Full Speed Ahead

Skiing.  It's what we do in Breckenridge in the winter.  The conditions were ideal our first day out, and then the weather and visibility tanked for almost a week.  I mean, temps that never made it to the double digits (in Celcius, they never made it above -12, as the high), the wind that blew, and almost no visibility.  All conditions that kept us home.  And then we sucked it up when it hit anywhere above 15 degrees.  No matter - it was fun.  A blast, really.  And I only have a few snaps and videos to prove we were there at all because we were too busy running the slopes.

First lift, the first day.

Before really heading down the first run.

Holiday's always mean a line at the bottom.  So we try not to hit bottom.

Instead, we stay mid-mountain and keep riding up.  But then the lifts are slower.  This gives me time to take great snapshots when sitting, but I am not sure it saves us any time.

She posed for me so I could show how bad the visibility was.  We are pretty close to the bottom.  We should be able to see the runs of Keystone in the background...

This is what it was like on the way up.

Final Run.  Final Day.

Hot chocolate for the gondola ride home.

And of course the many entertaining faces of MadHatter.

Until next time Breck.

Snowmobiling Fun

Some of you may remember our snowmobiling fun last year.  It was our first time, it was at sunset, and it was also when I gave myself a black eye.  You don't remember?  You can refresh your memory by clicking here.  This time we were seasoned.  And we weren't going to the top of the peaks to catch the sunset.  I was pretty confident I could get out of this unscathed.  And thankfully, I was correct.  The only thing I might have changed about the whole thing was the girl that was handing out our snowsuits erred on the side of too big for each and every one of us.  Like 3 sizes too big.  I could have fit both kids in my suit!  And that left me a bit chilly at times as too much wind could get in through the gaps in the neck.  But all in all - a fantastic afternoon spent with family.  I can't wait to do it again when the girls are old enough to drive their own sleds (only 3 years for MadHatter as you only need to be 15!).

Ready to go!

My sidekick.

Sam and I at the top.

Splitting the continental divide.

Snowshoe Paradise

Christmas afternoon and MadHatter and I were getting a bit claustrophobic.  We decided the way to cure that was get outside and do some snowshoeing around the neighborhood.  Luckily for us, the neighborhood is part of the Nordic Center's trails so we have free and easy access.  Since it was a leisurely stroll, I let MadHatter lead the way and stop whenever she wanted (which was a lot).  Mostly she stopped because she saw a cute tree, or wanted to figure out where we were or needed to eat some snow.  Once she stopped to pose just like the man in the pictures on the trees telling us that we were on the right path (the wrong path is the cross country ski trail).  Mostly we just had fun being silly and getting out in the fresh air.

Getting a selfie with us is a feat...

MadHatter declared this the cutest tree in the forest.

A few days later, the temperatures and visibility dropped below zero Fahrenheit so we decided that skiing was just not an option.  MadHatter just didn't want to be out in the cold so I took a solo snowshoe, this time through the back yard and down around the city.  I could move a bit faster than I can when I have people with me, but it doesn't mean I didn't stop to enjoy the beauty that surrounded me.  And snap a few pictures...

The backyard swing.

Visibility is so poor you can hardly make out the ski slopes.

Three trees, growing up together.

About all that was visible of me that day in the cold.

Spring Break Wrap-up

After our Saturday spent indoors, we spent the next morning skiing until we couldn't ski anymore...

 The only picture I snapped all morning.

 And then we headed downtown to have some lunch and do a little bit of shopping.  The girls wanted Eric's (and who am I to deny them good bar food?) and they wanted to get each of our little guests a souvenir to take home with them.  Again, who am I to deny them some fun shopping time?

 It started really coming down!

And then we repeated it all the next morning - this time taking L with us to ski until we were exhausted.  It was our final day on the slopes for the season so we made sure to make it last!

 After this tired girl got up, we decided to go in and grab a hot chocolate break...

 And then went right back at it...

 MadHatter was a great help on the two-person lift.

 I even let these two go up once together!

  A final shot before heading all the way down and in.

We came off the slopes, tired and hungry, but happy.  It was a great time but it was now time to start packing it all into suitcases and clean the house.   The I family had a long drive ahead of them in the morning and we wanted to make sure they got an early start.  We turned in early but not before greeting our guest at the back door...

One final picture and they were off...

And we were right behind them the next morning...

And this poor little one paid the price for all of our fun - she was sick when we got home :(  But she said all of the fun was well worth it.