Day 1
Our day started early with a 5:50 am flight, which meant a 3:30 am wake up call. The good thing about an early departure was an early arrival to Colorado. We got to Keystone around lunch time and our condo was all ready to check into. Then we hit up the highly recommended Pizza On The Run.
Happy to be near snow, travel hair and all. :)
This guy loves him some pepperoni pizza!
Then we spent some time getting acquainted with River Run area.
Loved the mountain!
My little ski bunnies!
Playing on the snow covered playground
Snowball fight!
This girl. She loves the snow. At one point she said "I'm a snow girl! I just love the snow!"
She was also a snow angel.
We enjoyed a yummy dinner at Black Bear Grill over in Mountain House at the Inn. Why does vacation food have to be SO good?
Took this at dinner. She tried on Gamaws glasses and I thought she just looked so cute, haha. Then we were back at home for bed time.
Day 2
The next day we enjoyed breakfast at The Crepe Stand. If that sounds delicious, it's because it was! I highly recommend a stop there!Then we had a reservation for tubing! I was so excited about this and it was one of my favorite things we did!
Riding the gondola up to the tubing hill!
My handsome boy
I was so happy that they had a photographer on the mountain to capture some of the fun for us. This was right before I first run down the hill!
Ready to go!
It was really fast!
Excited little girl!
Daddy and Mal ready to ride!
Weeeeeee!
Took this fun pictue of everyone riding the magic carpet back up!
Gamaw and sister girl ready to ride
He wanted to ride by himself...
Such a big kid!
Me and my girl
Mason wanted a turn to go down with Daddy. He even asked the hill attendant to spin them. Let's just say he really spun them...
And Mason flew right out of that tube before it even left the top of the hill. Dusty turned around and Mason was gone. He looked back and he was standing up there like "what the heck Dad?" Haha. When I got up to the top he said, "Mom, do you know what happened? I fell right out of my tube!" It was hilarious!
After an hour of tubing we played on the giant snow fort for a while.
The views up on the mountain were just amazing!
My people! Love making memories with them.
The wind had really picked up while were playing in the fort. We were ready to head down the mountain to eat lunch at this point and we were in for a surprise when we got over to the gondola and it was closed due to high winds.
So we had to ride the chair lift back down. Besides the bitter cold wind, it was quite peaceful with more amazing views!
Cupcakes after some really impressive painting skills!
The final masterpieces! (I love how these are very reflective of their personalities!)
We enjoyed a great dinner at Zuma Roadhouse and then a little pool back at the condo lobby before bed.
Day 3
Friday was the kids first day of ski school. They were excited to ski and meet some new friends. That day Dusty and Gamaw also spent the day skiing. I don't ski but I looked forward to a day of relaxing and shopping!
All geared up and ready for their day of fun!
The kids were excited to see us at pick up. I had actually rode up the mountain to watch the kids during their morning ski lesson and found Mal crying and calling for me. The instructor said she did everything they taught her but she was homesick and had a few meltdowns. Mason did great and had a blast.
That evening D and Gamaw went night skiing so the kids and I just grabbed dinner from the little grocery store and had an early bath and bedtime. These kids were pooped...
Day 4
This was probably my favorite day! The kids had another day of ski school. I wanted to get a pic of them on their last day of ski school but it didn't turn out the best! Haha.
Mallory's face kills me. Can we say fake smiles!
The adults all headed down to the spa for a day of pampering and relaxing in the mountains!
After our amazing massages, Gamaw and I were able to sit by the fire, relax, chat, and enjoy a seriously delicious room service salad lunch in the relaxation room at the spa.
Definitely my happy place!
We headed back to River Run to pick up the kiddos. They had a fun day. Mal had a couple more meltdowns but they said she overall did well and that Mason picked it up quite well.
Coming off the gondola after their afternoon lesson.
So fun!
That evening was my absolute favorite activity of the trip. We hopped on a shuttle and headed over to Lakeside Village where we watched the fireworks show and played games while we waited for our last adventure, the Dinner Sleigh Ride!
A bus drove us back to the Soda Creek Valley where we would board our horse drawn sleigh.
We rode the sleigh for about 20 minutes to an old homestead in the Soda Creek Valley. We arrived at the ranch house to eat our delicious steak dinner. They had hot chocolate, beef stew, and warm biscuits ready for our arrival from the cold. Then the waiters served our drinks and the head cook made our steaks and hot dogs for the kids. All while enjoying a wonderful guitarist and singer.
There were only 2 sleighs and 6 tables total so it is a very intimate setting away from the crowds, which I really loved! Made the event even better!
The cowboy singer loved our little princess. She requested Jingle Bells and he happily obliged!
Such a neat experience being out in the quiet, peaceful, dark, snow covered valley and experience a small piece of Colorado history.
Day 5
Our last day we had some time before having to travel back to Denver to catch our flight home. It had been so warm all week that the ice rink had been closed and that was the one thing Mal really wanted to do on our trip. I was so thankful when we woke up to cooler temps and snow!
We got all packed up and out of our room before enjoying one last vacation meal at 9280 Taphouse.
Enjoying the last day together and we were all pretty tired! Haha.
Our snow loving girl was thrilled that it was finally snowing on our trip so of course we had to get a picture.
Yay, the ice rink was finally open! It was really, really cold and windy at this point so it was just Mal and I that went out on the rink. The weather did not phase her at all. She smiled the whole time and actually got to where she could skate without the cones or my help! I loved having this time with her and was thankful that neither of us hurt ourselves literally in the last hour of our trip! Ha!
Bye snowy Colorado!
Then we made the long trip back to Texas. Gosh, it was such a fun week. I may not be a skier, but I love the beauty and fresh air in the mountains and will look forward to these vacations with my people every year!
No comments:
Post a Comment