Skiing

It's spring break for my work, so we decided to take a couple days off and go to Breckenridge.  We were worried as our mini-vacation drew near, as temperatures on Saturday were only in the high-teens. Plus, we were getting snow (2-3 inches in the Springs), and the cold weather was forecast to stick around.  We were optimistic the forecasters would be in error.

We woke up Sunday morning to clearer skies, but still very cold temperatures.  The drive up was nice...to a point.  Around Fairplay, the skies had darkened, and there were flurries falling.  The road was clear, and we made it over Hoosier pass without any trouble, albeit we were traveling at a moderate pace down the steep switchbacks.  We arrived around 3 pm, checked in, and relaxed, watching some college basketball and getting Bode prepped for his big day on Monday at ski-school.  Initially, we were worried he thought ski-school was the ice-skating rink, but after a quick conversation, we realized he knew he was going skiing on Monday and that he was also excited about it.  Before we left town, we bought Bode a new pair of ski pants.  Rather than go the reserved, grey-black route, we opted for bright yellow--all the more easy to see you, my pretty.  Here's a picture of Bode in the condo, ready to go.

We dropped him off at ski-school around 0830, and were relieved he wanted to stay.  A quick, "See you Mommy, see you Daddy," and he didn't seem to need us anymore.  We headed out to the slopes (in the future, Bode needs to put up a little fuss, as we're quickly realizing we're simply becoming Bode's ride to-and-fro his activities...)

On the slopes, we met up with an old friend (he's 45!), Tim Tobik.  I know Tim from my Florida days, and Ashley knew him before that.  Tim and his family and extended family/friends were in Breckenridge for the whole week to do some skiing.  Here's a picture of Ashley and Tim at the base of the Quicksilver lift.

Note the beautiful blue sky--looks nice and warm, but the reality was temps were around 15.  Thankfully, the wind was nothing but a shallow breath...which sounds mild, but on the lifts, the slightest breeze in 15-degree weather is icily cold.  I took a few more pictures of Tim and Ashley, but I could tell my picture taking was eating into their ski-time, or, in this case, Tim's important phone calls :-)

At some point, we met up with some of Tim's clan--I won't even bother mentioning all the names (code for I don't remember them all).

We skied with them until lunch-time, at which point Ashley and I decided to eat and rest.  The three hours of skiing in great conditions really wiped us out (yes, pathetic).  After lunch, we decided on one more run, and also took time to take a picture of each of us in on the middle of Peak 9.

Ashley and I headed back to the room and relaxed.  We could have napped for the rest of the day, but ski-school ends at 3:30.  We headed over early, hoping to catch Bode in action.  We were not disappointed.  I must preface the following with a recap of Bode's first time in ski-school two years ago.  He never really let go of an instructor's hand and, in their words, "enjoyed the indoor part of ski-school."  Therefore, when we saw him on his skies, we were tickled pink.  He was easy to pick out in those yellow pants!

We saw him go up and down the "ski-lift" a couple times.  He still can't stop on command, but his instructor said he was doing his wedge and did great.  Here's a movie of a future 2030 gold-medalist in action.

We finished the day with a great meal at Breckenridge Brewery with the Tobik entourage.  We walked, which was a mistake, because on the way home, Bode wanted to be carried.  He's not light.  We stopped and took this picture of Bode and Mommy.

We had a lovely stay in Breckenridge.  We return to work tomorrow (yuck).  Fortunately, spring has arrived, with temps forecast to be in the 50's and 60's.  I'm anxious to run in something other than a hat and gloves.  Pleasant week to all, and Happy Peter Cotton-Tail Day.