First day of spring brought some wintery conditions here in Breckenridge, otherwise it has been mostly warm and sunny with a couple powder days mixed in.  Crowds have become a bit less crazy since earlier in March.  We’re picking our ski days between the weekend crowds and slushy conditions of the warm days.  Definitely not safe to ski on slushy days based on the increased amount of injured skiers taking rides on the patrol sleds which end up right outside our window at the clinic.

Mixing up activities on non-ski days with the rec center, library story time, pool, parks, sledding and chores.  Grocery store runs become a bit more involved when you don’t have a vehicle with a toddler.  While it’s relatively close by, it’s still a bus ride and then hauling the goods back in reusable bags (doing our part to not exacerbate this issue).  Charlie’s demands for certain elevators, bus numbers/colors and a particular seat on the bus add a whole new dimension to the chore.

We took advantage of the onsite daycare last week and it was great!  Dropped the little guy off at 9am and then Cindy and I enjoyed a snowy day of skiing.  Skiing in fresh powder reminds us of the joy of surfing on a glassy day with nothing but the enjoyment of the power of nature.

Excited for daycare!

Let’s shred!

Hiked to the top of Peak 6

Hiked to top of Peak 6!  A long way from first learning to ski in 2006.

Sous chef for some homemade vegetarian lasagna

A hike to the back of Peak 9 for some untracked runs

Weigh-ins after the pool, burning some major calories at this elevation

Spring break has arrived along with the associated crowds (good for Cindy’s job but not good for skiing).  We’ve been mixing it up with mountain and non-mountain activities activities, but hoping for some late season snowstorms.  Starting to look a bit more like mud season the last week with the warm temps and lack of fresh powder.

Charlie continues to learn new skiing skills and we’re learning how best to ski with a toddler.  Some parental lessons include:

• Skip the blustery or cold days
• Don’t start at lunch time (trying to avoid the mid-morning lift crowd)
• Bring plenty of snacks
• A successful day might just be a couple runs

Just wrapped up our first month in Colorado and loving every day.  It was an interesting mix of frigid cold and snow last weekend to mid-40’s sun a few days ago.  Hoping this storm tonight dumps some snow around here for our mid-week skiing.  Enjoyed spending time with our friends, Tony and Rhonda, who spent last week in Breck and we got the chance to ski all day with them.

Charlie’s interesting math equations

Family day on Peak 7

Thumbs up and smiles for a full day of skiing fast!

Crafts at library story time

Cool locomotives at the Railroad Park

A bit of mining, but no luck finding any gold

Spring weather has arrived, let’s go to the park!

The closest thing to a meat burger which we’ve ever tasted

Play time at the rec center is a weekly favorite for Charlie

Rode a bus to Keystone to check out the impressive snow fort at the top of the mountain

Commuting to work on skis

Fun experiments at the Children’s Museum

We love skiing!

Mom and Dad would be sore for days if they tried this move

Mad scientist or future bartender?

Enjoying every day here in the mountains and mixing up our activities between the rec center, pool, library and skiing.  Cindy continues her long days of hanging out with us the first half of the day and then working the evening shift at the Living Room restaurant on Peak 8.

Once the prime season with spring break comes to a close, then we’ll likely venture out in more activities such as snowmobiling, dog sledding, etc.  Plus our ski passes allow us to check out some other mountains like Vail and Keystone.

We quickly learned that our 10-year old gear was worn out, so we’ve been replacing gloves, socks, pants, base layers and goggles since we arrived and utilizing Cindy’s employee perks for local shopping discounts.

Cindy and I continue to be amazed at how quickly Charlie is learning to ski.  He’s been figuring it out all on his own and working lately on his turns to avoid any obstacles.  Trying to slow down doesn’t seem to be on his list yet.

Completely enjoying ourselves in the mountains!  Cindy started her job last week and has been working hard but making good money.  Most days her schedule has worked out well to spend the first half of the day skiing or hanging out with Chris and Charlie then heading off to work for the evening shift.

Started watching the Olympics this week and Charlie has really been into watching all the sports, which is fun since he gets to experience the skiing and watching other folks at the terrain parks here on the mountain.  The only sport we haven’t found here yet is curling, which Charlie seems to enjoy watching while falling asleep at night (relaxing kinda like golf?)

Charlie quickly graduated from the bunny slope and escalator last week to 5 laps on the chairlift and green runs today!

Beautiful, sunny day on the mountain

Visting mommy at her work, which is a restaurant named “The Living Room” on Peak 8

A kid’s favorite hangout named “Downstairs at Eric’s” has good pizza and arcade games galore.

Charlie’s first wintertime chairlift and loved counting the chair numbers

Enjoying ourselves each day in the mountains!  Received quite a bit of snow the last couple days, which has been a welcome sight.  We’ve spent our recent days sledding, ski shopping, exploring the local library, Cindy’s job on-boarding (including our complimentary ski passes as a perk) and hitting the slopes for our first day shredding the mountain.  Meeting a bunch of friendly people around town with a number of local kids in Charlie’s age range.  Looking forward to exploring some other local hangouts like the Rec Center later this week.

Heated indoor/outdoor pool in our building is a fantastic amenity.

Charlie’s ski package for a season rental

Trying out all of Charlie’s gear for day 1

Storytime at the library will be a weekly destination

Groundhog arts and crafts

Cindy’s shredding gear. Found some sweet deals at a local shop for used demo skis.

Day 2 for Charlie was further up to the beginner hill and treadmill. Check out those exquisite french fries!