Ski Colorado

Last week we made our way to Colorado to spend time with my parents and to ski. Things went so, so well!

For starters, it was a miracle (and I really mean a miracle) that we were able to go at all. Wood has to request leave (he can't just announce when he's taking time off, he has to get special permission) and he has been really busy working on his qualifications. Both of us thought he wouldn't get leave, but he put in the request anyway. We were amazed when it cleared.

Vacation planning is in my blood (it's genetic?) and so I'd already compared airline prices. We didn't find out that we definitely had leave until a few weeks before my parents were going skiing. Thankfully Southwest still had their amazing deals going and we were able to purchase very affordable tickets, hooray! We did not purchase a seat for MaryP, but since Southwest does not have assigned seating and there were open seats both ways we were able to take her in her car seat on the plane. One, I feel safer knowing that she is buckled in (though obviously if I had to I would have just held on tight). Two, she's much more likely to entertain herself in her car seat rather then on my lap. She was a good baby on both flights and enjoyed chatting with the people around us. Things just worked out so well.

I've missed skiing. Last year we didn't go at all because of the pregnancy. I'm not a pro at it by any means, but I've been skiing since I was 5 and I enjoy it.

*As a side note, one of the humbling things about being married to Wood is that he is just so good at everything he does. He's picked up on skiing really quickly which, while wounding my ski ego, makes it a ton of fun to ski together. He's so talented! :)

Anyway, growing up my family used to get up early, drive to the slopes, get dressed in all of our ski gear in the car, ski all day with a brief lunch break in the crowded, stuffy lodge, and fall asleep on the drive home. Skiing for multiple days and staying up in the mountains is a totally different experience. You wake up, have a relaxing breakfast, check out what the weather is like, finally decide to get ready, walk on out to the slopes, ski, come in for lunch, maybe a nap, and decide if you want to go back out in the afternoon or if you'd rather relax inside. Talk about luxurious. It was so fun.

Mom and hubby happened to be reading the same book

- the race was on to see who could get ahead.

Part of the invitation we were given was that my parents would watch MaryP so that we could ski together. It was nice to get a vacation for me, and MaryP loved her grandparents and all of the extra attention. I don't know if it was the altitude or attention, but for the first time in awhile she finally slept through the night. (Unfortunately with the grandparent factor gone, the waking up in the middle of the night has resumed....rats!)

One of the cutest things to me was that when my dad would give her horsie rides on his knee and then would stop and put his hands down, MaryP would reach out for his hands and start bouncing on his lap as if to say "again, again!" I also got a kick out of seeing my mom with MaryP in the elevator (as I was coming in) going to check out the building. Talk about living it up. Around here it's "I need you to play with your toys while I _______" (fill in the blank with some task). We do play together, but she sure had a lot more attention last week!

We skiied Copper Mountain. I wish I would have taken the camera out with me. The weather was perfect (30's-40's) and the views from the top of the lifts were absolutely spectacular. I can't even describe how amazing it was to look out over a snow covered expanse of the Rocky Mountains. Breathtaking. Oh, and since it's not spring break yet there were hardly any lift lines. Were we spoiled or what?!

Here is a picture I found online. It doesn't do the view justice, but you get the idea.
So we're already talking a fabulous ski vacation. But to top it all off as a birthday gift my parents watched MaryP one evening so that the two of us could go out to dinner. It's been awhile since we've really had a date and we haven't seen much of each other recently. So it was a perfect gift.

Sure there were little glitches here and there, but why dwell on those when, as you can see, things went so well.

Thanks Mom and Dad for a great time!