The Brown Brick Road

Capturing our adventures one photo at a time...

Skiing day 3

We got up Tuesday ready to go ski all together! We had originally signed the kids up for a 3rd day of ski school but they didn’t really need it. We had the very best day all skiing greens and blues together! The weather was very overcast and dreary the first part of the day and much colder than it had been the first two days.

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When it’s extra cold you just make a mid-morning pit stop for hot chocolate and cookies!

cookies

cookies

The kids also introduced us to Bucky’s Front Yard – a little side run with plenty of moguls and quick turns. They skied it much better than Robert and I did our first time! Ouch!

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We also met some friends for lunch at the Champions Club at the Stein Erickson hotel. It was awesome – not crowded, good food, and lots of free games!

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We were wiped out that night and just stayed in the condo for dinner. My kind of night! It was a full and fun day on the mountain!

Skiing day 2

On the second day of skiing we decided to take the lift down and then ski with the kids down a green to get to ski school. It was rough at first but then they found their groove and we made it down our first run together.

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Look at her just zooming down with pigtails flying!

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The run was called Success and it was just that!

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The kids were in a group with an instructor named Nathan for day 2 and they really liked him. After dropping them off, Robert and I hit up blues all day! We even had some photoshoots! ha!

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The best part of the day was when we ran into the kids on the mountain skiing with Nathan! I was so happy to spot them and say “hi” before they happily skied off with their instructor! We picked them up that afternoon and had time to do one more run all together.

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They had a great day and we got a fantastic report from the instructor that night.

feedback

feedback

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We did go into town for dinner at The Butcher Shop that night. I’ll be honest, I was too tired and wish we had just stayed in and ordered room service again. But, it was nice to go explore a bit.

dinner

Day 2 ended the way it began – with success!

Skiing

On Sunday morning we took the kids down to ski school. None of us really knew what to expect – and when we arrived before 9:00 we also didn’t know it didn’t actually start until 10:00! That was ok though – it gave us plenty of time to get situated and get the kids where they needed to be.

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They were all in a group together with 3 other kids and an instructor named Spencer.

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ski school

They all seemed pretty excited and had no problem letting us leave. Phew!

ski school

Robert and I then went back and got geared up for a fun day of skiing together!

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ski

We hit up green runs all morning trying to find our ski legs again. Robert’s ski legs seem to come back much faster and easier than mine! ha! Robert spent the morning zooming down and then waiting on me to make my way down the mountain. He’s a good skier and a good sport!

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After lunch we were feeling pretty comfortable so went on a blue run. I promptly bit the dust 10 seconds into the run. But, I got back up, figured out what I needed to do and made it down. We then skied blues the rest of the day with no issues. I just needed a little time to get going! It was a pretty – and warm! – day. Temps were in the 50s and 60s and we were peeling out of layers all day. Also gotta love this goggle and helmet head!

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We picked up the kids that afternoon and they had all had the BEST day! They loved ski school and were so excited to show us what they had learned so we went down the bunny hill with us a few times to show off their new skills!

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I was so impressed with how quickly they picked it up! The most fun day for all!!

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We made it back to the hotel and hit up the hot tub…can’t beat it.

hot tub

We were tired…the best kind of worn out from all the fun tired…so ordered room service and called it a night! A great first day of skiing!

Spring Break

Two weeks ago we headed out on the most fun adventure for spring break. We took the kids to Deer Valley to go skiing for the first time! Robert skied a lot as a kid but I didn’t learn until I was in my 20s. Neither of us had been skiing since 2009 though. I really didn’t know what to expect but it turned out even better than I could have hoped! We got to Deer Valley on Saturday and were very, very pleased with our accommodations! We stayed at the new Residences at the Goldener Hirsch and our condo was so nice!

deer valley

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deer valley

I loved having a cool, modern place to stay – with an awesome hotel bed! It was perfect having a full kitchen, living room, and a washer and dryer.

spring break

deer valley

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This really good avocado toast they had for breakfast sure was nice too!

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We stayed in Silver Lake Village which is mid-mountain. We did have to get down to the bottom of the mountain for ski school but it was pretty easy. The first day we took a car down but on day 2 we took the lift and skied down! Sunday was our first day of skiing and the ski butler brought all of the gear to the hotel – so easy!

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skiing

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Tiny skier ready to go!

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Ski school and more to come tomorrow!

Camp

I love this picture of Daddy…

camp daddy

My mom out of town (a very rare event!) and Daddy had to pick me up from my two week stay at Camp Ozark. Neither of us were used to doing those type of things without Momma in charge, but we did our best. Well, our best wasn’t quite good enough! We made the 2 hour drive back to Little Rock and then realized my laundry bag with ALL of my clothes from camp was still in my cabin. Oh no! So, we drove all the way back to Mt. Ida, Arkansas and there was my laundry bag waiting on the camp porch. We got a good laugh out of it and took turns taking each other’s picture with the laundry bag!! I need to scan in my picture with it but I love this one of Daddy – still smiling after 4 hours back and forth in the car with another 2 hours still to go back home! We did our best, but we weren’t quite as good without Momma around. Just like now, we will do our best but we’ll never be quite as good without Daddy around. I’m going to miss him so much.

It’s been so nice this week to relive memories with old friends and share stories of Daddy with new friends that never got a chance to meet him. It’s hard and we are sad but we will be ok.