Winter Park Ski School - Week 4

Week four of Winter Park Ski School started off with a Blizzard.  After several weeks with no measurable snow, the mountains were getting pounded and it was flying all of the way down to the front range.  We left at our usual time of 4 PM and heard from our buddy Jeff Wells that I-70 was a parking lot, so we went up the canyon.  Canyon short cut or not, we were bound to sit in traffic that was stopped as far as the eye could see.  Thanks to Jeff, we had a heads up to jump on the frontage road and it's a good thing because we heard later that if we would have stayed on I-70 the entire way, it would have added 2 hours to our 2.5 hour trip.  Come to find out, there was a "low speed chase" (no joke... the news said "low speed" with a drunk driver that ended in a crash when I-70 came to a common abrupt stop.  Traffic past Hwy 40 was diverted back down the mountain but thankfully, we headed up Hwy 40.

Traffic was so bad that the Martin's didn't even attempt the drive, which meant that they missed out on their favorite Hernandos Pizza in Winter Park!

We met Jeff and Jin for pizza and the kids were all entertained during our wait thanks to Steve Jobs' iPhone.

The Manning brothers joined us for dinner.  Peyton had a big Super Bowl game on Sunday and they were celebrating the Broncos on Friday at school.

The next day, Winter Park was measuring snow by the foot.  It was GORGEOUS!!

As the boys and I walked to Ski School, I said "Look at all of this snow!" in which Oliver responded, "That means there is more snow to eat!".  I was quickly given a lesson in the priorities of a child and it took me back to my childhood.  After a quick reminisce, this Mama was back to herded her cats to ski lessons.

We weren't sure how the boys would do in their lesson but we dropped them off and hoped for the best.  It turned out that they loved it!  Kellan had a private lesson since the rest of his class didn't show up (Cole was home sick).  Oliver and Owen only had one other classmate with him.  They had a great time working on their turns and giving powder a chance.

In the meantime, the Dad's hit the slopes.

I heard all kind of stories about Warren Miller Moments from Patrick and Keith.

Apparently, there were crowds cheering for their powder skills and helicopters flying over head.

Notice... there is no proof of helicopters or crowds.  Just Patrick and the man behind the camera.

I'm sure there were plenty of Warren Miller moments, complete with theme music.  Unfortunately, Keith and Patrick weren't the stars, this time.

The man behind the camera.

While the guys had powder that went on for miles, this Mama had Starbucks and spreadsheets that went on for hours.  Sometimes you have to take the responsible role and get some work done on a Saturday.  Surely, the cider market will thank me, someday.  Or not.