Rocky Mountain High

First off, this post is coming via my iPad, so please excuse any craziness you may encounter while reading! As much as I adore it, the iPad is no substitute for my trusty MacBook! But I am without it for the week, so work with me here ;)

I am finally coming off my skiers' high to write about our recent family vacation to one of our favorite places - Telluride, Colorado. I am sure there are other resorts that rival it, but I just cannot imagine! It is a haul to get there, but so very worth it. Beautiful mountain scenery blends with no lift lines and long, uncrowded runs to make a fantastic ski experience! Once we ski our first few runs, we quickly forget that it took two plane rides and a 2.5 hour drive to arrive at the resort!

This year's trip was super special because we met up with our best family out there and even brought the kids along to ski this year. We love spending time with the P family and are so thankful that we were able to arrange the trip together! My girls were in absolute heaven to have five days with their best friends from back home, M & E! They were a sight for sore eyes!

I knew the time would come when my kids were better skiers that me and it happened while on this trip. Especially, A - that girl has absolutely no fear, unlike myself who can't help worry about how our family would survive if I broke a limb! Since she doesn't let fear interfere with a good time, she just goes and goes! M enjoyed herself and skis well, too. However, there were a few mornings spent coaxing her into ski school and she was the first one to break out of her skis and boots at the end of the day. She told us that she would prefer a beach vacation next time! Regardless, all four girls had a good time, as well as us parents. After a full day of skiing, the evenings were spent relaxing our sore bodies in the hot tub while the kids found a second wind and would swim in the heated, outdoor pool. I am pretty sure they all slept harder than ever over those days - E would practically beg to go to sleep she was so darn tired!

It was a great five days and we were all super sad to see our ski trip and time with the P family come to a close. I think I saw more sunshine over those 5 days than I have seen in the past two months here in PA! Now, I am ready for something tropical and warm - I have had my feel of cold weather for quite a while!

Feeling Like a Bear

I am starting to understand the principal of hibernation - a little too much.   January has been cold and mostly grey, leaving us as a family to just stay inside and have "jammy days" on the weekends.  Add in the fact that it gets dark early and I find it really hard to leave my warm house when it is snowing and below freezing outside!   I do manage to force in some running despite the fact that I can't feel my face when doing so.  Cabin fever? Yeah, we might have a little bit of it up here!  So we are making it a priority to get out, at least a little :)

A couple of weekends ago, we took the girls skiing in the Poconos at Blue Mountain.    We figured it was a great way to test out all of their new ski equipment before we head off to Telluride later this month.   They girls had a ball in ski school while Hubby and I enjoyed some runs - just the two of us!  We haven't had a "day date" in quite a while!   And it resulted in a quiet night back at home since A & M were worn out from all the hard work.   Since it is a quick 1.5 hour away, we will do this more often - win for all.

This past weekend, Hubby went to pay his respects to his late Uncle in Ohio.  So the girls and I stayed behind and spent one of the days visiting the Please Touch Museum in Philly.   This museum reminded me a lot of Imagine It in Atlanta, but it was much bigger and even has a century-old carousel inside of it - which has some serious history and was the highlight of the trip for the girls.   
And finally,  I was invited to spend a day volunteering at a wonderful organization Cradles to Crayons with some women from St. David's Church.    This non-profit takes like-new and new clothing from donations and works with social organizations, nurses, teachers, etc., to help children in need.    I was impressed at the sheer volume of donations that were there and how efficiently running this warehouse was in which to help.    I really enjoyed helping here and am looking forward to returning with this group again next month and maybe taking A & M.   That is one of the things I liked about this group is that they encourage children to come volunteer in the warehouse.  

Outside of school, work, and the girls' gymnastics and most recently, ice-skating lessons, we have been enjoying ourselves at home a lot.   It is nice for us to spend time together as a family and I know as soon as the ground thaws out, we will be back outside and getting busy.   So I am going to enjoy these lazy weekends while we can!  Seriously - who would pass up drinking red wine by a fire in your jammies????  Not this peach!

Carousel at Please Touch Museum

Piano from the movie Big

Silly girls

Ski Hubby - "Not quite Colorado...but it will do"