Thursday, February 25, 2010

Part 2

Well, it seems to be that time again. The kids are eating lunch and watching Curious George. Yesterday, I put four frozen chicken breasts and a carton of chicken stock in a crock pot and today I have an extremely delicious lunch. I didn't have time to do anything else with it so I just chopped up some raw veggies and served it. It's a hit! Amazing!

So, yesterday I left off on the Monday of our Trip. As is our tradition, that evening we went over to the Community Center. They have the best indoor pools complete with a lazy river, a big water slide, climbing wall and diving board and the best part, a zero entry pool for the little ones with some cute little animal fountains and slides for their size. We stayed from 6 to almost 9pm. This is one of the best parts of the trip because the "littles" can't ski so they usually stay inside all day and then their only outdoor activity is the pool. It tires them out so they sleep soundly.

Tuesday was my turn to ski. Glen, Ryan and I went up about 10am (I was kind of lazy that morning). It was a gorgeous day. I'm going to see if I can post a video. I think it worked.

Beaver Creek is awesome because it has lots of jump parks for all skill levels and the boys (especially Glen) are getting really good at jumps and slides. I was having a blast. The snow was unbelievable. I called Vance at lunch time and told him it was almost like the snow was skiing for me. I've been working out a lot so I felt so much stronger this year than last year so I was jumping and sliding and doing black diamonds like never before. Definitely, the best time I've had skiing in years! The boys kept saying, "This is such a great day, Mom!" "That was the best run of my life!" Good Stuff!!! (this video is actually from last year, but a lot of the same stuff applies :)

Wednesday, February 24, 2010







Ski Week Part 1

I have another few minutes as the kids just finished lunch and are watching Curious George. This has become a daily tradition. However, it's a short show so...

I wanted to write a little story about our recent ski week as I think it was the best one we've ever had. We've been going every February for the last 11 years to Avon, CO at the foot of Beaver Creek Mountain. We purchased a timeshare there and have used it every year since...

This trip started off a little rocky. First, it seemed I was a little more stressed than normal getting everything packed and loaded. We got out earlier than usual - about 4:30pm. We made it to Denver to stop for gas and when we tried to leave the gas station we couldn't get the van into gear. We played with it for about 30 minutes then started calling AAA and tow companies and any auto place that would be open on a Sunday. No luck.

Vance got the idea to call our neighbor Randy. Randy got on the computer and looked up the make and model of our van along with the issue and found out that if your turn the key in the ignition to just before the lights come on you can pass the fail-safe mechanism and put the van into gear. You have to put it into neutral and then you can start the van. IT WORKED! You should have heard Vance thanking Randy. Randy said to thank Bing (a search engine - for all you non-computer types :).

We would have arrived at our "vacation house" before 8pm if all had gone well, but we arrived just before 10pm. Everyone was really tired, but really excited. The first thing all the "littles" did was take of all their clothes and hop in one of the jacuzzi tubs. The first thing Glen and Ryan did was turn on the TV because there was cable. We finally got off to bed and it was a good night sleep. Everyone slept well - even Tristan.

The next morning we decided that Glen and Ryan should try skiing by themselves. They have the 5th and 6th grade school of shred which allows them to ski for free. So, they took the Gondola and were gone all day. They said they had a great time. This was the first time they've ever done anything like that. I was amazed.

I had decided that instead of packing up our whole house that the previous week at home I would try to use up as much food as possible so I could do our "regular" grocery shopping up in Avon instead of having to pack it and take it with us. So, I spent Monday shopping at the local Kroger store then went to Burger King to brought it "home". I also had some other errands: post office and Sports Authority. I felt like a regular local.

When I got back to the condo I put all the groceries away, unpacked all the clothes and got everything prepared for the week.

I think that enough for part one...look above for some pictures from our ski week.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

I've got a few minutes as I have fish sticks, tater tots and corn dogs cooking in the oven for lunch. Today is Wednesday and it's the first one I've had off in several weeks (not including the ski week, but that's not necessarily time off). I can honestly say that it feels weird to not have anything to do tonight. It makes me feel so much more free.

To add to this great day, Vance is around as well. He's been working down in Pueblo so he usually leaves at 6:30am and doesn't return home until 8pm. Today he has a small job here in town that should only take about 3 hours and he and his friend Kyle from Double Diamond Homes are starting on a huge renovation for our pastor today - felling trees. They're even going to let one fall on the garage - which they're demo-ing anyway. Hopefully, we can get some video of that.

I made a good breakfast of cream of wheat, toast and fresh oranges then we started school. Glen started with Algebra. My absolute favorite subject. It took some time, but he got used to the idea that "x" is actually a number and you need to go through all these rules and steps to figure out what "x" is. Ryan is reading (and still reading) Acts 3 and 4 and answering questions about the passages. He's been working on this assignment for two days. Today I told him he will be sitting there until he finishes.

After Glen was finished with Algebra I told him to find the Presidents book and choose one to do a research paper. He chose Theodore Roosevelt. He read about three pages of summation on President Roosevelt and stopped about every five minutes to say, "Mom, guess what..." I'm glad he's excited about it because he wasn't when I first told him the assignment.

Glen was really emotional today. I think it was because he couldn't get the math right away. He excused himself and said he had to go to the bathroom, but when he came back I could tell he had been crying. I asked him why he was upset and he said he didn't know. He said, "I don't know why I cry when I talk to you and Dad. It's so stupid. Even now I can't keep the tears back. I don't understand why I'm so sensitive." I told him that God made him sensitive and he said that he didn't like the way God made him. I said that sometimes I didn't like the way God made me either, but He knows a ton better than we do. Truthfully, I think it may be more than just sensitivity. Glen is 12 and already showing signs of puberty.

While all of this was going on I did an exercise for all the "Littles" plus will. We started with stretching. Then, I showed them how to do push ups and sit-ups. Then we did a song called Shake Freeze where you shake until the music stops then freeze. We Will Rock You was clapping and marching to the beat. Pollywog in a Bog was squats (that looked like frogs). I we ended with Fireflies - kind of a cool down - walking all over the living room pretending to be fireflies.

I felt like is was a productive morning and I wanted to remember it.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010


A few weeks back, Vance picked up a young dog that was about to get squished up off of Hwy. 83. It was snowing and his poor little face was all covered with icicles.
We don't normally pick up strays because we always hate it when someone picks up our dog and takes him 20 or 30 miles out of our way when he probably would have just come back home, but this was a special case.
We called him Eli and he stayed with us for a week. He's a beautiful German short-haired pointer and he had a great personality, loved the kids and obeyed very well. So much so that it made us all start to think that we wouldn't mind if the owners never called us.
They did, however. I think poor Glen was the most disheartened. He really wants a dog of his own. Eli stayed with us for about a week and when the owners came to pick him up they gave us a $100 gift card. We'll have to pick up strays more often - HA!