First Tracks

This was one of the most exhausting ski days of my life. And it was only for an hour. And we never left the rope tow. The recent warming trend finally forced me to load Jack up and take him on a proper ski hill. We went to Sundance where you can ride the rope tow for free, as long as you can get to it. It's just a short hike up the mountain with your skis and a two-year-old who will tell you himself every time you pick him up that he is heaby (it's not a typo, it's a quote.)

The trip started out bad with Jack refusing to wear his snow coat and REALLY wanting his mom to come. He doesn't get the Lily is sleeping excuse. Well if Lily is sleeping then you are free to come with, right? If Lily is sleeping then we must therefore take full advantage of our time without the little shadower. Probably a good thing he didn't wear his parka because it was warm and that kid runs hotter than anyone I know. Not one time this winter has he played in the snow without sweating profusely. Just like his uncle Michael.

But the trip ended well as I decided to quit while we were ahead, leaving him wanting more. A little trick I learned from George Costanza. Plus our liftie friend Creed gave Jack a giant chocolate chip cookie to "sweeten the experience."

This is actual footage of Jack's first trip down the hill. It is a total roller coaster of emotions. First it was the apprehensive "whoa! daddy! whoa!" Then after 30 seconds he is feeling good and gets into his tuck to pick up speed. Then a near death experience prompts the ever popular "up! up!"

A couple more short videos toward the end of the session. He's getting good at the green part of Red Light Green Light but needs a lot of work on the red.

At one point I did start to wonder if he was tolerating the downhill just for another opportunity to ride the rope tow up.

Snowmassssssssssspen

We were able to join the extended Miller family for a few days of the annual trip to Aspen last week. Per Grandpa's rules no kids under 7 unless they are still attached (literally) to their mom. Luckily my mom was nice enough to accept our Christmas gift of a plane ticket to come watch Jack for a few days. Aren't we awesome gift givers?

The trip was great as usual. It started out fantastic with Jack basically pushing us out the door so he could watch The Incredibles with his grandma and Lily sleeping for more than 4 hours of the 5 hour 20 minute drive. We had three days of fun skiing and excellent lunches with each day getting a couple inches of new snow. Unfortunately we missed Thursday and Friday which turned out to be the only blue bird and powder days of the week. The drive home did not go as well as Lily's lack of sleep gave us flashbacks to 2007 and a horrible drive home with Jack. I still need to ground him for what he did as a four month old.
Lily has since gotten a haircut to reduce the effect of the widowhawk.

The after skiing schedule went like this. 4:15 Swimming/Hot Tub, 5:45 Meet for dinner, 8:00 make every effort to avoid the family "fun" card games by playing Wii, Guitar Hero, reading, blogging, or in extreme cases homework.

This is about as close to an action shot that was captured of me.

Cami was just one part of the army of helpers with little Lily Ann. Thanks everyone!

Pizzas the first night in Snowmass. I love any place that still puts enough cheese on the pie.

Beth and Grandma Miller on the balcony.

Finally a special thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for making it happen and letting us come. Also Amber for watching Lily so Beth could get some runs it. We love you!

February 14th

What does February 14th mean to you? To us it means only 2 more weeks of the fried Twinkies at Dairy Keen! You don't want to miss these and have to wait until next February. Make the drive and come say hi while you're in the neighborhood.

Funny buddy

Here's just one of the things we can't get enough of, Lily laughing at her brother.

You can see Lily is getting pretty good at moving around. Jack now enjoys an even longer bath because it's one of the few places Lily can't get him . . . yet.