A fun weekend

Saturday night's Reflections event was a very good time. Ted had ski school in the morning and I got my hair and nails done. I don't do this regularly, so it was a nice treat. Ted lost a pole on the chair lift, which we should be able to retrieve next week. He also graduated from Blue to Beginning Black, a huge milestone for him. He has a report card and everything, listing what he's mastered, what he's just learning and what he's practicing. 

Anyway, Reflections was really fun. I enjoy getting fancy once or twice a year, and this time I did go all out, just for the heck of it. Hair, makeup, nails, fancy dress, even earrings! I "won" a month membership to Lakeshore, which I am very excited about using. Also some adorable Sticky Mango Designs T-shirts for Mae. She loves those shirts (Tara's designs). Reflections was a fundraiser for the new JCC building being built in the next few years. I love events like this, where the entire Jewish community is there. It is a pretty large community, that's for sure. Beautifully done. 

This morning I ran the Frozen Foot 5K, very slowly, in 32 minutes. It was a great morning for a run. Then we had chavurah, which was very mellow. I am so tired. We even did Level 1 of the Shred tonight. On to Level 2 again tomorrow. 

Big Ski Day

As they say in the vernacular, Ted thinks he is 'the shiz' today. He and Rachel and another boy were the only 3 in their group at ski school today. Moe took them, poles and all, on a bunch of blue runs before lunch, off of the Challenge lift. After lunch, they hit Indian Peaks, the 4-person lift that goes to the Blacks. Oh yeah. They did Hot Dog Alley (after a brief Black run called Psychopath ... yikes), Sundance, and Four 'o Clock. They were totally jazzed and chattered nonstop about how much fun they had. Moe said they "traversed the terrain independantly," whatever that means in ski jargon.

We celebrated my birthday 2 days early tonight, at Wahoo's, where we watched 2 young men snowboard down crazy mountains in Alaska. Ted thought it looked wonderful.

Then we came home and baked a Pamela's Chocolate Cake with Confetti Frosting (no gluten, dairy or eggs). I'll bring a large piece tomorrow for Ted to eat at Alex's party. It was delicious - the best baked treat we've had so far. My only mistake was frosting it too soon. Next time, really let it cool. Really yummy. Hooray! 

ski pix

My kid is such a goofball. Eldora does "official class pics" but of course Ted was being silly. Cutie.

Poles!

Today was a fantastic day for skiing. The weather was in the high 30's and sunny. I was really hot during my lesson (I started out worse than I ended last week, but really got the hang of the parallel turns this week. I just had to let up on my uphill ski...it feels like such a loss of control but it sure feels better!) Ted had a great day. Because of the holiday weekend only 4 of the 6 kids were there today. We found out that Moe, his instructor, is his 1st grade teacher's ex (they are very amicable and we saw a lot of Moe last year when their son Sam was an 8th grader.) So that made the world a little smaller. They did the Challenge (Challenger?) lift today and did 2 very steep runs and the rest long runs all around that side of the mountain. Ted was quite jazzed about it. Moe said they kids were ready for poles. It's not a requirement, but they are ready for them if they want them. So we forked over the dough and got him some cute poles that will extend long enough to last him til high school, at least. And if he's short like his parents, maybe even longer! He is very excited.
Wednesday they go up with school (I'll have him leave the poles til next Sunday's class) and it's hard to imagine that a year ago he had never been on skis.

Ski Day #2

Yesterday was Ted's 2nd day of Trek. It was freezing and windy, so the 3 girls were all crying by lunchtime. I did buy Ted a fleece (which is why I saw the weeping) but he was fine. The new mittens with hand warmers + liners seemed to work. Sam had a half day lesson after lunch, with 3 other kiddos, and learned how to pizza. He still can't stop, but the pizza somehow prevents him from falling, so he is happy as a clam. I think he could ski this way for a long time and be thrilled. And I had a lesson too. We started on the Magic Carpet (hee) and progressed to the carrot  and then to Little Hawk. I did great! Ken was really mellow and nice to me, and taught me how to link turns, rather than staying in a ridiculously gigantic wedge the entire time. I'm so encouraged. He says the EZ lift (technically the Green lift) leads to runs that are 3 times longer than Little Hawk, but are actually less steep. So we're going to to there next week. This is a real breakthrough for me. Hooray! 

A big day for Sam

Today was Ted's first day of Trek. Sam wanted to come along and do some skiing with me. So I took him along and we had a blast! I expected him to hate the exertion and effort, but he loved it! He was very annoying in the lodge, but he had lots of fun on the Bunny Hill with Magic Carpet and was actually mad at me when it was time to return his skis to the rental place. I think he'll do a half day lesson next Saturday. My friend Tara broke her wrist snowboarding and spent the afternoon at the ER. She has a cast up past her elbow and may need surgery. Yikes. Hope you recover soon, Tara!

I am so pleasantly surprised at Sam's enthusiasm. Who knew?!

a fun Monday

Today Sam and Mae went back to preschool. Horizons starts tomorrow, so Ted (and Brooke & Bailey, twins in his class that I was in charge of for the morning) met up with Kai and Omri at Chuck E Cheese for a few hours of fun. Then we went to Panera for lunch. It was noisy but the kids had fun. They are all ready to go back to school, which is sweet.

After preschool pickup, I delighted Sam by announcing that he didn't need to nap today, but Mae did. I decided he would be FAR grumpier if I had to wake him up from a nap than if he simply skipped it, and I was right; he was fine. Why such emphasis on Sam's happiness? Because today was his first day back at TKD and I wanted him to be HAPPY! And he was. He was so excited all week to start again and he did great today. He is the only orange belt in the class (the others are white belts-beginners), but we won't test him (testing is in 2 weeks) so he'll be able to remain in this beginning class for 4 more months. I think the longer he can be with the littler kids, the better. I think the bigger kids intimidated him somehow. He is so cute and was SO psyched about it. I got him his own nunchucks for Thursday's Black Belt Club class so we are set! Cutie!

And I am really enjoying these last intense weeks before testing. I really like being solid on my forms and onesteps in enough time to enjoy practicing them. Fun stuff.

And lastly, pics of me skiing. I don't take poles with me because I just trip over them. So, a pic of me desperately snow plowing down a green run, and finally sitting safely on the slope. Phew.

Our fabulous spring skiing vacation

Ted and I spent 4 days in Breckenridge with Wendy and Alex. The boys spent Friday at ski school and Wendy took them on 8 runs on Saturday. The boys are fine on blue runs now and mostly enjoyed the small terrain park with its jumps, rollers and half pipe. What a BLAST! (I won't go into my adventure atop a green run, butt-scooting, and a ride on the snowmobile. Heh.) Enjoy the movie. More pics on moeltini.

Spring Ski

Wow. Today Ted (and Rachel) had ski school from 10-3 and I had a private lesson at 1. I learned how to get down a yellow hill without crashing! It was very empowering. I met up with Ted's class at the bottom of their last run (a blue run!) and we went back to the lifts for a few more runs. This is a picture of us on the lift. I went up with him for the first two and it was fun to watch him go down. He's so graceful. According to his instructor, he is to practice turning and stopping with parallel skis, not a wedge anymore (i.e. french fries, not pizza!) He did two more runs on his own (because I was too chicken to go up the green lift) before FINALLY agreeing to be done. Ski passes went on sale today and since Ted is still 5 today, I was able to score him the 5 and under pass....way way way way cheaper! Rock on, me. Today we skied without jackets. Spring skiing rocks. This video is of one of his last runs with me. It's pretty bad (camera video) but the slopes were pretty dead by 4pm, so he's the only one coming down. What a fun day.

Last Ski Day

Well, I'm glad that's over. I was NOT pleased with today's little adventure. First off, they had 10 kids with one (pissy) instructor. In his defense, I'm sure he was annoyed that he had so many kids in his group. He was short with the kids and not too friendly. After the first run, he informed me that Ted wasn't listening and wasn't allowed to ski with the group. Um, so, what would have happened if I hadn't been there? Would he have left him at the bottom of the lift line? I'm not defending Ted, because from what I got out of Ted, he wanted to do the Fun Zone and not ski down the hill, but STILL! What is one instructor doing with 10 little kids anyway? Grr. So I took Ted and put him on the Little Hawk lift. He skiied down beautifully and we found another group for him to join. Only 5 kids in the group and a very nice, mellow instructor. So, it ended well. But I'm still mad. On the left is a pic of his class coming down. Ted is on the far left, the pissy instructor on the right. I love the blowing snow look. It was a gorgeous day, sunny and warm. After the kids got up from naps Ted biked to Wahoo's while I pushed Mae in the stroller. C'mon spring!!

Here's a short little video of Ted with his 2nd class. He's 3rd in line and I love how he gets himself RIGHT up to the teacher, as if to make sure to say, "See, I'm being good!" Sweetie.

Weekend Recap

Busy weekend, but fun. Saturday morning Ted and I had TKD. Testing is on Friday! Ted will advance to Cheetah (Yellow Belt Decided) and I'll be a Yellow Belt, up from Orange! I am all ready too. Woo hoo!

After TKD, we met up with Wendy and took Alex up to share a lesson with Ted. Ted knows how to turn, but prefers to bomb down the hills instead. This is scary and dangerous. His instructor was a little worried about him, but said he might make a good addition to a ski team in a few years. Next Wednesday should be fun since he had that extra instruction. Alex is more timid than Ted, but ended the lesson "turning beautifully" according to the instructor. After skiing we all went to Red Robin for dinner. Mae ate a ginormous bowl of Mac 'N Cheese, half a grilled cheese sandwich, a cantaloupe and would have had more if there was any left. The boys didn't touch their food, but both enjoyed the little worksheets that came with the kids menu.

Sunday I took Ted to Sunday School and had coffee with the moms. Then we had a restful afternoon. Mae must have napped for almost 4 hours today. Crazy! I took a good nap too. I also baked Ted's bread and got all the laundry done. Oh, and tonight I cooked up my weekly batch of yaki onigiri for Mae's lunches. While reading bento blogs, I came across the grilled rice ball concept and knew it would be a hit with Mae. After forming the rice balls (I use cute molds), they are grilled in shoyu. Then they can be frozen and simply microwaved in the morning. Mae loves them and I love having them all ready for a busy week ahead. Her bento for tomorrow isn't particularly cute but you can see the grilled onigiri idea (Hello Kitty). Hee.

Long time no post!

I guess life is busy when I'm so tired I go right to bed with the boys. Mondays and Tuesdays I have TKD, so I got home late and crashed. Last night was a Chinese New Year party at our friends', so we got home REALLY late. It was such a relief to get home tonight and stay home. Here is some video of Ted's Wednesday ski day with his class. He was with his friends Kai and Omri, so he was happy as a clam. It was VERY cold and windy up there and I only lasted 3 runs before retreating to the lodge and a cup of hot chocolate. Brrr! Ted was bundled up though and didn't complain of being cold. The EZ Lift is a Green Level lift and went up a full mile. At the top, they skiied some at the top and went through the Fun Zone, which apparently had jumps and tunnels! Then they came down. You can tell by the 3rd run that he was starting to get the "snake" formation his teacher was going for (i.e. practicing turning). The first run is barreling full speed ahead, the second was a pretty good spill, and the third looked great! I went in after that and apparently they had a blast the rest of the 2 hour time slot. Fun stuff.

Ski School

Ted and I spent the day at Eldora. We both went to ski school. WOW this is HARD! I was exhausted and sore by lunch. Then after lunch, I got the thrill of falling down the hill. Oy. I did manage to wedge down the last 2 runs, but it wasn't pretty. Ted fared much better. He went into it determined to advance to the Green Group, like his other friends at school. And he did it. He started the day on the Magic Carpet, had a little "getting lost" issue which scared everyone, including him, then had lunch. After lunch he was promoted to Green Group and they headed out to the Little Hawk lift. They did the handle tow (or tow rope...not easy...we did this and it was tough) and then at the end they rode the lift and came down, playing Red Light Green Light. Yellow Light meant turn, which I couldn't believe he could do! I can't turn! He was doing great. At the end of the video he says "That was really fun!" Aw! The quality is pretty poor and very far away, but he's on the left. More pics on moeltini.

Much baking!

Today was a lazy Thursday. The roads were terrible after our little snowfall last night and Ted was 40 minutes late to school. After slipping and sliding my way home, the kiddos and I started cooking. First on the list was Ted's bread. Next we made an obligatory batch of Vive's Homestyle Chocolate Chip Cookies. Again. Because on Tuesday we had to give most of them away so this time we got the whole batch! Mmm. While the cookies baked, I started roasting my last Blue Ballet squash for my long-ago-planned Hubbard Squash Pie w/ Gingersnap Pie Crust . I'll bake that soon! I pulled out a favorite meal for a warming local dinner tonight, individual pot pies. We loved this so much the first time. Mmm. It hadn't defrosted enough so it'll be Friday's local dinner; we had leftover CSA spaghetti squash, homemade marinara sauce and vegan meatballs. Yum. Even Mae liked it.

A group of fellow beginner skiing kindergarteners are heading up to Eldora this Sunday for a full day of ski school. I'm going to take advantage of the First Timer's deal and do the Adult version myself! Ted and I will meet up for lunch. We talked about it last night and again this morning, and Ted is gung ho to ski again and learn 'more cool ski stuff.' We went by Boulder Ski Deals this afternoon before TKD and picked up a pair of goggles for me and some hand and toe warmers for both of us. Bring it on! I also bought Ted his own helmet (on sale!) because his rental one was too tight for his big melon, but I may return it because now he says he just wants to rent again. Argh. My kids and their huge heads. Looking forward to a big weekend: ATA Tournament on Saturday and skiing on Sunday. Kewl.

Ski Day #1

Today was Ski Day #1 for K/1 at Horizons. I think Ted was most excited about his undershirt and ski socks. Way cute. The kids had a blast on the bus, and Ted's bus buddy, Kai, lost his first tooth! Between the noise, the blood and the bus itself, I chose to ride down with the other moms in a car. Ahhh...

Ted was in the very beginner-est of beginner groups and he was determined from the start to work hard so he can move up to the next group next week. Rather than the magic carpet, they move to the tow rope, and a steeper hill. Turns are also added to the stop/go routine. He did a good job. He learned how to stop and how to go. He was the last kid on the hill too. Everyone else got cold after about an hour. They were supposed to ski for 2 hours before returning to the lodge. Ted and another boy stayed out for another half hour, and then that boy was cold too. 15 minutes later, Ted finally agreed to go in. There were enough parent volunteers to escort the kids back to the lodge, so the instructor was able to stay with the kids. It was pretty cold and a bit windy, so I think the gear I got him over a year ago was good stuff (thank you Erin for the Helly Hansen recommendation!) This was really fun and he's looking forward to next week! Lots more pics on moeltini.