked more like this...

Poor Dave was getting sicker and sicker.  He was a trooper and still tried to half-way enjoy most of the 2 days we had left.  It took us awhile to realize his breathing/lung issues were more than just the altitude.

So I had skiing duty and then the second I walked back into the house I had a little boy anxiously awaiting for more sledding and snow playing.  So back out I went.

 Having skied on New Year's Eve, we were exhausted.  We are usually late nighters and stay up to watch the ball drop with our kids but there was NO WAY.   So we had some family cuddles and then everyone crashed.  Pretty sure our eyes say it all.

Somehow even though there was room for our kids other places in the house with their cousins, we ended up having everyone in our room the whole time.

Luckily we had enough floor space for everyone but we were definitely cozy

 We filled our non-ski time with games, sledding, movies, shopping, grocery store trips and lots of eating.

  

Gavin definitely provided a lot of entertainment for everyone too.  He gets spoiled, babied, loved on, played with non-stop, cuddled, taught to say cute things, you name it.  It's pretty cool being the "baby cousin".

While the others skied another day, we ventured out just the 5 of us.

 We found the best way to get the baby around.  Never once did he complain about the amount of time we spent downtown.  He definitely had it made.

 

 

We aren't huge Starbucks people, but when Starbucks is in a cute yellow house, and there is HEAT, stopping for warm drinks was a no-brainer. 

 And then the last night we were there, after by-passing this Crepes cart all week, I decided I had to get in line.  I was the only crazy one who wanted to try them. But seriously, when the line at a place like this is a mile long for a week straight, during all parts of the day, you have got to assume you are missing out on something pretty spectacular.

I stood in line for 90 minutes.  It lightly snowed the whole time.  It was actually really beautiful.  But about an hour in I realized how cold I was getting, like all the way down to my core.  I think my blood was even cold.  So my hubby brought me my ski pants and a 2nd coat to finish out my wait.  He opted to not stand with me though. He went back to the townhouse until I called him to say I was done. 

The good thing about that long of a line is that it took nearly that long for me to even choose which flavors of crepes I wanted to try, there were TONS.

But what I didn't realize was how much they can change in a matter of minutes after not being hot and fresh anymore. Which would explain why everyone sits by the fire outside the cart and eats them there. So ordering them to-go was a little bit of a mistake.  But still good!  I would stand there again...just maybe not for 90 minutes.

It was such a fun way to ring in the new year!  Breckenridge is awesome.  The mountains are amazing.  The snow is beautiful. And skiing is fun...and exhausting.

On the way home I started feeling pretty sick.  A few days later I tested positive for influenza.  We're pretty sure that's what Dave got while we were there.

And then the rest of January was pretty much downhill from there as we fought sickness.

But we're all good now.  I THINK.

And we are gearing up for another big birthday weekend!  

SOMEONE is turning 7!