Phil's Birthday Skiing

Our third week in Colorado brought freezing temperatures.  Quinn and I headed into Park meadows Mall, which is the kind of big mall you expect in America - it was amazing just to wander around, I think you could probably get lost in there! 

We drove in with our neighbour Mindy, and her little boy Ethan who is the same age as Quinn. It has all the department stores, like Macy's, JC Penny, Dillards and Nordstroms, and everything else you could possibly want. Our excuse was to get a birthday present for Phil, and we accomplished our mission. We had lunch at the food hall, the boys threw money into the wishing fountain, and we were home to pick up the big boys from school.It was a short week for the boys, as they had their first pupil free day on Friday. We spent the morning at home getting organised to go skiing. The boys were pretty good for most of the morning, and built a hangout area upstairs, which you can see in the photo - they made it pretty cozy!

  However, they did start to get cabin fever, so we headed up to Bison Park, which is a great park just up behind the boys school. We had a great time up there, it was really busy as it was a lovely clear day, and heaps of the kids form school were there. They climbed, ran and generally wore themselves out for the afternoon. When Phil got home from work we headed for the mountains, and our weekend skiing at Lovelands.

We stayed in Georgetown, which is a lovely little ski town only 10 minutes drive from the ski fields.  We arrived on Friday night, and found a great little Mexican place for dinner - it was really good food, with ski clips showing on TVs, and very noisy - perfect for us. The boys thought it was great, they had 'beer' with their dinner. Afterwards there was a basement area which had darts, ice hockey table and a pool table, so we all had a game of pool - I have not played for years!  On Saturday, the boys enrolled for their ski school.  They skied from 10am til 3pm, and had lunch with their skiing group.  They had lots of breaks with hot chocolate and cookies, and had pizza for lunch, so they had a great day.  I had a lesson in the morning, while Phil stayed with Quinn, then Phil had a lesson in the afternoon, and I stayed with him. 

I was advised that 4 years of age was the youngest that children could enrol in ski school, but I think that Quinn would have been fine. We will get him a lesson next time we go, as he was most upset that he was not skiing with the rest of us. Phil got him some hire gear, and he had a play around on his skis, and he did really well. He got his balance, and was figuring out how to turn. Then he found some little boys, and they all played in the snow building things, and kicking down ice mountains for the afternoon. He had absolutely had it by the end of the day, and after throwing himself in the snow with tantrums, he was asleep in the car before we even left the car park!

Luke and Ryan also had and a few tears from exhaustion, and it was an early night back at the Georgetown Inn for us. Phil and I were pretty happy with the cable TV though, and managed to watch a little of the Australian Open.   Sunday was Phil's birthday, and he was really keen to ski.  However, two days in a row was a bit too much for the first time skiing for Ryan, and I had not even gotten off the chair lift for my first run, and the ski school called to tell me that Ryan was in with them, and had decided he wasn't skiing for the day!  So he and I have a rain check on our lesson, lift pass and ski hire, so we will definitely have to go back another weekend.  Luke stuck it out in his lesson for the day, and Ryan and I skied the bunny slopes for most of the afternoon.  Both of them mastered the chair lift, which is no mean feat!  It was a bit scary though, as there is no safety bar which comes over you once you get on, you just have to make sure you sit your bottom back on the seat.  Ryan decided that the best way down the mountain was just to point your skis and pretty much fly down - I did not think he was going to be able to stop on a number of occasions, but he did, and he didn't take anyone out, which was pretty amazing!  We had to practice doing some big turns going down the hill....

After skiing for the day, we all went down to the heated indoor pool at the hotel. Phil, Luke and Ryan had been there the day before, while I stayed in the room with Quinn who had crashed out. There was an outdoor hot tub, and the boys were really keen to get in, so we all raced across to the hot tub, as it was freezing cold outside, and jumped in. It was all ours (surprise, surprise!) and it was about 38 degrees, so it was beautiful - until you had to get out!  On Monday we were going to have a look around Georgetown, as it is really quaint, and has heaps of heritage listed buildings, but it seemed everything was closed, as it was a public holiday.  We came back down through Idaho Springs, and stopped at the Hot Springs there, which are renowned for their healing properties.  We also went to the Information Centre which had displays showing the history of skiing, and gold mines in the area. 

We had a cake for Phil's birthday when we got home, and you can see the boys singing Happy Birthday, and helping him blow the candles out.  A memorable birthday, I am sure!