Colorado 2011

So, at 3am on March 24th our alarm clocks went off to wake us up for our ski trip to Colorado. Our plane left from Midway airport at 6am. Grrrr. Believe it or not...everyone was a total trooper on the plane. And Wella slept almost the entire 2 and a half hours to Denver.

And it was totally worth the struggle because the moment we got to my Aunt Marty and Uncle Bruce's house, we were greeted by these elk in their yard!

They are not afraid of you at all!

The Nickoley family has a lovely mountai-y home, but this table is absolutely my favorite part.

Look at that base! Stunning.

Well, the fire place, the view, and the mass quantities of leather furniture are also my favorite parts. :)

We hiked and hung out in Evergreen for a few days.

Wella even went with us on a little hike around Evergreen Lake!

The kids were so excited for the outdoors.

But we didn't hang out in peace for long. It was off to the slopes on Friday night for our trial-run in Keystone. Last year Sam wouldn't get on the chair lift at all, so we scheduled a few days in Keystone first because it has a gandola...which apparently doesn't bother our afraid-of-heights man.

He was a total trooper and both kids whizzed down the mountain as if they'd been doing it all year.

Keystone has this sweet "magic carpet ride" on the kid's hill as well.

Hot chocolate.

Soy hot chocolate. Poor guy...he's on a gluten/dairy-free diet right now. More on that later in a much more boring post.

They loved it! Even with the blizzardy conditions.

And on the second day, Wella and I ventured out in her carrier to see the kids do their thing on the kid hill.

There was a tiny chair lift and Sam did it just great.

That chair lift never hot higher than maybe 15-20 feet in the air so I think it got him over his fear of the lift.

So the next day we left for our ultimate destination: Breckenridge. And Sam didn't miss a beat. He jumped right on the big-boy chair lift and rode it right up.

I didn't ski at all because I was home in my Aunt Marty's time-share condo with the baby. On the 2nd or 3rd day Matt and I were discussing which hills the kids were going to go down and when he told me about one of the hills he was taking them on I yelped: "Oh no...that one is big and scary. They can't do that one!" (thinking that would scare them to death because it sure scared me). Matt said, with all due respect: "well...honey...they've done way scarier ones than that".

So there it is. I'm the non-skier in the family. ;)

But that's okay. I'm just glad the kids get to share their dad's passion for this crazy sport.

Matt didn't shave for the entire week. It was very mountain-man-ish.

This is one of the only pictures of me on the trip. Haha! I think Sam took it when I met them for lunch one day.

But there were more surprises in store. Guess who showed up to surprise us one day!? Grandad!!! He came the 9 hours from Wichita, Kansas just to hang out with us on the slopes. He was super helpful to me while I shuffled the kids to and from the base of the mountain and picked up skis and returned skis and met the crew for lunch and put Wella down for naps, etc.

Luella was especially surprised to see him I think.

So my dad and I met the crew for lunch on their last full day of skiing.

Did I mention the great accomodations Bruce and Marty provided for us at their time share!? They got us a GREAT rate which allowed us to stay in a WAY nicer place than we usually do.

It was luxurious.

This is the SECOND kitchen.

Our king-sized bed.

The jacuzzi tub.

The fort we made on the day we let the daddy of the family ski by himself on the "really scary mountains".

The view. There is an indoor-outdoor pool that we frequented as well.

We got tons of snow that week.

Claire, in particular, loved the tub.

And Sammy and Grandad pulled in a 4-foot-long ice cycle!

Thanks for coming up dad!

You can't tell unless you blow the picture up, but that's Matt and the kids on the lift over dad's right shoulder.

See?

Then, when Claire got tired of skiing she left with my dad and I and we rode the gondola for a while.

That was really lovely and made me feel like I got "on the mountain" a bit.

Wow.

Wella was stunned by the beauty as well.

Somehow, I lost the pictures of Marty, Bruce and their kids, but I'll find them one day. Because on our last night, before heading home, my Aunt Marty hosted a big dinner for our family and her kids (who live away from home now) and we all stayed up late and talked theology and politics while drinking wine and eatting delicious food. Thanks for the great week Nickoleys! Please accept our reservations at your house for this time next year as well. ;)