All Good Things Must Come to an End -- Keystone & Vail Closing Weekends....

So sad to see winter coming to an end, but that means warmer days are ahead and we can get the hiking shoes, mountain and road bikes, and Jeep ready for more mountain fun this summer!  But first, there's closing weekends at Keystone (April 10th) and Vail (April 24th) to celebrate an end to one of the best seasons on record for snowfall totals.  Keystone ended up with one of their top 5 seasons ever while Vail had a record season with over 500" of snow.  We were both able to beat Kent's season goal of reaching 1,500,000 vertical feet of skiing this season -- Woo Hoo!!!  Kent ended up with 1,765,000' while Dianna had 1,515,000' (Whew!).  In addition, Kent was able to maintain the #8 position on Keystone's season leaderboard while Dianna held the #12 spot, so we are pretty proud of ourselves. 

Dianna celebrates on closing weekend at Vail -- Woo Hoo!!!

Keystone held their First Annual Slush Cup on closing weekend - where skiers and boarders go down the hill and attempt to jump over and skim across the top of a VERY COLD pond without sinking before crossing the finish line.

What a riot to watch, as contestants were getting style points for their crashes as well.  Needless to say, most of them didn't make it across the pond but everyone had fun.  The costumes were almost as fun to see as the crashes!  Here's a shark that never made it very far across the pond....

Butte fans rejoice - Evel Knievel was even there!

Chicken Man followed by a string of rubber ducklings never made it across the pond either....

With Keystone officially closed for the season, we moved on to Vail for the final two weekends there.  Hey Dianna, I need to use the restroom.  Oh, nevermind it's buried under 8' of snow.

No kidding, this was Two Elk Lodge atop Vail Mountain on closing weekend -- nobody was there!  During peak season, you literally had to fight to find a spot to have lunch or an afternoon snack break.

Some of the themes for the different lifts are pretty cool at Vail.  This one is an old barn  that you enter to get off the chair lift.

Time for closing weekend at Vail - they had their pond all set up for their Slush Cup too.

A foot of fresh powder on closing day makes for some awesome conditions in a season we'll never forget:)

Bye Bye Vail, Beaver Creek, and Keystone until next winter:(

BUT WAIT, THERE'S STILL ARAPAHOE BASIN THAT IS SHOOTING FOR A JULY 4TH CLOSING DATE!!!!!!

Joseph's Big Birthday/Easter

It's a party -- and the Arvada Fire Department was invited to join in the fun!  What a surprise for Joseph's 5th Birthday Party when the doorbell rang and it was the Arvada Fire Department with one of their pumper trucks!  No, it wasn't because of the threat of too many candles leftover from Papa's birthday cake, but Joseph's Uncle Dale arranged to have them show up and let all of the kids at the party tour the pumper truck.  What fun for everyone!

They even broke out the hose and let all of the kids squirt water down the block - free car washes for all of the parents too!  Here's Joseph manning the hose.

Sophie and Bella admiring the big fire truck.

Then came Easter Sunday with sunrise mass at Spirit of Christ followed by a fabulous brunch at Bradley & Jolene's house with a big Easter egg hunt!  We are so fortunate to have our children and grandchildren live so close to us so we can enjoy all the fun in their lives too!

Why We Live Here!

The fact that we can enjoy ALL of the seasons here in Colorado in addition to being able to do all the fun stuff that we get to do with our children and grandchildren is what keeps us here!  Heres a shot taken from atop Dercum Mountain at Keystone overlooking the Dillon Valley.

These are the kind of sunsets we get to enjoy while skiing and on our drives up to Keystone in the winter:)  Pretty much the same as the previous shot, but in the late afternoon.  (Another reason it's fun to do night skiing)

More Keystone sunset shots......

Going over Loveland Pass on the way to Keystone......

Looking from Arapaohe Basin ski area towards Keystone at sunset.

Sometimes the roads aren't always the easiest to traverse.  This was taken in early May - not in the middle of winter!  What an awesome winter this was with the exceptional amount of snow we got! 

Yeah, that cornice is about 25'-30' tall!

Oh yeah, another benefit of living in Colorado is the availability to see fun cultural events too.  We were able to get last minute tickets to see Elton John in Denver in mid April.  This shot of his piano was taken before the show started from our seats in the first row! 

An awesome performance by Elton with just him and his piano - no backup band or singers!

Keystone Condo Fun With The Kids And Grandkids

When we go up to Keystone for the weekend, we all play pretty hard during the days, but we have excellent cooks (Sara and Jolene) who take turns with the meal planning.  Just another typical dinner in the condo with all ten of us having fun!

Bradley playing horsey with Andrew and Bella

Hey, he makes a pretty good horsey, let's all pile on!  Joseph, Andrew, Bella, and Sophie going for a ride:)

Andrew and Joseph having fun

Always more fun and cozy to have a fire going while at Keystone!

Bradley and the boys getting ready to go down to the pool and hot tub after a long day of skiing