Breck Weekend!

 Last week, Adler didn't have school and Brian was in London for the week.  Shawn and I decided to take the big boys out of school and head to Breckenridge for a ski/boarding mom/boy weekend.  Adler has come really far with his skiing and was able to ski with Landon and I, which make things much easier.

 As usual, minecraft was a big hit during our short times in the condo.  Shawn and I gave them limits with screen time though.  When they weren't playing mine craft on the screen, they were acting it out running around the condo.

 We took them to the ice castles one night after dinner.  It was snowing pretty hard, but these three had a blast running around and crawling through the tunnels and slides.

 Landon fit through this really small tunnel/slide to get Zacks glove he had dropped.

 Landon and I had a few hours one day to ski (we had Adler's ski teacher give him a private lesson).  Landon and I did his first bump run.  I couldn't take a picture until we were finished, but the run was narrow and really bumpy, he did great!

Winter fun with cousin Nicholas

 These pictures are from a few months ago, but I didn't want to forget to post them.  Scott, Ying and Nicholas came to Denver for about a week over the winter break.  The cousins had so much fun playing together!  We went to the aquarium, White Fence Farm, the Colorado History Museum and just played a lot at Grandma and Papas house and our house.

 Panning for gems.

Ski jumping at the Colorado History Museum.

 

Maybe next year

 

Like most everyone in Denver this NFL season, we got caught up in the excitement around the Broncos' run to the Super Bowl. Unfortunately the big game was a pretty big let down. Maybe next year.

You can also kind of see that LT is missing both of his front teeth! We've had a lot of visits from the Tooth Fairy recently.

Endless Winter

Today LT went on his first black diamond ski run - Packsaddle Bowl and Lower Go Devil at Keystone. It just happens to be basically the same run I did for my first black when I was a kid, which I thought was kind of cool.  

So, proud and sentimental father that I am, I just had to take some photos to commemorate his accomplishment and post it there. But, in doing so, I realized Kari and I have a bunch of photos from this ski season. So here are some of them.

Here's Adler getting dropped off for his lesson this morning. His instructor, who also teaches fitness classes at our gym, refers to her job teaching the little ones to ski as "extreme babysitting."

Nothing but gourmet lunches for my boys.

We are very lucky to be able to stay at Baba's house in the mountains. Which makes I-70 traffic just kind of a pain rather than totally intolerable. One night after skiing Adler spelled out his name in poker chips . 

Just like his dad, he enjoys a nice cold bubble water after a day on the slopes.

Alder got to do lessons with two of his best friends from school. He's with Marin above and Kian below.

Two weeks ago Adler rode a lift for the very first time. I took the above picture from the chair ahead of them, which I was riding with Landon.

Kari commemorated Adler's fist lift ride too with a selfie of the two of them. 

And the little man did a pretty good job skiing on the 'big' mountain.

Last summer we pre-booked a weekend at the Westin in Beaver Creek, which is a little higher rent that our usual accommodations (it's not *as* expensive when you book 8 months in advance). The hot tub and nearby snowbanks were a huge hit for the boys. The skiing wasn't bad either.

Valentine's Day

Adler with his homemade Valentine's Day box for his school party and valentine exchange. He was sick with strep the days leading up to his party but, thanks to his mom, made and decorated his box at home so he'd be ready for the party.

brothers at the park

Just a few weeks ago the temperatures were below zero for multiple days in a row (which froze many people's pipes including ours but that's a story for another time). The last few days, however, have been a welcome change from that cold spell with temps getting well into the 60's. I took the boys to the park yesterday to enjoy a little time outside in the nice weather.

One of those moments

The other night Kari was out (either volunteering her time towards some philanthropic cause or drinking wine with friends under the guise of a book club, I can't remember which) so I was doing the bedtime routine with the boys. We heard a beeping sound coming from downstairs and, after some speculation about what it was; open fridge door, dishwasher finished, smoke alarm, etc., we all agreed that I'd go down and check it out. 

The beeping sound turned out to be the dishwasher signaling that it was finished with the dishes. In an impulsive attempt to chip in around the house, and since I was already there, I decided to just take five minutes and put the dishes away. 

This might not seem like a big decision but the minutes leading up bedtime can be a tenuous and problematic period. At best I expected that the boys would have made no progress at all while I was downstairs. And it wouldn't have been a bit surprising to find that they'd undid any progress we had made thus far while also making a huge mess or getting into a fight or some other minor household disaster. 

So, as I walked up the stairs after putting away the dishes, I was bracing myself for the potential consequences. I expected tears and/or yelling and probably some toys or cloths strewn about the floor. But that's not at all what I found. I came upstairs to find that they'd both gotten themselves ready for the night and were sitting in bed together with LT reading a book to Adler.

I just smiled, sat down on the end of the bed, and watched them read together.

Adler

Zoo Lights

Boys in Jammies

A Weekend in the Mountains

We decided to take a last minute trip up to the mountains after Thanksgiving in hopes that we could get Adler on the slopes for his first time.  The Gallegos were able to join us, which was really fun!  Below is a video of Adler's very first time (since he was 2 and things didn't quite work out well) skiing.  As you can see, it was a huge hit.  He later announced to the whole mountain, "I LOVE SKIING!"  It was difficult to get him to go in for lunch and even more of a challenge to get him to quit at the end of the day.  As we went to sleep last night he told me he was going to ski right away in the morning.  I am glad he likes it, the only problem is getting him to buy into the idea that you need to be able to stop and slow down on your own.  He likes to go fast.

 The car was pretty packed, but we were able to carpool at least.

We stayed at Baba's house which has a balcony with a railing.  As Shawn, Albert, Baba and I were talking the first evening (Brian was sick unfortunately that evening), a string with all of the these lovely notes came down from the balcony.  The boys thought it was hilarious, and honestly, we did too.  Boys will be boys and there are a lot worse things they could be doing!