Our first covering of white stuff didn't happen until Nov 11, which is a full 5 weeks later than it was the previous 2 years. In our household, that's a long time to wait because we love snow. Amazingly, we all had the morning off and could play in it together! Bring on the excitement.
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| Ava being silly |
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| Meggan and co-worker taking advanced pregnancy course |
Our first ski weekend
We got up to enjoy opening weekend in Breckenridge and had a blast. Fri night we arrived at Blue River Sports (where Jason used to work) and got the girls their skis for the year. Then we stayed at the condo and then had two days to ski. Ava had her first day on skis and Rachel had her first day letting go of an adult and skiing on her own. It seems that a few months of growing gave her the necessary strength to make a 'pizza' and slow her down when needed, which was something she just couldn't seem to get last year when she was 4 years old.
It was a beautiful, warm, sunny weekend and perfect for little ones being out. On the first day, Ava did as much snacking on the side of the hill as she did skiing. She loves riding the chair lift, but didn't really care too much about skiing down. Rachel, on the other hand, doesn't like the chair lift, but does love to ski down.
Our friends came with us and joined us on Sunday. Rachel did 12 laps in a row of Rip's Run (the bunny hill) and I was glad to have other adults with us to help out. It was a great birthday for Jason - skiing with friends and family in the sunshine.
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| Our first family ski photo! |
We've rented out the condo for a lot of October and November, and things are booking up fast for December and January also. This is a fantastic bonus for us after somewhat of a slow rental season throughout the summer. We try to book it out when we can, and then get up there on the back end of a rental whenever possible (this allows us to avoid cleaning fees). In the New Year, however, we have blocked off several weekends for our own use as we have registered Rachel in a regular Breckenridge Bombers ski program. Every time we go up to the condo, it feels like we have loads of work to do to keep it up. It still feels like we're 'getting it set up', even though we've owned it since January. It will be nice to get a few more things done, and then be able to relax more (hopefully) when we are there.
Hanging out with our girls
In the last few months, it's been our priority to put races and athletic events/goals on hold and try to spend more time with our girls and as a family. Particularly as Jason's coaching season has come to and end, he is getting way more time with his girls than he has in the past. Neither of us works a full time schedule this semester and we have a strange schedule that's different every day, but it seems to be working. We've had more family time together. We've had some days at home and some adventures further afar. But we've been trying to keep it simple. It's been a good balance.
... and all of that is probably going to change soon! But that's ok. Because this fall has been a good re-boot for all 4 of us. We needed that.
Crested Butte Thanksgiving
Jason, as a teacher, gets the week of Thanksgiving off. Rachel didn't have preschool either. So I worked some extra hours on Monday, Tuesday and Wed morning and then we took off to go explore the beautiful ski town of Crested Butte (CB). Many describe CB as 'one of the last great ski towns' and everyone we talk to seems to love it.
Jason had been there once before to ski, and we had been there once for a backcountry avalanche course in January 2013 (some of you may remember the time we left Rachel with pneumonia at home with Aunt Karen) but we'd never really explored the town. We had to see if this town checked out to be as amazing as people said.
It's a 4.5 hour drive to get there, and we did pretty well to arrive by dinner time on Wed. We lucked out with the weather, since it had been snowy the weekend before and then snowed all the while we were there, but our travel days were not snowy.
I cooked up a whole bunch of casseroles to take with us so we just microwaved dinner in our kitchenette/hotel room every night. We got a sweet early season deal at 'The Grand Lodge' resort hotel. We slept in a bed, Rachel slept on a pull out couch bed, and Ava slept on the floor.
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| Mt Crested Butte ski resort area |
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| Pancake snack en route while cross country skiing |
Rachel donned cross country skis for the first time and loved it! Jason towed Ava in the Chariot and they explored. Rachel even made it up the big hill to 'the bench'. Looking above town, Rachel looked back and said 'This is awesome! Can we move here?'
We enjoyed the fire place, pool, hot tub and games at the hotel. We had re-heated turkey noodle casserole for dinner in our room, and went to bed. It was a little sad not to be with family for Thanksgiving. It was also a little sad not to eat brussel sprouts or sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top. But we were very thankful for our fun family adventure in a gorgeous little ski town.
Friday morning we woke up to blowing snow and chilly weather. We had already bought downhill tickets ($71 for the whole family to ski a day with our coupons), so we went for it. But Rachel and Ava were both in tears by the first turn, and it was a long way down the first run. So Jason went back to the hotel with both girls. I did some laps to explore what terrain was open. It was fun to ski a real run at real speed, but there wasn't a lot open. The snow was so-so. The wind in my face on the chairlift was tough. So I went in for lunch myself.
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| Our first family chair lift ride together |
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| Mommy and Ava skiing together |
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| Rachel skiing |
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| Ava, tired after her one big run. |
The sun came out and Jason and Rachel did laps all afternoon on the bunny hill. Ava napped while I did some work and reading and drank tea with glimpses of a terrific view. Amazing.
We spent the rest of the visit exploring the town, and fell in love. CB has such charm. We can hardly wait to go back again!
We came home later Sat night so that we could have Sunday to get unpacked, buy groceries, and put up our Christmas Tree.
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| Total chaos and mess while we unpack Christmas decorations |
How lucky we are to have all that we do. Our health, our beautiful environment, each other, and the love and support of family and friends. We are truly blessed and thankful.
