January 2, 2008

Steamboat

As much as I love vacation, the best part is coming home.

We returned home to Birmingham at 10 last night after a marathon day of travelling after spending the week in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. When we stepped out of the airport, I was expecting, maybe hoping for, temps in the 60's - not unusual in the deep south in January. Instead I found 20's and felt like I was still in the mountains, sans snow.








Oh, the snow. Wow the snow. We arrived in Steamboat on the 26th and it snowed every day. More than 2 feet during our 6 days there snow. Snow snow everywhere!! It was truly a winter wonderland. Hmm... Ok, it would have been a winter wonderland except it was TOO DAMN COLD!!









Oh... The cold. Curse the cold... I'm talking it only climbed higher than 15 degrees (yea, unfortunately I AM talking Fahrenheit here folks) once. When Emma and Tess did ski school for a day, the high was 6. They started the lessons at 0900 - it was below zero. They toughed it out for a 6 hour day but didn't want to ski anymore. Too cold!

So we spent all of the other days tubing and sledding and snowballing and sliding on the snowslide we made near our condo.



Oh,, and we went swimming... In an outdoor pool... Yep, it was somewhere around 10 degrees and we swam outside. The pool was obviously heated but to get to it we had to walk barefoot in our swimsuits across the snow and ice. It was so cold that we had to completely submerge ourselves at least every 30 seconds or so because our heads would be freezing... Luckily, the hot tub was only 30 feet from the pool, and it was inside!

I didn't ski, or board, any this trip. I had planned on it, and I could have. My friend J came with us to be the ski nanny, so she could have watched the kids while I skiied. But once the opportunity was there, I didn't want to stop playing with the kids to go play by myself. Maybe it's the reason I do better with kid relationships than adult relationships - I would just rather play kid games 99% of the time. My kids are so cool, so much fun, so loving and so happy. And I have tons of fun with them, even in the moments when they are driving me absolutely crazy.







But I don't think I'm too kid crazy... I'm already scouting days for another trip to the slopes sans kids so I can actually do some ski play of my own. After all, I may be kid crazy, but I'm also an unabashed adrenaline junkie... Soon...



Click on the video above for a little sledding action.
Well, Happy New Year to all of my blogger friends. And thanks for joining me for My Daily Spin.

9 comments:

Lisa said...

Those are great photos! The kids look so cute in their snow gear. :) But that's too cold for me!

Afternoon Tea With Oranges said...

Awe! That's so sweet! Can't say I blame you for just hanging with kids. You're a great Dad!

Cliff said...

DV,

those are great photos. I especially enjoy the last one with the fireworks...

Michele said...

sounds like a great trip, except for the cold!!
Love the pics.

SingletrackJenny (formerly known as IronJenny) said...

That is some awesome sledding! Looks like a luge track.
Happy New Year, friend!!!
xoxo
Jenny

TJ said...

Sounds like a great way to bring in the new year.
Happy New Year!

GetBackJoJo said...

It's amazing-- You're kids are nearly as cute as mine. Not quite, though. ;) Sounds like a great vacation. Your kids are so lucky to have a dad that wants to play! Sounds like a great trip.

Anonymous said...

This is so weird. I scrolled through your blog to make sure you were still living down south!!!!!

Your kids are CLEARLY just as tough as those Vermont kids who I said were tough!! That's cold!!

Triteacher said...

Wow. Denver started cold but warmed up to 30+ degrees every day I was there... gotta look at a map and see just how far from the equator Steamboat Springs is. :)