Day 8 - Departure Day

So, today is the day we head off the mountain. I'm up early to start packing. I want to hit the road by 9am so there's time to stop for lunch before meeting Jen and her family at 1pm at the Jelly Bean factory.

Just because I've done it every day we've been here, I took one more picture of the balcony.

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It's obvious that it is time to go...just look at the snow melt.

On the way out of Northstar (around 9:15am) we passed a looooooooong line of cars coming in. The Dew Challenge and fair weather must be drawing a TON of people to the resort. Another reason it was time to leave.

We stopped for lunch in Davis at Arroyo Park.

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The park had a cool climbing wall and UFO sculpture.

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Then we met my Dad and my sister and her kids for a tour of the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield.

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That was a fun stop.

Finally we got home. And it was good to be there.

Day 7 - Last ski day

Friday dawns bright and sunny. I do one more check of the balcony

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You can tell that the snow has been melting. I got Charlie suited up in his snowboard boots and he went on to practice a little before his lesson. I'm adjusting the skis Ken lent me before taking them out on the hill. Today, we're planning to hook up with Claire for some runs with Katie. Should be a good day.

We got Charlie off on his snowboard lesson and Katie and headed out to ski. Charlie decided that he was right for a "Level 2" snowboard lesson. Katie had a rough start to her skiing. On the first chair, she lost a ski getting on (someone behind us brought it up). On the 3rd chair, she fell in the line and got frustrated. We decided to tone it down a little and take a break. Katie showed me where her hidden fort near the bottom of the Village Express chair is.

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After a break and a snack, things seemed much better. We went back up to the top of the mountain and enjoyed some good skiing.

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Then, we headed back to the condo for lunch and waited for Claire to call so we could join her for some afternoon runs.

After lunch, we joined Claire and did some runs.

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Before long, it was time to get Charlie from his snowboarding lesson. He had a great time and advanced to Level 4.

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Charlie could not resist showing us some of what he learned today

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As we wrapped up our last ski day, it was smiles all around.

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Tomorrow, we come off the mountain and meet Jen, Brian, Dylan and Ellie at the Fairfield Jelly Belly factory on the way home.

Day 6 - Forecast Sunny and Warm

Today is supposed to get into the 40's and be mostly sunny. Our balcony view looks the same as in previous days

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but I trust the forecast.

The day went as promised.

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After dropping Katie off at her lesson, Charlie and I headed out on the mountain. We used the helment cam that Nora gave Charlie. We filled up a 2GB card with stuff. When we looked at it later, it was interesting, but I'm not set up to edit it down to a reasonable chunk for sharing here. This is a short clip of him using the camera.

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Later in the afternoon, we met up with our friends the Leonard's. Charlie and I skied with Charlie's friend, Jonny for awhile

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I picked up Katie from her lesson. Her instructor told me that she was a LEVEL 5 now! Her skiing has come a long way this weekend.

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That night, we went over to Claire and Ken's for dinner. We watched the helment cam footage on a big screen TV and had chichen fingers and french fries. The kids loved it. Ken lent me a more "up to date" pair of skis to try out today.

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Day 5 - It stopped snowing

Well, this morning we awoke to partly cloudy skys afte an overnight dusting of snow. The check of the balcony shows conditions are going to be favorable

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Today, Charlie has another ski lesson. Katie wants to ski with me on Magic Moguls and build a snowman. Going to be a good day. Need sunscreen today.

So, Katie and I head off to Magic Moguls. We were on the chair by 9am right after dropping Charlie off for his lesson. We skied Magic Moguls and that went so well, I decide that Katie was ready to take the Comstock lift up to the top of the mountain. On the way, we passed the famous Mardi Gras tree

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Once at the top, of course, I made Katie pose for the obligitory "I was there" picture

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Katie's skiing is getting really good. Here's a short video of her skiing down the West Ridge

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Katie and I skied for 3 solid hours and now we're back at the condo eating lunch. Katie's telling me that she really wants to do some sledding this afternoon. We may not make it back out on the hill today.

After lunch, Katie and I went out and shoveled the car out and went sledding.

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Before we knew it, it was time to go pick up Charlie from his ski lesson.

Charlie had a great ski lesson day. He had the same instructor he had on Monday. His group of 5 ranged all over the mountain and spent 2 hours this afternoon over on Lookout Mountain (Martis, Washoe and gladed tree skiing).

Day 4 - Still snowing

So, today Katie has her second lesson and I'm skiing all day with Charlie. The day starts out with the (by now) standard check of the temp and the snow on the balcony

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After dropping Katie off for he lesson, Charlie and I head up the mountain. Fresh from his lesson the day before, he wants to show me all the "cool" spots. He's fixated on Grouse Alley, a black run off the top of Mt Pluto. We skied it. How'd Charlie do? Judge for yourself with this video

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Yup, it was a snowy, cloudy day again today.

We were on such a roll today, that we never made it back for lunch. We just kept going.... thanks to M&M's in our jacket pockets. We made our way over to the new runs on Lookout Mountain

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We did work in another run at Grouse Alley... similar result

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Later that day, we met up with our friends Harri, Lisa, Sana and Sami for some runs

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I picked up Katie after her lesson. She had a great time and made a friend, Victoria, who lives in San Francisco. They may be in a lesson again together on Thursday. The best news is that Katie is now a "4-plus" level skiier. That's awesome. She skiied some blue intermediate runs today and had a blast...including Magic Moguls. I'm looking forward to skiing with her tomorrow. The one little cloud on the day is that when Katie saw Sana snowboarding, she said... "Hey...seeing Sana snowboarding makes me want to try snowboarding." Oh no! Could I be loosing her to the dark side so soon? I thought I had more time. I guess there's always Elodie.

Day 3 - Still snowing

Monday finds us waking up and having the routine down. The kids have finished dressing and eating by just after 8am. It's a little colder this morning and a few inches of snow fell through the night.

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We dropped Charlie off for his lesson today. We decided on a level 6. It was markedly more croweded today. Here's a picture of him as we waited in the check-in line. He looks bored already, doesn't he?

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Katie and I headed up the hill and she showed me the wonders of the Bear Paw lift.

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Later, we went to "Upper Mine Shaft"... a little fun-park off the Village Run and skiied through the trees.

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Then, it was time for a snack break. Katie found a snow-fort where the plows push the snow off the road.

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We went back to the condo for lunch and while there, we shoveled out the car... not because we needed, but just to have it clear so if we DID want it wouldn't take an hour to get it out. [Thanks for that living with snow tip, Laura!] Then, we had lunch and did some laundry. Katie says she wants to go to the hot tub after lunch. We hit the hot tub... it was snowing

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So, my plan to alternate days with the kids skiing is getting validated there's no way Charlie would opt for a 2-3 hour break in a ski day to just goof around, but that's what makes Katie happy. I just try to remember that it's their childhood and I only get to go along for the ride. I've found out the hard way it's important to listen to the kids and match activities to their feedback. I did get Katie out on the hill again after the hot tub. We did a couple runs, but she was pretty much done as you can see in this picture

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Soon it was time to go pick up Charlie. The after-ski-lesson cattle call is quite something to see

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On the walk back to the condo for dinner, it started to snow pretty hard. Katie started to really show the exhaustion from the days events

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I literally did have to carry her for a bit. Now we're back in the condo getting dinner ready... lasagne today. Yum! Yum! Tomorrow, Katie's in a lesson (level 4!) and Charlie wants to take me down some advanced terrain. Going to be another snow day!

Day 2 - Settling In

So, 7am this morning finds me making coffee and looking at two fast asleep kids. No new snow overnight to speak of, but the forcast calls for temps right around freezing today, 3-4 inches of snow and breezy winds (around 20 mph with higher gusts). Right now, 7:09am, it looks calm and the temp ouside is about 24 degrees.



The kids have surprised me... it's 8am and they're all ready to go... I'm the one still farting around putting away stuff.



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We're out the door by 8:30...walk down to the ski trail with our skis for the short ski down to the lodge.

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Check Katie into her lesson and Charlie and I are riding our first chair by 9:00am.

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The cold gets to be a little too much for Charlie. Even with toe warmers, hand warmers and a short warming break, we still head in for an early lunch around 10:45.

Charlie is in heaven.... the NY Rangers and the Philly Flyers are playing a game on tv.

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12 noon, I get Charlie off the couch and fortified with well-positioned toe warms and hand warmers and a face mask that covers his cheeks, we head out again. This time with more success.

We Magic Moguls a couple times, then up Comstock and down Iron Horse and then down the East Ridge and Loggers Loop and back to the condo and we got in around 3pm.

Here's a video of Charlie skiing down the backside at Northstar

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I'm just jotting down a few notes and loading some pictures and then it's off to fetch Katie from her lesson.

I pick Katie up from her lesson with "Debbie" and she told me that Katie was the "star of the class". She had a fantastic day. We walk back from the lesson... it seems to take alot longer to walk back up the hill then ski down it.

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We're fixing dinner now... Charlie's asked me to teach him to play poker. Sounds like an interesting night ahead.