Skiing, Christmas, Skiing, New Year's, Skiing, and then some more Skiing!

With a few remaining days of vacation left in 2010 for both of us as well as our children and their families, we all headed up to Keystone for some R&R and skiing!  Dianna & I went up the weekend before Christmas to enjoy some skiing then came home to Arvada to watch an Avalanche hockey game, spend Christmas day with all the kiddles and grandkiddles, then everyone went back up to Keystone to ski between Christmas and New Years Eve.  What a wonderful time we all had!

Keystone is gearing up for the winter season with their annual ice sculptures.

The view from atop North Peak overlooking Lake Dillon and Frisco.  Fresh New Courdoroy, WooHoo!!!!

Kent even did some night skiing a few days before Christmas Eve!

The Kidtopia Snow Fort that Keystone built on top of the mountain - Joseph, Andrew, Sophie, and Bella really had fun playing in it!

Dianna and I got really brave and decided to ride the cat up from the top of South Peak to try out the North and South Bowls at Keystone.  We were scared to death at first, but the scenery was awesome and the deep powder was phenomenal!!  12,500' and well above timberline to start with, it was a bit windy at first.  Here we are getting out of the cat trailer we rode up!  

Jolene and James getting ready for a run down the North Bowl:)

Once we got below timberline, the scenery and skiing in the back bowls at Keystone was breathtaking!

The North Bowl at Keystone with over a foot of fresh powder!!!

New Year's Ever fireworks over the ice skating rink at Keystone.

People enjoying ice skating around the Christmas tree at the Keystone pond on New Years Eve.

Our seats for the Avalanche game were practically on the ice - what an experience to watch the players close up!

Downtown Denver skyline before the Avalanche game, really festive with all the Christmas lights!

Auntie Sara with Andrew 

Sophie and Bella enjoying the holidays in Keystone

Dianna and Bella

Our annual pickle hunt on Christmas day - the one who finds the pickle ornament hidden on the tree gets a special gift to unwrap - some pretty intense pickle hunters!!! 

Bradley and Jolene enjoying their prize for finding the pickle!

Sara and James having fun on Christmas. 

Joseph on Christmas:)

Happy Holidays to All!!!!!!

Waiting for Santa, more skiing (new venue), and Monster Trucks!

With Christmas just around the corner and no snow yet in Denver, we trekked up the hill to Keystone to find Santa for Joseph and Andrew to visit with.  As you can see, Joseph was ready to chat with the big guy in the red suit while Andrew wasn't so sure about the whole ordeal.....  I think Joseph filled Santa in on what his brother wanted, though.

The following day, we all decided to head over to Arapahoe Basin to try out the slopes there.  Lots different than Keystone since most of it is above timberline!  Our fourteener hike this past summer was just on the other side and well above that 12,000' ridge behind Dianna - Whew!

Another shot of A-Basin, a beautiful day for skiing once the sun came out a bit!  

What would wintertime be without a monster truck show?  Bradley and Kent have gone to those every year since Bradley was 3, so figured we might as well make it a family ritual for the guys every year!  Joseph and Andrew loved the big trucks jumping and squashing cars and even got to ride in the back of one of them during the intermission - something Joseph will never forget!  Here's Joseph climbing up on top of the tires of the winning truck. 

Bradley, Joseph, Andrew, and Jolene with a redneck family portrait!

As long as the boys want to keep going, Papa still loves to take them to see the monster trucks!

Thanksgiving at Keystone

What an awesome time with all of our family at Keystone for the long Thanksgiving weekend!  Sara, James, and the twins went up on Tuesday afternoon, Dianna and I joined them on Wednesday night, then Bradley, Jolene, and the boys came up on Friday afternoon.  In addition to getting in LOTS of skiing, swimming, hot tubbing, relaxing, and plenty of yummy turkey, we all got an abundance of family bonding!  It started out a little cold on Thanksgiving morning with temps hovering in the -15 degree range, but the lack of wind, abundance of sunshine, and lack of crowds actually made it a fantastic day.

Here's a shot on Thanksgiving morning of sunrise from the gondola (looking through the snow blowing from one of the snowmaking machines)

No crowds!!!!

Dianna enjoying the spectacular scenery atop South Peak.

Still no crowds, the entire hill to ourselves.......

James skied with us while Sara stayed behind with the twins to start the turkey.

WOW, Dianna and James have an awesome view of Breckenridge from the top of South Peak.

Just another Kodak moment......

Having fun watching the snowboarders and extreme skiers jumping and doing tricks on the big snow jumps while we were riding up the chair lift.  These guys are crazy!

We did manage to get a couple inches of snow on Friday morning.

Bradley giving Joseph some more ski lessons:)

Sophie all dressed up and ready to tackle the slopes.

James giving Bella some ski lessons.



Bring It On!!!!

WOO HOO!!!!!!  Opening weekend at Keystone!!!!

It seemed like November 5th would never come, then the big pre-season dump happened (Keystone got 26" in 3 days) and it was on!  Of course, we decided to go up and catch a few runs on opening weekend even though the crowds were pretty thick.  We got our half-dozen runs in, stopped for a hot Bailey's and coffee (ok, maybe it was two), then finished off the day with a few more runs just for fun.  It'll be pretty challenging until they get all of the runs open (hopefully by Turkey Day), as our goals for now are to get to the base without getting run over by boarders.

Here's the 'beach' set up atop Dercum Mountain with the phenominal views of Breckenridge in the background.  It was 65 degrees on opening weekend!

North Peak (Kent's favorite) - not open yet, but looks like they are getting pretty decent snow too.  They plan on having everythng open by Thanksgiving weekend. 

Dianna enjoying the new deck next to the beach on top of Dercum Mountain, Breckenridge behind her. 

Sara, James, Sophie, Isabella, Bradley, Jolene, Joseph, and Andrew joined us on our second weekend for skiing.  Joseph did his first real run with a little help from Dianna. 

It's a long ways down the big hill, Joseph taking a break. 

Sophie and Isabella couldn't stand it watching their cousin Joseph skiing, so Sara broke down and got them equipment too!  They'll be joining us in a week or two to learn skiing too:)  Looks like all of our grandkids are doomed to be snow-bunnies too! 

Greetings from Keystone

Living room afterwards........

Kitchen afterwards......

Master bedroom afterwards.....

Master bath afterwards.........

Second bedroom afterwards.....

Second bath afterwards......

Loft before remodel........

Loft afterwards......

Living room, fireplace, and stairway to loft before remodel......

Stairway to loft afterwards......