Ski Lessons 2015 Kick Off

The time has come for ski lessons 2015 to begin.  We haven't had the boys up skiing as much as we would have liked, but ski lessons were here whether we were ready or not.

The drive up to Winter Park late Friday afternoon was spectacular.  A storm had just gone through the mountains and it was a crystal clear Colorado blue sky day.

Even the moon was out early to enjoy the day and greet the Ham Fam (and the bazillion other people driving up into the mountains).

We stayed in a different set of condos than last year and much to our grateful surprise, when we looked out the window, Starbucks was our view.  This is like a dream come true!

If you turned your head slightly to the right, this was another view.  It was fantastic!

It was SO fantastic that I busted out the panorama setting and took a few additional shots of the view.

As grand as it was to have Starbucks RIGHT THERE, not once did I make it there for a Grande Non-Fat No-Water Chai.  Ski lesson days are completely hectic and a stop at Starbucks doesn't always work out.  Especially when they close so early in the evening!  I propose that Starbucks should stay open much later than they do, especially when they are RIGHT THERE!

Regardless of where Starbucks was and what time they operated, the boys were thrilled with the Lazy Boy recliner.

Clearly our boys are deprived as they believe that this is their first Lazy Boy recliner, EVER!

After a short time, we had Papa Murphy's pizza cooking in the oven and the Martin family stopped by for dinner.  Cole thought that the Lazy Boy recliner was fantastic too and he loved it almost as much as his buddy, Kellan.

As the evening progressed, so did the ants in the boys pants, so we turned to How to Train Your Dragon 2 for a bit of entertainment.  It appears that watching a movie from on-top of the couch is much more exciting than watching it on the seat of the couch.

Something else that we discovered with this couch was that it was covered in dog hair.  (or maybe cat hair.  white short hair that was allergenic, that we know for sure)

Oliver's throat started to itch, but with cold season in full swing, we thought he had a cold bug tickle.

After some time on the couch, Oliver told us, "The people before us had a dog.  I'm wheezing."

Sure enough, his dark pants were covered in hair and his white shirt likely was too.  We treated him with allergy medication and albuterol and followed up with a call to the Manager.  We reported the allergens as well as the extremely wet carpet that we arrived too.  It appeared that there had been a leak in the kitchen that they may have tried to fix but the carpet was still wet.

While we were waiting for the Manager, the Martin's left for their room and the boys jumped on our bed to get into their PJ's.  Two seconds after Oliver had his black fleece PJ's on, they were covered in hair too.  We looked at the King Bed comforter and spotted animal hair.  We pulled the comforter back and it was there too.  It was like we were in one of those hotel horror reality TV shows.

The Manager arrived promptly and explained that they were at 100% capacity (AKA live with it) but he offered to change all of the bedding and bring Oliver a roll away mattress.  As luck would have it, the Manager was highly allergic as well.  He knew instantly that there had been pets in that condo, a condo with a no-pets policy.

This was such a crazy experience for such a high end condo.  The manager fixed our room as best as he could and then comped the cost.  He was very apologetic that evening and even the next morning when we called to tell him that the leak was worst as the area of wet carpet had spread and it was starting to smell.  Ugh!

In the end, it could have been much worse with Oliver's allergies, but he was OK.

Saturday morning, we were off and running to Ski School. I forgot to get a departing photo of  Oliver and Owen, but I did get a photo of Kellan (left) and Cole (right) waiting for their ski school group to be formed.  (The first day of ski school is a mad house and there is always waiting, shuffling and more waiting.)

Out little skiers, Kellan and Cole

Hey... the skiing parents!!!

On the lift, the kids were in ski school, the Ham Fam condo was packed up and we were on the lift to ski some fresh snow.  AWESOME!!

Except... you can't see Kristi in this photo with the pretty snow covered trees.  So... we took another photo.

The whole parent gang!

Keith, Carrie, Kristi and Patrick

The Ham Fam parents; Carrie and Keith.

Check out the new coat and goggles on that lady!  Thanks to Santa, the coat and goggles from more than a decade ago have been retired.  Whoop Whoop!

After many hours of skiing, we headed back to The Derailer for a late lunch and some Rocky Mountain Cold Refreshing Coors Light!

Someone must have caught wind that the parents were in the lodge because shortly after we sat down, Mommy's phone rang.  The man on the phone said that Kellan said that he was done for the day and he just wanted his Mommy.  8:30 - 2:30 is a VERY long ski day for these little guys and Kellan had his fill of fun.  They gave him the option to ski or go inside and he chose to go inside.  When we asked him how his day was he did say that he had a lot of fun and he's excited to go back next week.  Mission accomplished for Day 1 (having fun while learning to ski).

After some munchies, it was time to collect the other kids from ski school.  What did Kellan and I do while we waited?  We took photos, of course.

Soon, Cole arrived for some cocoa and comfortable boots.

Kristi noticed from across the table that they looked like brothers with the same disheveled helmet hair.

A couple of tired but happy boys.

Eventually, the bigger kids came in.  We learned that their pick up time is a bit later than the little boys.  Oops!  Now we know for next week.

Owen, Jin and Oliver all had a great day on the slopes.  Owen and Oliver were chatter boxes with updates on where they skied, what jumps they went over and how fast they went.  Their instructor gave them rave reviews for improvement on the first day.

Meanwhile, the table was getting cozy with parents and kids and I ended up with a couple of snuggle buddies with an iPhone.

As it we time to leave, Patrick packed up to head out.  Check out the load on this Daddy's back!

The Martin's were staying an extra night, so they invited us to join them in their condo for a taco feast.  They condo came complete with no water leaks, no wet carpets and animal hair free.  

Cole and Kellan were wiped out and snuggled in bed for the Bee Movie.

Really, everyone was sacked out for a little R&R and NFL playoff football.

Patrick, Oliver, Keith and Kristi

I took this quick snapshot of Oliver and couldn't help but think that this is a glimpse of  him as a teenager.  He looks so grown up!  It must be that UA shirt from Nolan who is now a teenager himself.  Time sure flies.

As the evening came to a close (and traffic had hopefully cleared from the highway), we packed up to head out.  It was SUPER cute that the boys had a big group hug after 24 hours together.  This was completely prompted by the boys.  Not a single parent was involved until I said, "hold that until I take a photo."  Oliver and Owen with Kellan and Cole in the back.  

Week 1 of ski school came off with rave reviews and marked as a success.  This is going to be a huge year of growth for all of the boys.  It will be so exciting to see where they go over the five weeks of lessons.  We are so excited and proud of each of them!