Wednesday Morning we are all up early laying in bed. We have a big day ahead of us. We were going to the Loveland Ski Area! Today Jonah, Lily, and I took snowboarding lessons from 10-3:30 while Ensey and Olsen took ski lessons. It was a lot of fun. I have not snowboarded in 2 years. So I was a bit crazy. There was a lot of falling and sliding, a ton of bruises, but it was an amazing experience!

Lily, Jonah, and I had an incredible coach, Coach Mark, he was extremely helpful. We rode in the valley for most of the day which was a pretty good sized slope. We would keep going up the lift and Mark would teach us new tricks and send us back down. I struggled with speed control a lot.

In the video you can see that I am headed straight down since I can’t exactly control my speed, yet.

Jonah was doing great. The problem was that when they put the snowboard together they did the wrong foot so he was a bit everywhere. Overall though he was great.

In the video there is Jonah coming down.

Lily did remarkable. She had some wipeouts but she got right back up and continued.

Here comes Lily down the mountain 🏔. As you can see she wiped out but got right back up.

Mark, later, took us over to the Basin. The Basin had bigger slopes we tried like “Chet’s Dream” was cool. I got scared because there was a big edge I thought I was going to fall off 😂.

It was extremely enjoyable!!! -Julia

As what Julia said, snowboarding was enjoyable. I had so much fun. Something that I personally worked on with Mark (as you know, our coach) was my ‘S’ turns. That is when you either start on your heels (literally lean back on your heels) and go down the mountain a bit sideways and then you go straight down and do the same thing that you did with your heels, on your toes. I eventually got it (although still wiping out)! I felt more comfortable on the Basin since the snow was nice and I had a six year old friend, Elise! As we went down the mountain, we had snowball fights. One experience that you should know of is to never fall backwards (when going down hill) while leaning forwards. I had that problem a bit.

In this picture here is me on my snowboard. I think Jonah and Julia did great snowboarding as well. I hope that you all get a chance to be in this lovely weather and enjoy something active, fun, and challenging!!

Lil’ Lily OUT!! 😂

My skiing experience is not quite as positive as Shane’s or the kids, so this time I took a lesson with my friend, Stacie.

Our group of six focused on turning and balance, which has always been a struggle. I learned to ski in high school where a group of friends almost literally pushed me down the mountain and expected the skills to come naturally. Unfortunately, skiing is not a natural skill for me so the lesson was an immensely positive experience. I was even able to get off the lift (the bane of my skiing existence) without wiping out but one time.

The best part of these wintry vacations that involve skiing or snowboarding is that I get to watch my kids learn and love the adventure like their dad.

Loveland Valley is a beautiful, well-kept secret of sorts in the Arapahoe National Forest. It sits near Keystone and Breckenridge – two top ski destinations yet its half the price and half the crowd. The runs are picturesque with pathways between trees, which is often unheard of for beginner slopes. And you can hop a shuttle for a five minute ride up the road to the Basin where you will find first class runs, including all the diamond trails.

After a day on the slopes, we returned to the condo. We ordered pizza from Sauce on the Blue in Silverthorne and watched Free Solo with the kids. Incredible movie and great watch even with kids. Alex Honnold was inspirational in his goals and the manner in which he achieved them – at his own time and pace. Shortly thereafter, bed called all our names so we could be prepared for a day of tubing.

*Gina