Elwood

On the way home from Discovery, we stopped by to check out Elwood the Donkey. Tim had read a newspaper article about him and how he's kind of a mascot for some of the regular skiiers that pass through on their way to and from the mountain. His pasture is right next to the highway so people stop by to feed him carrots and other goodies...he has a weakness for doughnuts. So on our way home, we picked up some grapes and powdered doughnuts and swung by to see Elwood. It's probably going to become a tradition.

Discovery March 2011

This was our last ski trip of the season. We hadn't been to Discovery in a couple of years and I'm so glad we finally got over there. I forgot how much I love Discovery. It's my favorite! We didn't have huge expectations for the snow conditions but it ended up being gorgeous. The best snow we'd skiid on in a long time. When we got there it was a white out, then the sun came out, then it would dump snow again, then the sun would come out...it did that all day long. Yummy!

Andrew and his cousin Jackson




Motherload

Lunch time...camera a little fogged up.


Last chair...one last quick run down Berkeley on some very tired, well used legs.


To be continued...with Elwood the Donkey.

Blacktail - March 2011

My blog is the same every year - skiing, lake, skiing, lake, skiing, lake...

We're boring.

Anyway, more ski pictures. This time from Blacktail, featuring me and Andrew, Kelsey and Maddy, and Kelsey's boyfriend Carson.

We had debated where to go that day and chose Blacktail because they had nearly 150" of snow. Unfortunately it was set up like concrete so it wasn't a very good ski day. But skiing is always fun with my beautiful nieces and the traditional Dairy Queen fest that always accompanies a Blacktail trip!

Cars, Andrew, Mads, Kels

Lookout Pass

Just some skiing we did when my mom came up to visit from snow-birding in Arizona...

Tim and my mom

Maddy and uncle Timmy

Grandma and Mads

Where are Andrew and I?

Oh yeah, he insisted that I stay on the weeny runs with him alllll day long.

December 2010 - Blacktail Mtn

This was our first family ski trip of the season, just a couple of days after Christmas. Somehow I didn't manage to get any outside pictures.

Spring Ski 2010

We are a ski family. Unfortunately we didn't get nearly as much skiing in last season as we would have liked...not because we couldn't go but because there was just so darn little snow. Did that just rhyme? Anyway, we always have a blast when we do get out and we're always sure to do at least one spring ski. We did a trip last March...the three of us, Andrew's cousin Jackson, and a friend of Tim's came along as well. We had a lot of fun. I think they were having Hawaiian Days or something if I remember correctly. Down one of the runs, they had a big bbq going on with hot dogs, hamburgers and chips and drinks. Most of the liftees and ski patrol were in hoola skirts, coconut bras, that type of stuff.

It was a seriously gorgeous day.



Below is Jackson's 'yard sale'. Tim let the boys take turns with the GPS so they could see how fast they were skiing. If I know anything about boys...you give them any opportunity for competition, especially involving speed, they're going to get a little crazy.

28.9 mph and crash.



And then there was this guy.



Ahhh, wuv...twuu wuv.



Rumor has it we're going to have a good snow year...fingers crossed!

Ski Day

Back in February my brother, Aaron, came out from Seattle for a visit. My mom, who winters down in Sierra Vista, AZ, also came up. She was actually up for about a month housesitting for my aunt and uncle. Anyway, our grand plan...to do a ski trip! We didn't get crap for snow this year, but it was still fun. Seriously, it's impossible to NOT have fun when you have Uncle Aaron and Grandma Sue around. Tim had to work, the poor sucker. So it was just me, Andrew, mom, Aaron, and we stole Maddy away too.



And it's tradition whenever we go to Blacktail to hit Dairy Queen at the bottom of the mountain. Mmmmmm...blizzards.


Just chillaxin' at my aunt & uncles house in Plains the next day...

Uncle Aaron and Lexie

3 of the 6 siblings...Aaron, Nikole, me

Ski Day

We just got back from most likely our last ski trip of the season. So sad. It was fabulous fun. We spent the night with my sister and headed out early the next morning with a couple of Andrews cousins, Maddy and Kelsey, and went to Blacktail. The snow was beautiful and the weather was perfect. Andrew had a great ski day. We never know what kind of attitude he's going to be in when we get on the ski hill. He usually picks one run that he likes the best and that's the only one he wants to ski on all day long and he won't have it any other way. Stubborn little bugger. Uggg. Yesterday he was all over the mountain. He had a blast! It's a great mountain for him. (I think it had something to do with the two gorgeous blonds we brought with us). Tim had his GPS with him and stuck it in Andy's pocket. Andy would zip down a run and then stop and want to check the GPS for his speed. His top speed was 24.5 mph. Not too bad for a little guy.

There's something about Blacktail that just gives us bad luck though. We always have car problems after skiing there. I won't get into details on that because it's boring. Let's just say it's kind of scary to come down a hill with no brakes.

Anyway, I have no skiing pictures. (Kelsey, email me some pictures quick okay!) I dropped my camera on the basement floor at my sisters house. It's an unfinished basement, therefore concrete. The camera hasn't worked since. I couldn't be happier. It was a piece of crap. Now I have a perfect excuse to start looking around for a lovely new camera. The only problem is, I just recently bought that silly vinyl cutter (which I love and caress often) so there's no way Tim is going to be in the mood to spend moolah on a camera right now. Oh yeah, and then there's that brake issue with the van. I might not have pictures on my blog for a very long time.

Some Time Away

So we're back from our little vacation and boy was it nice to get away. We just took it easy and had a nice relaxing time. It was very cold and makes me want to move some place warm like southern Arizona like half of my family has already done. But we do like it here even with the nasty cold winters. Anyway, we stopped at the Sweet Palace because we've seen so many commercials for it - advertising is the darndest thing. We actually drove the long way to our destination just so we could check out the candy store.

(Tim pretending to be Master Shifu)

We spent way too much money there and then set off for Fairmont Hot Springs. Andrew was so excited to go swimming in the warm water.

Doesn't that look inviting?

It was about 5 degrees outside. They also have an indoor pool but that's no fun when you can swim in 5 degree weather. We'd get out and make snow angels and then jump back in. I don't think that's very good on the heart but it was fun. Our hair didn't take long to freeze and turn white and we had to constantly dip our heads in the water to keep from getting an ice cream headache. The warm water sent up so much steam into the cold air you couldn't see very far ahead. The pictures don't look that foggy but it was pretty dense. Now, that slide doesn't look like much but it's screamin fast. I managed to bruise my hip and twist my ankle. I don't know how you twist an ankle going down a waterslide but I did. We swam until we were pooped (and a little sea sick from the vertigo inducing fog) and went in and changed for dinner.



The next day was our ski day and I forgot to take pictures. Just a couple of after pictures.



The snow was hard packed but not icy - great for cruiser runs. There was a big warm up in mid January that melted a lot of our mountain snow but the conditions were better than I expected at least (I'm sure this isn't the least bit interesting). On our way home we stopped at this little gas station/restaurant that clips your ski ticket in exchange for a free drink - we always stop here after we ski, it's tradition. So we went and had some yummy free hot cocoa and stayed for dinner.

Fun stuff.