Spring Break

We spent the past four days up in Breckenridge.  We didn't do much other than ski and watch TV/movies and read.  Not something you'd make a movie out of, but definitely some good relaxing time as a family.  We skied on Monday, and it was almost too hot.  The high was probably in the low 40's, but it was sunny and not crowded.  Here are some pictures.  First up are Ashley and Bode, with Ashley taking a picture of me while I take a picture of them.

Next is a shot of Bode as we head over to the Peak 8 mid-way connect.  This is one of my favorite places to take a picture due to the lack of people and the rather scenic background.

Bode had never been on the Imperial Lift, which takes you up about as high as you can go at Breckenridge (other than hiking to some place).  Here's Bode and Ashley riding the lift.

Next is a shot of the terrain below the lift.  No trees and an intimidating sky...not for the faint of heart.

I don't know why the sky looks such a dark purple...it really was quite blue.  I then took a picture of Ashley and Bode from "the top of the world"...well, our little part of the world.  Bode did great on the way down--he said it was scary but fun.

We skied until lunch time, and then went home for food.  We watched The Flash and Supergirl and Mockingjay parts 1 and 2 (not all at once, but over the course of the week).  Ashley took Joey on some long walks, and we even read some books.  Tuesday was a bit snowy, which was good because we could use the powder, but not so good for skiing (we are quite the weather snobs).  We went to the gym and swam and goofed off in the hot-tub.  Wednesday was a great day--a little cloudy, but the mountain received about eight inches of fresh snow, which made for some good conditions...at least for Ashley and me.  Bode has yet to become a powder hound, but he'll learn to love it as he gets older.  I took a couple of movies on Wednesday.  First is one of Bode and Ashley skiing over some bumps--nothing fancy, but for some reason, the little fellas likes them bumps.

Next is a normal movie of me skiing behind Ashley and Bode.

We also headed over to Peak 8, and I took more shots of my favorite location.  You can see the new snow on the ground, and the clouds were clearing for a beautiful blue sky.

Finally, I took a shot of some of the runs near E-chair--note the snow on the trees.  A very pretty day.

Ashley skied this morning--Bode and I wanted to sleep in, as we are lazy.  Ashley and I are both above the 100,000 vertical foot mark, and Bode is around 80,000.  We'll have one more weekend in mid-April, and Ashley said she might be "sick" sometime in the next week or so.  We did get a nice family photo on Wednesday...Ashley isn't thrilled about how her hair looks, but who really cares about things like that :-)

We are back home now...I'll do some work in the garden and we'll all try to get some rest after some great skiing.  Pleasant weekend to all.

Swim Update

I was a bit premature in my most recent post when I said I didn't think Bode did very well competitively against the other swimmers in the most recent swim meet.  Bode swam in the 10-and-under events, but they awarded prizes to 9-and-under boys.  Thus, Bode was third in the 50-yard butterfly, 4th in the 100-yard backstroke, and 5th in the 200-yard freestyle.

As last time, has he not been DQed in the individual medley, he might have been way up on the podium...but live and learn I guess :-)

Weather in Colorado Springs has been unseasonably warm.  I put my bird-net up in my garden, and even planted some broccoli, lettuce, carrots, potatoes, peas, garlic, and beans.  All but the beans can be planted now.  The beans won't do well if there's a hard frost, but if I lose them, no big deal...but if there is no frost, then we'll be in green-bean city.  The indoor plants are doing great.  I have pumpkins, peppers, honey-dew melon, and corn, all going strong.

I am tempted to put some of these outdoors, and just put buckets over them in the event of a bad forecast.  I might try this in early April--still a bit early to be putting corn outside.

We had a nice weekend.  The three of us went on a ten-mile bike ride (well, 9.93 according to map-my-ride), so Bode and Ashley were spent last night.  We played some putt-putt today, and Bode helped me in the garden.  Tonight, we are going to watch The Goonies, which we think (hope) Bode will love.  Pleasant week to all.

Ho-Hum

It's now almost mid-March; hard to believe the semester is almost half-way done, and spring break is just around the corner...and shortly after that, Bode will be done with school and will be a 4th-grader.  Ashley and I recently realized we have been married for almost 18 years, and Bode has been around for more than half that time.  Scary.  The little Dude is doing fine--he spends a lot of time with his dog, Joey.  I tried to get a good picture of the two of them playing, but this was the best I could do.

Bode has a swim meet this past weekend.  He swam great, but didn't place very well.  This is because there was an 8-and-under category and a 10-and-under category.  Bode is a young nine years old, so he was swimming against guys that could be close to 11.  His times were improvements over any of his previous times--his 100-individual medley time was 1:51, which I thought was very good.  Sadly, he was DQed (again) for a bad turn.  He was really upset when the judge told him--neither Ashley nor I realized what he did was a DQ.  Fortunately, I filmed the race, and I think I now understand the rule.

The bad turn occurs at the ~1:06 mark.  I think Bode's body has to remain mostly horizontal until he touches the wall.  In this case, his body was coming perpendicular when his hand touched, which made it an illegal turn.  He also swam the 50-yard butterfly, the 100-yard backstroke, and the 200-yard freestyle (the last one was probably too long, but we're proud of him for finishing it).  The meet is very well organized, and there's even a scoreboard with the swimmer's name for each heat and event.

Here's an action photo of Bode getting ready to start his backstroke.

Finally, a sweet one of Bode and Mommy.

Afterwards, we let Bode pick the lunch location.  Ashley has brain-washed the kid, and all he wants to eat is Waffle House (the boy is a true southerner...)

The weather has been unseasonably warm, and I am tempted to try to put some of my plants outside...but I won't fall for this deadly call of the Siren.   I'm sure we'll have some hard freezes in late March or early April.  My indoor plants are going great--I've moved the pumpkins and corn to bigger pots.  The melons are also going strong, and my hope is to have an edible honey-dew melon in late August, but I do need to figure out how to keep the bugs off my fruit (short of keeping chickens, which is a definite no-go).  Pleasant week to all.