Thursday, February 28, 2013

Ski Vacation!!!!

 A week away!
 
Dan and I take a ski trip every year (except the year I was pregnant with Nathan). We plan it for months and it gives us something to really look forward to! We try and go somewhere different each year, although we have been to Breckenridge several times. This year we found a good deal on a package to Steamboat, plus Dan's best friend lives in Casper so he was going to make the 4 hour drive to ski with us 1 day.
 
We bought the tickets in October and my mom took a week of vacation from work so she could watch the kids!!! ( i know, I am really lucky to have her as a mom!)
 

 
The back of the subi was STUFFED with the kids things for a week at Gram-E's. There is no way we would be able to travel as a family for more than a few days because Dan and I would have no where to put our suitcases! 


 
We flew down on Monday morning into Hayden then took a shuttle to the hotel. When we got there we unpacked, went into town to grocery shop for the week, ate dinner and then got all of our gear ready to ski the next day!
Can I just say how wonderful it was to sleep that first night without having to wake up every 2-3 hours to tend to the crier?! I forgot how much better i function and behave when I have adequate sleep!
 

Tuesday we were close to first in line for the lifts! We were a tad bit excited!
It felt great to be skiing again.
However, in Hill fashion we managed to ski a little to hard on the first day and ended up with really sore quads by the end of the day.
That night Brad, Dan's best friend, drove in from Casper to ski with us for 2 days. It was great to see him and catch up.

 
Wednesday was just as fun. Brad is an excellent skier and Dan is not that far behind him os I pushed it hard to keep up with them. They are both really good mogul skiers and I am fair, so I was wiped out tired by the end of the day. I also thought I was starving to death by 4pm, I forgot how hungry skiing makes me!



Skiing on Wednesday was also challenging because a big snow storm blew in. IT snowed all morning and most of the afternoon. IT was fun to ski in the snow at first but then visibility became a factor. I literally could not see more than 15 feet in front of me. IT was a little unnerving to be going down a steep run and not see where you are going! I know in those conditions it is better to ski in the trees because it improves visibility but that makes me nervous on the steep runs, so I just prayed I wouldn't tumble and went for it!
 
 

 
Dan managed to break his pole that he has had since the early 80's (sorry I guess this dates him a little!)
That evening he and Brad went into town to buy new poles and I soaked my very tired legs in the hot tub while munching on nutter butters and drinking hot chocolate (my favorite ski snack!)



Bad visibility
 

 
A smidgen tired after working hard!!

On Thursday we all started off skiing but Brad ended up having to leave the mountain before lunch because he had a stomach bug.
Dan and I skied the rest of the day together and I practiced my jumping (yumping, as Dan calls it).
 

Brad headed back to Casper at Lunch time. IT was sad to see him go and that he was not feeling good.
We skied the rest of the afternoon but ended an hour early because we were getting sloppy in our skiing due to very tired legs!
We sat in the hot tub for awhile which really helped.
WE enjoyed our last night of sleeping without being woken by crying too!

 
WE walked around the slopes the next morning before we headed to the airport. We watched the little kids at ski school and talked about how fun it will be when we can bring the kids with us on our ski vacations!

 
WE picked the kids up from my moms and Nathan could have cared less that we were back. I guess that means he had a fun week with Gram-E!
I am very thankful to my mom for giving us a much needed break and time away together!

 
I have to say I did miss this face while we were gone!