Skiing, take 2.

We quick decided in December that we couldn't go without another ski trip before leaving the country. Sure, there is skiing in Korea, but not much compares to the Rocky Mountains and we have spent the last 15 years enjoying our time skiing on them. We'd gone last year with family and the kids and everyone had a blast. The kids had been begging to go again and Mom was the only one holding us back. Finally, I couldn't hold them off anymore and a ski trip was planned with friends and family. The girls got back into a quick workout routine so we wouldn't have any tired legs on the slopes (at least not until 3 pm each day when the fresh baked cookies showed up at the base of the mountain). Mom continued her spinning routine (man what a great workout for skiing:)) and Dad of course continued with his CrossFit regimen so we'd all be ready to go!

We decided to hit up Colorado Springs a day early and visit with Eric's sponsor from the AF Academy. It was an enjoyable time visiting with them and laughing about old times. They enjoyed getting to see the kiddos again as well. The next day we set off for Denver to pick up Miss Cathy so all the girls and kiddos could head on up to the mountains and the boys could follow up later once Giga had arrived. After getting a late start we were finally on our way up to the Beaver Creek area. Kids fell asleep but once we got there, the bouncing off the walls began. Commence lining up and everyone getting a few drops of melatonin to calm them down so bedtime would hit soon and we'd have all cheery faces the next morning bright and early.

Cheery faces we had! All were ready to hit up ski school for the day and remember (or learn for the first time in our friend Noah's case) how much fun skiing is. Our family certainly counts it as one of the most fun things to do together.

 This time around we had friends with us to enjoy the time as well. We knew they'd be a great fit with the family we'd have visiting and it really was a great time. The more, the merrier. Alli (in the pic below with me) and her hubby Chachi had to get the feel for boarding again (who boards, don't they know skiing is cooler?:)) so we headed off to let them do so while we hit some quick runs. It's always fun to ski with Eric and his dad and try to keep up. Or get them to keep up with me these last two trips. :)

Each day at 3 pm the highlight was the fresh baked cookies at the bottom of the mountain. We hadn't skied Beaver Creek much since Eric and I had been together but last year we stumbled upon it and loved the atmosphere. It's such a fun and family friendly resort and we couldn't say enough good things about it. But obviously the cookies each day helped. 

After the first day of ski school for the girls, they were ready to hit the slopes with us. I know they had a blast with their instructor Mr Mike and bless his soul, he spent the day with 7 little girls!  The second day we kept seeing them along our way, so we had to stop and take a picture with all of them. This was just after Mr Mike had to get on one of the girls (or maybe a few) for going too far ahead of him and starting to head down a black. Haha.

Luckily, the girls still had a blast on day 2, as long as we kept Emily's blood sugar up. We could always tell when she was starting to get low and I'd play mama bird giving the baby bird a worm. Or a granola bar or fig newtons on the lift or along the run. She was excited to wear the GoPro camera on her helmet for a little bit so it will be fun to go back and watch some of that footage. It's always fun to watch your kids have a blast with something you love to do as well. I remember getting to do this at their age and it's funny to be reminded of how my skiing habits were similar to my children's today. Fast and straight down. :)

At the end of day 2, we picked up Noah from ski school and headed down the bunny slope a few times. We had time to burn after our 3 pm cookies. 

Our last day was on a Tuesday of Martin Luther King Jr. weekend and it was amazing. We rode on freshly groomed trails for a good part of the morning. We opened the lifts and closed the lifts. Again, even after our 3 pm cookies. Good thing Eric and his dad didn't have to worry about me lagging behind. Pretty sure I beat them both down the mountain. Thank you spin class. 

Emily wanted to take this picture one of the times we rode the lift. I'll take one of these side by side with a feet in the sand picture any day. Good thing we manage to get the best of both worlds. 

Due to everyone being all over the place, we never got a full group shot. Bummer dude. All in all it was a fun trip though. Many laughs and lots of calories burned. Only a few consumed in chocolate cookie form. Ok, so maybe a few hundred there. Oh well, you only live once and trying to use extra sandwich bags from lunch to stash extra cookies for later in the evening was fun. By the way Paul aka Pumpkin Man, the 1970's called and they want their ski outfit back. 

Hopefully the kids will enjoy the skiing in Korea as much as they have so far and they won't constantly remind us how they wanted to get stationed in Utah so we could ski every weekend.