Ski Season | 2012-13

This year we decided to bite the bullet and buy season passes for Jason and Ethan and it was the best and dumbest decision we made this year. The best because they boys had so much fun and went up every opportunity they could. It was the dumbest decision because we should have bought passes for all of us! The rest of us made it up a few times but we wanted to go up just as much as the boys. Especially Audrey!...she is a skiing machine.

All of these pictures were taken with either our GoPro2 or my cell phone. I gotta say... I loooove our GoPro. You can take the coolest shots with that thing. Jason loved to just attach it to his ski pole and get cool shots. Some of these pictures were actually taken from video stills. They aren't the best quality, but I still love them.

Ethan is a dang good skier. He easily keeps up with dad and he may possibly be even better than me. Shhh... don't tell him I said that.

Audrey worked her butt of this season and got so much better! She is really good now and can handle most any hill at her own pace. She is the crazy one of the bunch and even if we get up to the slopes right at opening, she will ski until closing, from 9am to 10pm! Craaaaazy. The first time up she made me ski for so long that one of my toenails turned purple. (I think I need new boots.)

Dad decided since he and Ethan get to go up so much that he and Audrey should have a daddy daughter ski date too. He took a day off of work and let Audrey play hookey at school and they had a blast!

There's always time to play in the snow too!

One evening after work and school we went skiing with the family. David did so good. He just zips down that mountain so fast. He freaks all of us out a little. He hasn't mastered the snow plow so when he wants to stops, he turns so that he skis back up hill. Luckily, for my sanity, he started figuring out how to slow down by doing the "pizza slice". Crazy boy!

We have definately learned our lesson and next year we will be buying everyone a season's pass! It is such a fun family activity and I am so excited that everyone loves it so much!

Our last ski day for the season!

We just had to make it up to the mountains one last time before the season ended. We've had such great snow here this year that it's the end of March and there's still tons of snow up there! It was a beautiful day... a little bit of snow flurries off and on, the sun peaked out a few times, and the snow was fantastic... even powder on the lower runs!

There were definately some ups and downs. Audrey got off to a rocky start, but luckily ended strong. Ethan had two BIG crashes.... one time he flipped completely over and landed on his head!... he had a headache after that one but after ten minutes of resting in the lodge he was ready for more! We were all pooped at the end of the day!...

One of our favorite parts of the day was playing in the huge banks of snow! Ethan & Audrey loved climbing way up and thought it was so funny when their boots would get stuck in the snow!

This time we all went up "Triple 60"! It was Audrey's first time and she did so good! Here's a pic of Ethan, Audrey, and Jason on the "big" lift!


Whoo-Hoo! I made it to the top!


... until next year!

And, once again, thanks to the Dillons and to our niece, Hannah, who helped watch Davie for the day. When we got home, Davie again was sacked out on the couch. He just had so much fun playing with all the kids all day!

Skiing Adventures

We went up skiing again with or friends, the Sharps. They got us some really good deals on lift tickets, which included a lesson and rental for the kids. We were worried with the warm weather we've been having that it would rain on us, but instead it was beautiful and clear. It got a bit chilly when the sun went down (since we went night skiing!) but we didn't even notice until we were sitting on the chair lift.

Both Ethan & Audrey did great in their lessons, but it was obvious that Ethan couldn't wait to get out on his own and fly down the mountain. And that's what he did...

Since the kids had an 1 1/2 lesson, we got to go skiing alone for a while which was so much fun!... Brings back memories! Unfortunately it was a bit icey at the top of the mountain, but we didn't really care... it was just fun to be there!

Audrey's first lost tooth!
Another exciting part of our night was when Audrey lost her very first tooth skiing down the mountain. Luckily she felt it come out and was able to spit it into her ski gloves. It would have been quite the tragedy had it fell into the snow!! She was so excited to put it under her pillow for the toothfairy and was pleased in the morning when she found $2 and a little keychain left for her.

The Best Snow Day Ever!

Today we took the kids up skiing for the first time! Aunt Julie, Meagan, and Blake also came! They were so excited. We rented their skis last night and as soon as we got them home, they had to walk all around the living room with them! Ethan could barely get to sleep he was so excited!

-- We worried that it would be way to cold up there....
-- We worried that since it hadn't snowed for a few days in the mountains that it would be too icey....
-- We worried that they would just get mad and frusterated and the day would not live up to their expectations...
-- but we worried for no reason at all!

-- It was sunny and warm (if you consider 25 degrees warm... the sun helped out a lot!)
-- The conditions were perfect!! Soft snow... no ice to be found!
-- And the kids did so great and had a fantastic time!

First Kidd Family Ski Trip
(Why is it the girls look like big giant marshmellows? I'm sure my stylin' coat from 1995 isn't helping any!)

Audrey, Blake, Meagan & Ethan
waiting anxiously to start their day of skiing!

Audrey in line to go up the ski lift for the first time!
(We didn't want to bother with the bunny hill... we threw their skis on and headed straight for the real slopes!)

Mom & Audrey waving at Dad & Ethan on the chair lift!

Ethan & Audrey posing for a picture! At this point they had both gone down the mountain a few times and were having so much fun!

This is how Audrey started out! Mom helped her on the steep areas.

Posing for another picture!

When it wasn't as steep, Audrey wanted to do it all by herself! She definately liked going left more than she liked going right!

Whenever Audrey felt like she was going too fast and her "pizza slice" wasn't slowing her down she went straight to the sitting position to stop! She would actually get going really fast in this position too and thought it was a fun way to ski!

Ethan was hard to get pictures of because he just wanted to GO! He picked it up really fast! He would go up and down the slope in record times by his second or third time down the mountain. In fact, by the third or fourth time, he got so tired of waiting around for the rest of us that he would ski down and get on the lift all by himself and try to lap us!

Of course, there were definately some mishaps along the way!

Here is Ethan getting tired of us trying to take his picture "again"!

Ethan and Meagan being silly on the slopes.
This picture was taken at the top of Triple 60 (aka "The Face"). Jason took them up to the very top of the mountain. They didn't actually go down "The Face", they took a different route down the cat tracks, but Ethan & Meagan were really excited to go up the expert run.

Audrey and Dad on the chair lift

A fun shot that Jason took of me and Audrey on the chair lift!
It was such a pretty day!

We can't wait to go again!

And of course, we couldn't have done it without my awesome neighbor, Melissa, who watched Davie ALL DAY so we could go. And of course, Davie didn't get a nap, so as soon as we picked him up and brought him home he was sacked out on the couch again! Just couldn't last another minute! Thanks again Melissa!