SKI TRIP!!!

Hello everyone! Last week my mom was here for a week. Dominic was so happy to see her (Gino remembered her too) and very sad when she had to leave. But they had fun. We planned a ski trip around her visit so we could have a sitter! Though the day before we went skiing it neared 70 degrees....not your typical February skiing weather! We had nice weather in the 60's most of the week. When she left it snowed again though.

It was so nice having some warmer weather and not wearing coats...we took advantage and went to the playground. What was really cool is that it is by the air base so the huge military choppers were out training and the jets kept taking off, circling over our heads and landing. It was a very busy sky and sooo awesome to listen to. I LOVE watching the jets. They were flying right in front of my truck the other day on the way home. The sound as they fly over our house and the windows shake is so cool too. I will really miss them. We'll have to make it a point to go to the air show in Cleveland every year.

On Sunday we took the ski train (leaves downtown Denver and takes us to the ski area) to Winterpark. It was a 2 hour trip and was very scenic. This is a picture of the front of the train turning...it was fun to watch the cars in front of us moving around the curves from the isle. As you can see it was very snowy, but perfect skiing. It was much colder in the 20's too.

We skiied the highest ski lift...it was amazing! The snow was different from East Coast snow....it was so fluffy and we breezed through the powder. We even skiied through trees...that was fun. I was nervous about skiing since it'd been 5 years, but it was like riding a bike......though we were VERY sore for days afterwards. We skiied from 9-3 with only a break for lunch. Riding up the ski lift you couldn't see where the top of the mountain ended and the sky began.....it was completely white! The pictures don't do it justice.

SO Amazing....pictures don't even begin to capture the true site! It looked like we were riding right into heaven as the seats in front of us would disappear! We would be so cold going up the lift, than work up a sweat skiing back down. It was definitely a work-out. We didn't want the day to end......our bodies did though (ouch!). Andy was so tired he fell once (ok, more than that!) but he could hardly get back up a couple times! It was pretty funny! We were supposed to go with Laura and Robert but they weren't able to go after all, bummer, but she found another young couple interested in the extra tickets. We got along great and had lots of fun with them! We would go skiing every weekend if we could. It was just so much fun...I just found myself skiing in my own world with my only thought being "wow! this is amazing" and "I hope I make it down this huge mountain in one piece".

Now, let me tell you about the WEIRD coincidences that happened while were were there too. We're sitting in a "warming hut" at the top of one of the mountains (it was crowded and these two girls invited us all to join them) eating lunch (yea, $6.00 hot dogs!....top of a mountain, not many options!) and we're discussing where we're from. Turns out these girls are from Akron, OH and when they mentioned someone they knew from Wooster it happened to be a guy I had dated in high school, she had dated him too. HOW strange is that? Well, it gets better. On the trip home on the train we start talking to the other couples around us and come to find out that one of them sitting right behind us is from Columbus, OH and when they mention who THEY knew it ended up being Andy's best man from our wedding!!! They went to school and were good friends with mutual friends we all had. ...in fact the other couple had just been to CO to stay with them. What a crazy day! I still can't believe it. We weren't sure if we were supposed to read into all of this somehow......so we didn't. What are the chances though?!

Well, it's official. Our house here in CO is rented and we are handing in our keys on March 19th and heading back to OH. Mixed feelings, but still eager to be going back home. Job market is still lousy though, but we're keeping the faith that it's all gonna work out the way it should. Of course in the middle of all of this the motherboard in my computer decides to blow so we're off buying a new computer, like we can afford that! ....one thing after another. We have to keep life interesting I suppose.

We are having Andy's truck shipped back and he is driving the moving truck and I will be following with the kids (and cats) in my truck....he gets the dog at least! Anyways, wish us luck and pray for safe travels.......OH YEA, and plan on being at our house that weekend to help un-pack! hahaha!

Ok! Off to pack some more! OH I almost forgot, Dominic can write his OWN name now! He can write all the letters in the alphabet too. I'm so very proud of him. He was lots of help packing his room because he got to write his name on all the boxes!