Awesome trip to Steamboat soon after Oma arrived- first week in March. The stars just aligned. Chip had a trauma conference there, Oma was in town, and I could get the week off...so let's go!
I love this picture- beautiful sun, smiles, and the ski resort in the background.
Ruby and Owen love helping out in the kitchen, and loved making tortilla soup. Yummm...
Mindy has all the hook ups. As if getting to go tubing under the lights at Howleson Hill wasn't exciting enough, Ruby, Owen, and Mindy got to ride in a snow cat up the hill to our destination.
This run was fun and was the perfect length and speed this evening that Ruby and Owen could ride on their own. Giddy up!
The conference had all these fun events like lunch on the deck, snacks and beers with his afternoon sessions, fancy breakfast every morning, and a kids night out.
We also loved the pool and hot tub at the condo. I love the snow right outside the pool. The water really was warm, but this makes us look hardcore.
We got to go into Mindy's classroom and participate in making ice cream. We learned the science behind our favorite sweet treat, loved watching Mindy teach and meeting her students, and of course, eating the results. Science is so cool!
We had a lot of town time. This is a great thing in Steamboat- perfect size and just enough cuteness to keep us busy for the week. Above is a picture of Ruby with the FM Stills giant horse outside the store that you can sit on.
These and other adorable statues are along the street too. Ruby would hug or kiss each one every time we walked by.
Just the colors, patterns, and her sweet smile. :)
Visited Steamboat Hot Springs. A-mazing. Huge, hot, beautiful. I would be a regular if I lived here. Although Oma hates getting wet in the winter, even she regretted not bringing her suit. I got tan lines this day. Gorgeous.
We skied a few days too. On Friday Mindy got to join us...and so did baby! We had an epic day of skiing. With Mindy's help and motivation the kids got so into it, we went way up on the mountain with them. They skied powder and through the park! You can see some video of them trying to negotiate the powder below. On our ski down I must have been asked 10 times how old they were. Not many people their size higher up on the mountain. I was a proud and grateful mama. :)
Mindy pointing out the route to Ruby. They would probably ski anywhere she told them to.
It was a pretty good view of us coming down, so Oma waited patiently at the bottom and caught what she could. It is pretty great to have someone to report and reinforce all the great trials and adventures to. :)
Ahh yes, baby. Ruby's favorite nonhuman companion. Anything to motivate.
Hot chocolate for everyone!!
Man, I am tired just writing captions for all the things we did. How did we fit it all in?! Here we are doing a night out on the town our last night there. Happy Hour at our favorite kid friendly bar, the Sweetwater. And, a little shopping afterwards, where Owen kept himself busy playing a game on my phone we call "Running Guy". It is safe to say he got a little addicted to it on this trip and I am happy to say we have recovered from that since being home.
Apparently we prefer the hot dog stand to the fancy happy hour apps at the restaurant. We will miss Steamboat and Aunt Mindy! Can't wait to see ya again. Thanks for squeezing so much time in with us in addition to work all week. And, nice job, Chip, for finding this conference. Wish it was here every year!
