December 18, 2011

Outside Temp: 28 F (and dropping... with a little snow! Woo Hoo!)

What I cooked today:
French Toast: We needed a hearty breakfast to give us energy for our busy day.  But, since I didn't feel like making oatmeal, we ended up with French Toast.  Oh well, it worked out fine and no one complained about being hungry all day!

Chili: After our busy day, chili just hit the spot!  Warm and toasty, with protein and lots of cheese!

Update:
SKIING AT LAST!

We made it up to Showdown today for skiing.  It's about a 45 minute drive from our place.  Grandma had some things to get done at the house, so it was Grandpa and the 6 of us, which worked because the car only seats 7.  :)

Patrick's skis were too tall, and his boots were too small, so he needed to rent boots and skis.  Katie's skis were too tall, and her boots were adult boots (which fit her just fine, but didn't fit the kid's skis that we rented), so we needed to get her skis and boots.  Of course, Allen, Connor and Ryan needed skis and boots.  Argh, I think it might be time to invest in buying equipment if we really go up there every weekend for the next 4 months.  :)

The skiing was great and the weather was perfect.  It was around 40 most of the day, with it dropping to the high 20's by the time we left.  It started to snow around 2ish, and it was fun to watch the snow work it's way down the mountain.  At noon, you could see the top with no problem.  By the time we left, around 4:30, about half of the mountain was covered in the fog-like snowfall. 

Katie, looking warm and cute!	 Connor, skiing like a pro! 
Allen, shy as always!	 Ryan, able to get off the 'magic carpet' without falling! 
Allen and Grandpa (and Patrick) after a great run!	Patrick, too far away to hear me say SMILE!
Most awesome part of Showdown... notice the lack of lines!	Taken around 2pm, NO ONE is here! 

Showdown was awesome... there was no lines in the rental store, in the lodge, at the lifts or in the kids section.  There was a time where the only kids in the 'kids area' were mine!  When we returned our rentals, the people working there remembered us and we didn't even have to tell them our names.  They saved our cards so they would know what we needed next time.  Today was the second Sunday the slopes have been open. 

Ryan had a harness, and the kids area was about 200 ft long, with a couple cones to practice turns.  Ryan stayed on that section the entire time.  We found out quickly that, with the harness, it was easier for me to run along side or behind him than it was for Patrick or Grandpa to ski behind him.  So, I ran behind him all stinking day!  We had a lot of fun, but boy was it a lot of work. 

Katie wanted to go up to the Green slopes with Patrick, and did great!  She fell a few times and decided to go back to the 'kids area' for a little more practice on stopping and turning.  Connor waited until about 3 to ask to go up to the Green slopes and he only fell a few times.  They are both excited to go up again this Friday. 

Allen was going down the Black Diamonds with Grandpa from the beginning.  I don't think he fell and I'm just excited that he's having so much fun.  He LOVES it!  And apparently, he's pretty good.  Patrick did great and I think he said he ended up going down almost every run.  It helped that he rented boots that actually fit!  He was so happy to find that he can still ski! 

I can already see that this will become a weekend habit!  And it was only a 45 minute drive home afterwards!  Can't beat that!