Our Colorado Vacation

Since Erlan is almost 3, we decided it was time to go on a ski vacation in Winter Park. To add to the fun, we brought our nieces, Kenzi (age 8) and Keely (age 7), with us. Don’t worry… we balanced the ratio of kids to adults by bringing Amy and Granny Jannie with us.

The kids were terrific on the 12-hour drive out. The girls entertained Erlan. They watched DVDs. They only started asking if we were there once we reached Denver. They were amazing. Erlan had a couple of false-alarm potty breaks so that he could get out of his seat and stretch a bit.



We spent Friday night lazing around the condo. The girls entertained us by dancing and singing all of the songs in HSM (High School Musical—for those of you not in the know). It’s amazing how much the two girls have in common.



Saturday was spent acclimating to the altitude change. Ben, Amy, and Granny Jannie took the girls to rent skis. Erlan and I took a much-needed nap. We took Erlan back for skis later.



Sunday the girls finally hit the slopes. We enrolled both girls in ski school. We decided that we would teach Erlan ourselves with the handy ski harness that we purchased. By the time we got the girls’ settled and Ben’s boots warmed up to the point that he could put them on, we would have had to buy a half-day ticket. Since lift tickets are $90 and half-day tickets are $83, we decided to wait until we could do a full day. Here’s a run down on the kid’s day, from youngest to oldest…

Erlan: We stuck Erlan on his skis so he could get used to them. We pulled him around a bit. I let him watch the little kids in ski school. He seemed interested (meaning he watched it out of the corner of his eyes). We’re going to enroll him in afternoon ski school tomorrow.





Keely: Kee-Kee (or Chi-Chi as Erlan calls her) announced she loved ski school the first time we checked on her. Unfortunately, a couple of hours later, she had freaked herself out with thoughts of having to ride the chairlift up the mountain. This gave her a tummy ache and she missed about 3 hours of instruction. After Amy talked to her, Keely chose to re-enter ski school. Amy heard this exchange between the instructors: “Did they threaten her (Keely) or did she do it on her own?” “They threatened her.” Here was the threat: “Keely you have have a choice. You can finish what you started or if you are that sick, you can lay in bed all night, not watch TV, and not play with Kenzi.” Keely chose to go back to ski school.

As a side note: I can hardly criticize her for freaking herself out since I have been known to freak myself out many, many times before going up a lift. In fact, I’m freaking myself out now thinking about riding again after a 5-year hiatus. My last lift tags are from 2004!

Kenzi: Kenzi loved ski school. She took everything very matter of fact when I watched her on the bunny slope. She went up the lift to do the long green run at Winter Park twice! She will be Level 2 when we enroll her tomorrow. She was very excited about her success; however, when she called to tell her parents about her success, she was most excited to tell them about the heated pool at our condo. “Guess what?!? There’s a pool where we can swim in the winter!”

Karla: Karla got a good workout hauling Erlan around all day. Apparently the altitude hurt Erlan’s legs and he could no longer walk. Ben, Amy, and I carried him around almost then entire day. I felt like I had spent the day on my board.

For the parental units checking this blog, your kiddos are doing great. They are not homesick (sorry). They are very active! They are happy. :-)