Ski Lessons Sandwiched By Heaven

Week two of ski school started all-a-glow with a sunrise sent from heaven.

Week two took a very unexpected turn.  Unexpected, but not bad.  There was no dog hair, flooding floors or allergy asthma attacks.  It was much different than that.

We dropped all of the boys off at ski school and all went smoothly.  We talked to both instructors to make sure that our boys were on track and all was well.  Oliver was bound for a bigger day as the entire class had excelled the week before and a few other students had been moved out so that they could move along.  Kellan was bound for the top of the lift to learn to ski on his own and keep up with his class.

After the boys were ready to rock ski school, the parents went to gear up and hit the slopes.  While we stood in the LONG line to take the lift to the top of the mountain, Keith's cell phone rang.  He ignored it since he didn't know the number but when I saw it, I knew who it was, Kellan's ski instructor.  I looked at my phone and I had missed her call and she left a message.  After listening to the message I called her back and she said that Kellan was panicking at the top of the lift.  I asked her what she wanted us to do.  She didn't exactly say, "Please come rescue me," but that's what she implied.  I knew exactly what she was dealing with.  We experienced it a few weeks prior.  We rode the lift and headed straight for Discovery Park's warming hut, where they were waiting for us.  

Kellan came out of the warming hut (potty break) with the biggest, sadest eyes every.  All he wanted was to ski with his Mommy.  I said to him, "I'll ski right next to you."  He replied, "no Mommy, I want you to ski with your feet outside of my feet."  Sure thing.  We had to do something to turn this frown upside down.

The instructor looked relieved and we were all off; one instructor, six ski school students and two parents.  I'm sure that people thought that we were clingy parents.  Instead, we were caring parents who wanted to give Kellan a good experience in order to learn how to ski and parents who wanted to give an instructor a hand.  Not once did she imply that we should take Kellan out of ski school, she only needed a little help so that she could do her job.

I wrapped myself around my baby and skied with him down the mountain.  As he gained confidence, I rattled off tips for him to improve his skiing as we chatted about what was going on around us.  Keith snowboarded along side us as he cheered for Kellan, cheered for the other kids and overall entertained everyone.  As the class waited for Kellan to gain his confidence, Kellan's Daddy kept them laughing (or wondering who the crazy nut was).  As we skied down the mountain,  Kellan went from wanting me to have a firm grasp on his waist (talk about major leg workout while in a constant squat) to allowing me to lightly hold the shoulders of his jacket.  As we neared the bottom he said, "Mommy, I can do this, I don't need you anymore."  I said, "OK, it's all you." and I let him go.  As he skied forward, we cheered him on and I pulled out my camera (of course) to snap a photo of his first solo moments.

Next up, the instructor was going to take all six kiddos up the lift for the first time.  As nervous parents with a brand new skiier, we offered to ride up with them to help out as well as to make sure that Kellan's confidence continued.  We hopped on the lift with Kellan and Cole while the instructor, Cindy Lou Who* rode with the other 3 students.  (Yes, she's amazing).

*Lucy is the instructors name, but it's it more fun to say Cindy Lou Who?  At least it is when you're trying to entertain your four year old who needs a funny distraction.  I did quietly apologize to her if she hated it.  She said that she didn't mind as long as everyone was having fun.  Hopefully she thinks it's fun because there is nothing like hearing Kellan say, "Cindy Lou Who, watch this."*

Once off the lift, Kellan pointed his skis downhill and started to go.  His class had gone to the left, but he wasn't sure how to turn, or stop.  As we cheered, "push your feet out if you feel like you're going to fast, push your feet out, PUSH YOUR FEET OUT, PIZZA, PIZZA, PIZZA!" I had to think quick on how I was going to stop this freight train.  I skied up along side of him and put my pole out to the side to stop him.  It worked, he panicked at the realization that just happened and cried.  He cried, but Daddy was right in front of him saying, "ski to me, you can do it."  He did it and he was awesome.  Then, his instructor did the same and he again skied to her.  IT WAS AWESOME!  He was slow, but he was skiing!!

As we approached the snowmobile ride stop, the instructor decided that the 6 students were ready for lunch.  The snowmobile pulled up with the trailer full of seats and seat belts and all 6 kids scrambled on.  They LOVE the snowmobile ride.

This was also our free pass to take off.  It was an hour well worth it.  If we had left Kellan to "toughen up", he may have had a miserable 4 weeks of remaining ski school and never learned to ski.  Or, we spent an hour building his confidence and we hoped that he would end the afternoon as high as we left him prior to lunch.

We met back up with Kristi and Patrick and we took full advantage to take some photos on top of the mountain.

Carrie and Keith, ready to hit the slopes!

Kristi and Patrick, ready to ride.

We anxiously picked up the little boys and were greeted with RAVE reviews.  Kellan skied the rest of the afternoon, just as we had left him.  He was skiing, turning and stopping.  I was so overjoyed I hugged Cindy Lou Who!!! (I guess she isn't holding a grudge for her new name, which I'm sure she's heard before.)  She even had a video to show us of Kellan skiing.   We were all so proud!!  He loved it so much that he wanted to go for another run.  I never thought that I would hear that.  I would have loved another run, but we had already taken our boots off.  Sorry bud, next time!

Cole and Kellan, our skiers!!

Cole and Kellan after I said, "stand together like you like each other."

Cutie pies.

We may have bribed Kellan a bit with a treat after a great day of skiing.  He wanted something like the skittles he had two weeks prior, but when we all opted to meet at Starbucks for kids hot cocoa, he was even more thrilled to have a warm morning bun.  

Someone is a happy camper and is LOVING skiing AND the snacks :)

The big boys come off of the mountain a bit later than the little boys, especially when they are having as much fun as our kids did.  Oliver and Owen's instructor said that our boys are real "tree hounds" as they LOVE to ski the trees.  They are doing great learning to transition from snow plow to parallel and they are loving every minute of it.  Oliver said, "This was the BEST DAY EVER!"

I think his crazy hair and big smile tells it all.

Hot cocoa is always a great way to end a ski day when you're a kid.

What's even better than hot cocoa is a hot tub on the deck!

Kristi found a great condo for the weekend.  It was MUCH better than our usual lodging at the base of Winter Park and we only had to walk 2 steps into the cold outdoors to take a dip in the hot tub.  The boys were in HEAVEN!

Kellan, Owen, Oliver and Cole, lovin' life with the BEST DAY EVER!

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!

Hoppin' Johns 2015

Happy New Year!!

In southern tradition on this snowy day, we served up Hoppin' Johns.

Southern, you question?  Well, Mr Hamilton may have been raised in the western state of Wyoming, but he was born in the south and raised with southern cookin'.  His Dad is from Texas and his Mama is from Louisiana.  When you move that north to Wyoming, you're bound to continue some of the southern traditions.  Hence... Hoppin' Johns on New Years Day for Health, Wealth and Luck in the new year.  We don't miss this meal.  We need all of the health, wealth and luck we can get.  Doesn't everyone?

Since we think that everyone and anyone could add some health, wealth and luck to their New Year, we invited friends over to join us.  The Heineman's, Martin's and Wells' were quick to knock on our door and join us for the festivities.

Prior to dinner, we kicked the big boys outside to play in the snow.

Recently, I heard someone say, "kids don't go outside to just play anymore."  I responded with, "our kids do."  Here is proof... sometimes... they just have to go outside to play.

We didn't kick Kellan out with them since he was fighting a cough and sniffle.  He got the free pass to stay inside where it was warm.  Cole rode on that free pass with him and they played inside.

Outside, there was a blanket of fresh snow.

I took ZERO photos of the outside activity, but Kellan took photos from inside.

From between the blinds, he caught Oliver in action.

The snow shovel was in use.

Eventually, this snow shovel went to the hill at the park behind our house where Oliver and Owen spent an hour building a sledding hill with a jump.  They had a blast!

On the inside, Kellan and Cole were taking turns modeling and being the photographer.  They took numerous photos.  Some are blurry, some or off center, some selfies, some cute like these two.

Kellan taken by Cole.

Cole taken by Kellan.

Keith and his ham taken by Carrie :)

We mixed it up this year and had a spiral cut ham instead of ham hocks.  Hopefully this doesn't sway our health.

Doesn't it look delish?

It is! :)

Hot on the stove we had some collard greens, black eyed peas and rice with beer battered bread in the oven.

Everyone loved it!  They loved it SO much that we didn't have any leftovers :(

This made Keith sad as he was hoping to eat black eyed peas and collard greens for DAYS!

This does not make Carrie sad as in her opinion, this meal is great once a year and that's about it.

The next generation of Hoppin' John diners:

Owen, Oliver, Jin and Owen

It's like an Owen Sandwich! :)

After dinner, we sat down to enjoy the Oregon Ducks take on Florida State.

Oliver had on his new Oregon shirt, compliments of Uncle Jerry.

It was a close game going into half time, then, the Ducks dominated.

Oliver said that this was "The best game of my life!!!"

We are taking donations for out of state tuition as Oregon will likely be on Oliver's college list.  We expect Uncle Jerry to start saving now as it's his fault that Oliver even knows about Oregon, even if it did start as "O" for Oliver.

Uncle Jerry hooked Kellan up with a Kansas State shirt for Christmas too, customized with Kellan's stats.

K for Kellan

2010 for his birth year

4 (on the back) for his age

He's lovin' it!

Happy New Year to our friends and family near and far.

Hoppin' Johns or not, we hope that the new year is full of great Health, Wealth and Luck for each and every one of you!!!

NYE sans Kids

For at more eight years, we have spent NYE (New Years Eve) far far away from the public eye.  We have been at home or a friends home because we were starting a family and NYE out on the town wasn't a great option.  First, we had babies.  Then, finding a sitter for those babies that didn't have NYE plans was nearly impossible.  Then... NYE 2014 arrived.  

Kristi and Patrick had been invited to a party and they invited us to join them.  Finding a sitter was tough but then, it happened.  We found a sitter for our four boys.  It was a NYE miracle!

After some thought, we opted to not attend the party and to enjoy a nice dinner out instead.  It was a fantastic choice.

We squeezed in reservations at The Acorn in The Source in Denver.  We put on swanky adult attire, kissed our boys good-bye, wished the sitter luck and headed out for our adult dinner reservation.  It was perfect!

The Source turned out to be an excellent example of turning an empty warehouse into a money making machine with fantastic restaurants, bars and office spaces.  The Acorn, being one of those restaurants was beyond our expectations.  We loved it!

We loved their cocktails too.  Fresh and Amazing!

We had a great seat in the Acorn loft and we loved it.

Patrick, Keith, Carrie and Kristi

After we stuffed ourselves silly, we sauntered down below to the bar where Kristi pulled out her mustache stir stick from the Terminal Bar.  Really, every time is a great time with a mustache stir stick.  I was super jealous that I didn't have mine.

After a month of truly enjoying all treats that come with the holidays, I squeezed into these pants that my friends fondly call my "Sandra Dee Pants."  This comment typically makes me break out in a song and dance for "you're the one that I want, ooo ooo ooo, honey" which makes Keith break out in a deep eye roll.

He loves me anyway and posed for a photo to ring in the New Year.

Once home, the sitter said, "I actually had fun" and I think that she was sincere.  It's so great to know that the boys were with someone who had as much fun as they probably did.

(The next morning we heard all about the fun that they had and all of the crazy stories that the sitter told them like that there was a man in the heating vents that would come down to get them if they didn't go to sleep.  I don't think they bought it, but they questioned it enough to ask us the next day.  It worked though since they finally went to sleep. We thought it was funny.)

We tiptoes upstairs to find four sweeties asleep in their bags.

Fun night out, kids asleep, game night was upon us!

We rang in the New Year during a game of Catch Phrase Decades followed by Charades and Cards Against Humanity.  At 2:30 we hit the hay and I concluded that junk food be gone.  Not only for my waist line but for my brain power as well.  I've lost the edge and lost game night.  Kristi may trade me in as her gaming partner in crime if I don't get my "A" game back.

HAPPY NEW YEAR to friends and family near and far!  2014 was fantastic and we have a lot to be thankful for.  We have our health and happiness, what more could we ask for?

2015 is bound to be great.  We have high expectations for it and we are over achievers here in the Ham Fam.  I hope 2015 can handle what the Ham Fam has on their list of expectations. No Pressure!!

Happy New Year!