Breck Spring Break 2015, part 2

Catch up on Part I here!

Day 2 was Saturday.  While the rest of our party slept in and did other exciting things, our family (including Grandude) made our way up the mountain to watch The Boy compete in his first snow boarding competition.  I'm pretty proud of myself, because the trek included rides on a gondola, on a chairlift and a "brisk 10 minute" walk up  the side of a mountain for me to reach the competition viewing site.

We had a few confusing minutes trying to purchase this "adult walking ticket"...apparently not many people purchase tickets in the winter to not ski or board (surprise?).  It was so confusing that the young lady selling the tickets had to go get the help of a lady my age who giggled with me about "at least it uses a zip tie instead of those metal and sticker passes".

The Boy did well in his competition--it was ages 7 (and under) through 16 and he scored 4th overall, only two points off the 3rd place winner who got to go to the finals.  The kids who placed 1-3 were older, too, so we are all very excited!

He looks tiny, doesn't he?  My mother-in-law, after watching a video we shared with her, said he looked like a "little red gingerbread man".

He kept his race bib...perhaps to have it framed sometime!

While watching the competition, we made  ourselves comfy--it was super warm and The Girl and I made snow chairs and tiny little snowmen while watching the other competitors.  We also got a little sunburned and retreated under the trees for a little while!

We had lunch at the Vista House restaurant while waiting for results (did I mention he missed the finals by two points?) and then The Girl was nice enough to ride the chairlift and gondola back down the mountain with me.  She agreed,  by the way, going down on the chairlift is not a lot of fun...

Later, Mr IM, The Boy, and Grandude met us for a walk to get drinks before we headed back to the cabin to meet up with everyone else.  The Girl graciously babysat for all the younger kids so the adults could go out to Park and Main for a yummy dinner and a couple hours of adult time.  We all also managed to fit into one car, which was pretty awesome, since parking is so tight!

My day, Snowboard Mom Edition

As mentioned in my last post, I got to be a Snowboard mom last weekend.  Here's how I spent my day "near the mountain" instead of hanging out at home doing laundry.

5:00 am...same time as a work day--up, dressed (no shower, no time) while Mr IM gets The Boy up.  Finish packing (so we can stay up here tonight and not have to drive twice in the dark in one day).

5:20....downstairs, load car check list, grab toast and coffee

5:30...in the car, start the GPS. and we are off.  The Boy settles in the back seat with a movie...you know what?  I'm ok with that today.  Drive...think deep thoughts about good weather, bad weather, wind, semi's, how very dark it is,  the voices in my head...radio station fuzzes out near the tunnel, switch to book on CD (Masters of Disaster--I love that book)--Have conversation with The Boy about the book, sun comes up...

7:30 Arrive at mountain almost an hour early. Hmm. OK.

Tell The Boy to get his stuff together and gear on...The Boy realizes his season pass is missing.  Boy freaks out...we search all the pockets of his coat, pants, bag....no pass....Ummm... Text the coach and Mr. IM...both say to just go to the season pass office and they can print a new one.

7:35  Walk over to season pass office.  They open at 8.  Convince The Boy to stop in the restroom. Walk back to car to get snowboard.  Walk back to pass office.

7:50 Ask Boy if phone is in his pocket.  It's not.  Walk back to car to get phone.  Feeling very happy that we are parked in the front row of the lot.  Find lunch bag sitting on seat. Walk back to pass office.

8:00  Pass office opens. The nice lady prints a new pass, no problems...took about a minute--whew!

8:15 Hand The Boy off to his coach, promise to return by 3:15, even though Mr. IM swears they are never back before 4:00.  Walk back to car (again) pick up school bag with computer, papers to grade, and books to read.  Start walking towards town.  Text Mr. IM, tell him everything is under control.  Mr. IM accidentally texts me and The Girl (sleeping).  Mr. IM call me.  Girl wakes up, finds her dad.  Stand on sidewalk in sunny spot and talk to Mr. IM and The Girl for 15 minutes.

8:30  Have internal debate about if I want more coffee. Decide no. Put directions to new library into phone...phone says 10 minute walk and library doesn't open until 9:00.  Wander downtown.

Find ice/snow sculpture display--wander more...try to figure out what sculptures were before they started melting.

 Explore neighborhood, eventually sit on nice bench, in sun, in front of library, and text with a friend while sitting by new "friend".

Decide it is too warm for coat to be zipped...unzip and start taking off layers.














9:00  Library is open--it is beautiful!  Pretend to be Goldilocks, try several different chairs and locations before finding one that is comfortable and allows me to sit where my gradebook isn't visible to everyone walking by.  Find a view that includes the Catholic Church and the mountains in front and the gorgeous library in back.

Spend about an hour and a half grading papers (done for weekend now!)   Update blog posts...Explore library.
















11:00  Stop back at car, drop off computer, pick up a book to read.  Google "Best burger in Breckenridge"--put address into GPS...start walking.  Sight see a little--find another new friend.

 11:30 Arrive at Empire Burger--have a yummy lunch, read a little.  Walk back to library.

1:00  Find new corner of library to read, finish book, walk back to car for another (I know, silly, I was in a library)








2:30  Decide it is warm enough to read in car with windows down--start new book, people watch.

3:15 Find restroom, wait for The Boy, people watch some more.  Crack up at the gondola/clown car of about ten three year olds and how their skis are as big as they are.

3:40  The Boy arrives, talk with him and his coach.  Go to car, he changes into walking shoes.

4:00 Go back to ice sculptures--they are even more melt-y!

4:30  The Boy is tired...head to hotel.

5:00 Check in to hotel, discuss dinner choices.  Decide to walk to Old Chicago.  Discover that the only way is to walk on the road (sidewalk is covered in ice).  Drive car 500 feet to restaurant.

5:15  Order and eat dinner--ten chicken wings, one meat calzone.  Actually only eat about 5 wings and half a calzone--get the rest to go.

















6:00 Drive the 30 seconds back to the hotel, change into swim suits, head to pool.

6:15 Hot tub is full of tired skiiers, pool is empty--play with Boy in pool for about an hour.

7:15  Back to room, find movies for Boy, read book, get ready for bed.  Boy eats rest of wings and calzone.

9:45  Tell Boy that I'm tired--he can finish his movie and turn out light...How is it he spent the day snowboarding and I spent the day walking around town and he's still up? Night night, all!

Driving in the dark

If you know me, you probably know that driving in the dark is one of my least favorite activities.  This weekend, because Mr. IM and The Girl are going to her last Middle School Father/Daughter Dance, I was assigned the task of bringing The Boy to Snowboard team.  We left at 5:30 this morning and it was dark.  Very dark.  So I turned on my trusty GPS (phone version, with road updates) and off we went. The little GPS voice talked to me all the way and we arrived safely (and early).  I think the message here is that when I listen to the voices I'm supposed to listen to, then everything turns out fine.  And that my new car does have really good headlights.  Ahhh...

Ah, Ski season is nearly here

We had hoped to not need anything for ski season other than passes.  And maybe snow pants for The Girl.  Right.  We ended up at the fall ski sale with two pairs of boots (one ski and one snowboard), the necessary snow pants, suspenders with peace signs (purchased from Amazon), two new pairs of ski socks, and a pair of goggles to replace the ones damaged in the rail riding incident of last winter.  But, we did not purchase the Star Wars themed board.  Just saying.  My favorite part of the shopping extravaganza was when the young clerk said, “hi, how can I help you?”  The Boy responded with “I need new boarding boots”  Clerk:  “Snowboarding boots?”  Boy:  (with quizzical look) “Um, yeah?”  Clerk: “Have you ever snowboarded before?”  Boy “yeah”  Clerk “once or twice?”  Boy “once or twice a weekend since I was 5….”  Clerk “Ah, then I guess you know what you need then”  Boy “Yeah”.

 Old boots on left, new on right...hmm, guess he needed them...