So today we took a day off. We went up to Eldora where the kids had a 1 hour private lesson. After the lesson, Steve and I skied with the boys for the very first time. The boys have taken lessons before. Steve and I have skied by ourselves before. But we have never tried skiing with the boys. Since this was Cam's third time getting up on the lift with his instructor, we figured we could handle both kids for a few hours on the mountain. To say that we had fun is an extreme understatement. This day meant so much to me.
Let me take you back a few years. Okay, about 25 years. Although my parents both worked full time and raised four kids, we took family vacations every year. Actually, two family vacations every year. We lived in KS and traveled twice a year to Colorado. It was our summer and winter vacation destination. We spent a week in the summer horse back riding, camping, walking through cute little towns, riding the Durango train, seeing Santa's Workshop, visiting rock shops, buying watermelon at fruit stands on the side of the road and generally enjoying all that is beautiful in Colorado.
In the winter, we did this.
Every year we would spend a week in Crested Butte. Sometimes we would go over Christmas vacation. On these trips we would celebrate my brother's birthday (December 25!) in a hotel room with a suzi q and a candle. Sometimes we spent our spring break in CB. Other times my parents would pull us out of school for a week. We did our homework on the 26 hour round trip drive. We'd be at the lift when it opened at 9am and close down the lifts at 4pm. We would time it just right so we could be on our last run as they were shutting things down. We would feed the snowbirds french fries from the balcony of the warming hut where we paid just $8.00 for a burger. Remember, that was 25 years ago.
When we finally arrived back to our condo, or hotel or motel....wherever we happened to stay that trip, we would all look forward to peeling off our ski bibs and hopping in the hot tub. Bruised and battered (but smiling ear to ear) we would make our way to town to eat at Donita's. Always Donita's. Or Kacheevers. Or the pizza place. Or the Black Bear. If I close my eyes I can see the delicious pizza from the Black Bear. Great big mushrooms and thick crust. Yum. We'd wake up the next day and do it all over again. I don't know how my parents did it. Four kids plus mom and dad. Six sets of skis. Six lift tickets. Six people to feed at every meal out. Six piles of ski clothes. 26 hours of driving. A week off of work and school.
Back then we did it differently. We didn't wear helmets. We rarely wore sunscreen. We didn't carry water. We just went. Straight down the mountain and back up. A million zillion times. I loved skiing with my parents. I loved spending time with my parents. I loved it when my mom would try a jump or go through the trees. I loved it when my dad would wear his cowboy hat and yelp all the way down the mountain. I loved it when my brother would challenge me to a black diamond run and when my sisters and I would ski backwards halfway down the mountain. I loved all of those memories and will cherish them forever.
So this is what we looked like today. See those smiles. That's after four hours of skiing. They're still smiling. Even when Cam fell 100 times, he was still smiling. And so it came around full circle. The skiing, the family time, the memories.
I hope that today I was able to create some of those memories for my kids. Sometimes I feel like I am in a dream when I wake up an realize I live in CO. This is a place that my family has always loved. And. I. Live. Here. God has created such a beautiful backdrop in the Rocky Mountains. I am so lucky. Today was a wonderful day of recreating those memories that I have with my own parents. I'll be smiling from ear to ear tonight when I fall asleep. I am so lucky. Happiness full circle.
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