​By the third day of skiing, we were all getting a little tired but the sun for the first few runs was a nice way to start the day. Then the clouds came in and the sun went away, and we immediately felt the coldness. Still, there was fresh powder on the runs this morning which was amazing. We ventured all over the place but stuck to most of the same stuff we had been skiing the past two days. I headed back over to the East River Express with the older kids and did the black mogul Resurrection run with Emma and then the Black Eagle mogul run with Abby, Andrew, and Emma. At one point we thought we saw Madeline by herself going down a run when we were on the lift, so we waited at the top for Mike and when we didn’t see them Andrew and I flew down Lower Treasury to make sure she wasn’t at the bottom by herself. Turns out that we had just missed seeing Mike because Madeline was so fast. That Lower Treasury run was amazing and the fastest I skied all day. Even on tired legs I skied more today than I did the past two days. That was probably because Emma wanted to go back to the top after getting to the bottom with Madeline. Abby had lost her ski pass, so she and Mike were getting another copy. Andrew was tired so he took Madeline back to the condo and Emma and I went back up Silver Queen to the top and skied the Paradise bowl again. After doing that once we realized that we were also tired, so we headed back to the bottom and called it a day. We skied 14 runs with over 17 miles and 16,772 vertical ft. 

​Today was another great day on the slopes with the family. It was a tad warmer than yesterday but overall, the weather was about the same with the cold temps but nice sun in the sky. We did mostly the Paradise Bowl again today but went over to do some harder runs off the East River Lift later in the morning. Andrew, Emma, and I did a black run called Double Top Glades. The tree section is definitely my favorite before it drops off into some very steep black moguls. I made it down just fine, but it wasn’t always the prettiest watching me get through the deep mogul section. I definitely need work on learning how to navigate those better. Then we made it back up to the top and met up with Mike, Abby and Madeline who skied Lower Treasury. We all headed back to the Paradise Lodge for some lunch. We have figured out the best things to bring for lunch and it was nice that there were three of us with backpacks to share the load in carrying all the food. The favorites were the chicken salad sandwiches on croissants, snap pea crisps, clementines, and of course, the Oreos and other little treats we brought. After fueling up we did more of the Paradise Bowl before heading back down and doing one run off the Red Lady Express lift. We ended up skiing 10 runs with 13.5 miles and over 13,000 vertical ft. 

Push up challenge for Emma's running club

Just because Andrew was crazy...he got back in the hot tub really fast

​We were a little delayed getting on the slopes this morning but that was ok. Andrew needed to demo some skis and we realized that we had brought one correct boot and one incorrect boot for Madeline, so we rented boots for her. The sun was shining on the slopes at Crested Butte which was good because the temperature read 7F with a real feel of -5F. With the sun we were perfectly warm riding up Silver Queen Express lift. One of the coolest things about this lift is the view of Mt. Crested Butte right before you get off the lift. Madeline was more nervous than other years to go skiing but she did really well on that first sketchy cat trail like run to get to the Paradise bowl. We spent a good deal of the day going down the Paradise Bowl. The snow tended to be the best on this section of the mountain because we were as high up as you could go. None of the black back bowls were open so we all stuck together and skied with Madeline the entire day. Before lunch we ventured over to East River Express lift to try some of the blues over there, but it was kind of icy getting down there, so we took the lift and then headed straight back over to the Paradise lodge to eat lunch. After lunch we just hit the Paradise Bowl several more times before heading down to the bottom to try some of those runs. One of my favorite things Madeline said after finishing another run down the Paradise Bowl and the Lower Forest Queen run was, “We crushed it.” She truly did crush all of those runs and had no problems on the steeper sections. Crested Butte was practically empty today and we never had to wait in any lift lines longer than 1 minute except for when we went all the way to the bottom and had to wait in the Red Lady Express lift with all the inexperienced skiers. It was kind of a mistake to try and get on that lift, but Madeline did enjoy skiing some of those green runs, so we went up once and then called it a day. We ended up skiing a total of 11 runs with over 14 miles and 13, 776 vertical ft. 

Today was our last ski day and we lucked out with good weather again today. It was already 20F when we got on the lift and although the sun was hiding behind the clouds, it peaked its way out after our first run down the Paradise Bowl. We did the Paradise Bowl a few times with Abby and Madeline while the boys took Emma down the black Crystal run. Then we met up with Emma so that the boys could hike up to the top of Headwall and ski down that double black run. They had so much fun hiking up and being able to put their skis on their awesome backpacks and then killing it down the powder steepness. The rest of us skied down Paradise to Yellow Brick Road and down the blue Upper Park run to Lower Twister. Then we took the Silver Queen Express back to the top and skied all the way down to the Paradise hut for lunch. After lunch we ran into some friends (some of the Richin kids) and showed them the runs on the East River Express lift. The oldest two kids (Lizzy and Andrew) went with the Andrew, Peter, Emma, and I down Double Top Glades while the youngest (Sarah) hung with Abby, Madeline, and Mike. We spent an hour over there before heading back to the Paradise lift where we did another run before heading back down the mountain. Later that night we had some the Borg family over to the cabin for some dessert and games. It was a fun way to end our ski trip at Crested Butte.

​Today was an epic day on the mountain with the kids. Everyone except the boys left around 9:30am and walked over to the Red Lady Express lift. We decided to start the day with an easy green run. We headed down Peanut to Lower Twister. After that almost too easy run headed up the Silver Queen Express lift and took the catwalk to the Paradise Bowl. The boys met us there and we skied down the Paradise Bowl to Lower Forest Queen to the bottom of the Paradise Express lift. The snow was awesome, so we decided to do that run a couple of more times before heading over to the East River Express Lift. Once at the top of the East River Express lift the boys and Emma went down the black Double Top Glades tree and mogul run while Mike, Abby, Madeline, and I went down the ungroomed blue Black Eagle run. We didn’t realize the run wasn’t groomed until we came to some moguls. It wasn’t the most ideal run for Madeline, but I just had her follow my line through the moguls and she got down without any problems. When I asked her what she thought of moguls she said she liked them. I can’t believe this little girl doesn’t have any fear. After meeting the boys and Emma back up at the top, I separated from Mike and the younger girls and went off with the boys and Emma down the Double Top Glades run. I loved the first part of this run which was a ton of powder through the trees. Once out of the trees we dropped right onto the main part of the run which was covered with rather deep moguls. I am not the best at deep moguls, but I did my best to get down. Then it was back in some trees to the bottom. This was probably my favorite run so far this season. We all met up and headed back to the Paradise hut for lunch. After lunch we skied down the Paradise bowl runs for the rest of the afternoon and then headed down the mountain to the Painter Boy lift and did a blue on the other side and then headed to the bottom to end our fun day. Back at the house we snacked, relaxed, ate dinner, watched a movie, and started a 1000-piece puzzle together. It was a fabulous day!

We woke up to amazingly cold temperatures and no water running in the house. Apparently, the pipes froze overnight and the gasket on the water meter outside burst. After calling the emergency maintenance line, we just chilled in our warm cabin and waited for the repair men to come out and fix it. Luckily, it was a rather easy fix and water was soon running in the cabin. Hallelujah! We ate lunch at the cabin and then got our ski gear on to hit a few afternoon runs. The weather had finally warmed up to the teens and the sun was shining so we knew we would be ok. The walk down to the lifts wasn’t that long and we all managed just fine. We headed up on the Red Lady Express Lift and headed toward the Lower Ruby Chief run. We went up the Paradise Lift and skied down the Paradise Bowl. The snow was a bit chopped up already, but Madeline seemed to manage just fine over the “bumps” on the once groomed runs. We didn’t love that run so we decided to skip the Paradise Express Lift and skied down the Middle and Lower Gallowich run to the East River Express lift. The snow was much better on this side of the mountain, so we decided to head up the lift and do the Lower Treasury run twice. Then we made our way back to the Paradise Bowl and took the lift to the top so we could head down Houston’s access to the bottom of the resort. It was a rather short day on the slopes, but we still had some fun and spent time getting reacquainted with this ski resort. Back at the cabin we all spent time outside the cabin playing in the snow. Andrew carved out a nice little sled hill and we used cardboard boxes we already had to make little sleds. It’s amazing how the kids can have just as much fun sledding and playing in the snow as they do skiing on the mountain. 
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​After staying up way past midnight we all slept in and then packed for our Crested Butte ski trip. We divided all the stuff between two cars again and headed out in the snow for our long drive. The road conditions weren’t that great, but we all made it to the cabin in Crested Butte without too many problems. As we entered the town of Crested Butte the sun was still shining but the temperature was dropping fast. It’s a good thing we could pull both cars into the garage to unpack all our gear. It’s nice to have big kids to help with that part. The cabin we are staying at this year is quite spacious and really cool inside. Since we bought all our food ahead of time we threw in a quick dinner and enjoyed relaxing and being together. 

It was so nice to sleep in this morning before heading out on our last adventure in Crested Butte. We packed our lunch and then headed out on Gothic Rd. We drove all the way to the Judd Falls/Copper Creek Trailhead, just past the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (which resembles a sort of eerie ghost town). The weather was much cooler than the day before and so we headed out with our jackets. This trail was lined with the most beautiful yellow aspens and the hike to Judd falls was just gorgeous. The falls was magnificent to see from the viewpoint up above and it reminded me of the falls at Salish Lodge in Washington. It was fun to read the history behind this area and how it started as a mining town, then turned to a ghost town, and then to a scientific field station. We decided to continue on the trail and head on the Copper Creek trail towards Copper Lake. As we neared an opening to the vast mountain range, we saw several cows journeying in the same direction. It was fun and unique to see cows on the trail. For sake of time, we decided to turn around and head back instead of trying to push it to the lake. This trail is one we will come back and do again when we have more time. After we got back to the car, we drove up a little further to a small lake and ate our lunch and skipped rocks for a bit. Everyone got into the rock skipping fun and we all took note from Mike who is the ultimate rock skipper. Our trip to Crested Butte was shorter than the year before but we had just as much fun hiking different trails while still enjoying the changing of the leaves. This is definitely one of our favorite places to adventure during the fall season.

Emma and I got up this morning and went for an early run before getting ready for a day of hiking with the family. Running at 9000ft is no small task and I expended a lot of energy just to keep up with her. It was all worth it, though, as we ran through the most beautiful scenery. The leaves were absolutely amazing as they were in the middle of turning colors for the fall season. We all hopped in the 4runner and headed back to Ohio pass to walk the Beaver Pond trail again. Since we were a week or two early from the peak time to enjoy the changing leaves, it was not crowded at all. We essentially had the trail all to ourselves which was amazing. Even though not all of the leaves had started changing, the beauty inside the aspen forest on this trail is pretty spectacular any time of year. At the beaver pond there was a beautiful section of yellow leaved trees across the pond. It was magnificent. We would have circled the pond but since the cows were roaming around we decided to head back the same way we came. On the way back to the car Madeline and I walked a little slower than the others so that I could take some photos of the aspen trees and enjoy the beauty a little longer. She was not disappointed at all to go slower and eat a fun snack along the way.

After leaving Ohio pass, we decided to hike up the Scarp Ridge trail to see the magnificent views of the Maroon Bells and other mountain vistas from the top. It was a brutal steep ascent and the sun was out in full force since it was the middle of the day so we were all a bit warm. The hike was more about the views at the top than it was about viewing the changing leaves so it took some of us a hot minute to be ok with that. The views at the top did not disappoint. It was pretty spectacular. We didn't spend very long at the top since the sun was hiding behind the clouds and the wind was pretty strong. We hiked back down trail until we met up with the 421 loop. We found a nice sheltered area along the ridge line and stopped to eat our lunch. We hung up the hammock between two small trees but only Madeline was small enough to sit in it since the trees weren't strong enough to hold us big people. The 421 trail was really pretty and I enjoyed going back down that way a whole lot better than the trail we took to the top. By the time we got back to our car we were all exhausted. I wasn't surprised since the hike was a little over 5 miles roundtrip and we ascended 1600 ft in the 2.5 miles it took to get to the top. We spent the rest of the night back at the hotel, refueling and relaxing. 
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​Everyone was a bit tired this morning so Mike and I took advantage and went out skiing without the kids.  Andrew joined us mid morning and then Mike went back to watch the kids and start packing up our stuff.  Andrew and I did some harder runs.  We headed up the Silver Queen Lift and went down Crystal, Twister and Upper and Lower International, which were all black runs.  I definitely preferred the black runs that did not have a ton of moguls. Upper and Lower International were actually fantastic runs.  It was so much fun skiing with Andrew.  He is such a fantastic skier. 

It was a sunny Sunday on the Mountain.  Everyone was a bit slow to get going, but once we did, we were off into a beautiful sunny day.  Andrew stayed behind with Madeline to get some rest and to let his hand recover a little more.  The rest of us went up the Silver Queen lift and took some of the first turns through Paradise Bowl.  Early morning is a lot better than when the lines have been all chewed up by everyone else.  Bright sunshine was nice as well because it was easy to see where you wanted to go.  The lines were fast and the bumps were easy.  It was a nice way to start the day.  Abby crushed another black today, so it was nice to see her progressing toward hitting any run on the mountain.  Paradise Bowl is a wonderful cruiser that you can follow all the way down to the East River lifts.  It's quite a run.  At lunch, we all met back at the apartment.  Madeline ate half the watermelon and then put on Abby's helmet because she didn't want to be left out.  Sorry Madeline, you can't ski yet!  After lunch Sara and the boys headed out, then Emma joined them for some more afternoon turns.  Abby and Dad watched Harry Potter while Madeline took a nap.   

It's hard to imagine a more serene feeling than carving down a mountain in the early morning sun.  That's how our day started.  Bright sun.  Fresh snow.  Empty mountain.  Actually, our morning started with eggos and milk, but the snow came soon after.  At the end of our condo, you drop down to a little lift that takes you through the Aspens.  From there, you can grab an express lift to the top of the mountain.  Sara stayed with Madeline for the morning and the rest of the kids and me took the first turns on fresh groomers and fresh powder.  It was sublime.  Abby even crushed her first black run with no problem.  Andrew was catching good air and floating in the powder and Peter was ripping down the mountain as fast as possible.  It was fun to see the kids crushing it.  Unfortunately, Andrew got some huge air off a jump and landed weird and messed up his thumb.  Since it was swelling quickly, I took him down into town and called the on-call Orthopedic Surgeon.  He came in with his daughter, took some X-rays (no fractures!), and put a cast around Andrew's thumb and wrist.  He was one of the nicest most mellow Surgeons I have ever met, and he didn't charge us as a professional courtesy.  People like that are the reason I became a surgeon, and its good to see there are still great people like that out there.  

After lunch, Sara went back up with the other kids and I met up with them a little later.  The kids had fun skiing down the Paradise Bowl down to the Paradise Express lift while Sara tried out her new GoPro 6.  With voice control and a bunch of new features the GoPro was fun to use.  She even got a new handheld stick so that she could get lots of great angles.  Eventually, the clouds rolled in and it was a little overcast, but the cruising was still good.  Any day on the mountain beats a day in the office.  Life is just better in the mountains.  

Today we got up and finished the rest of our packing before heading to Crested Butte.  Mike had a few patients to see up at the AFA and Urgency Center and stopped by Memorial Hospital to see our friend who was admitted to the hospital the night before.  It was a busy morning for both of us.  I wasn't moving very fast because I was sick with RSV that I got from Madeline who had been sick the previous week.  By the time everything was all packed and ready to go we double checked our reservation and had quite a scare as the website said our reservation had been cancelled.  We called the place where we were staying and were relieved that our reservation was still good.  We got in the car and headed to Rudy's and had quite a fabulous lunch of brisket, chicken, potato salad, and chocolate pudding.  From there it was a relatively easy drive all the way to Gunnison where we stopped at the City Market to stock up on groceries.  It's a good thing we were close to Crested Butte because we were all tired and hungry.  This year we found a VRBO at the San Mortiz Condominiums.  The placed was pretty great with enough space for all of us.  It was a little older than the place we stayed at last year but more convenient in many ways because it was a ski in-ski out.  We unpacked all our gear and made a quick dinner of hot dogs and milk.  After putting Madeline to bed we all watched the new Jumanji move and laughed so hard at all the funny parts.  

We had the BEST holiday weekend skiing at Crested Butte with our good friends, The Holleys.  Since the kids didn't have school on Friday we were able to leave early enough to arrive by the middle of the afternoon.  The drive along the 14ers was absolutely amazing.  Once we popped out on the other side of the mountain range towards Crested Butte the view was equally amazing.  The cute town of Crested Butte was hard to see with the high piles of snow drifts on the sides of the road.  Mike found us the coolest little single house to rent for the few days while we were there.  The driveway was horrific to park in but between Mike and Andrew shoveling some of the snow they were able to fit the car in the driveway in front of the garage.  We ended up using the garage to store our skis and boots.  The inside of the house was pretty awesome with a gourmet kitchen and good sized living room.  The kitchen was really the selling point so that we could do dinners with our friends every night.  In the basement there were three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and even a laundry closet.  The boys shared a room and the girls shared a room and everyone was thrilled that they got to sleep on real beds...no sleeper sofas this trip.  Not only was the inside of the house amazing, but we were literally only a 5 min walk across the street from the main ski lifts.  

After unpacking our things we worked together to make dinner for everyone.  The first night we wanted something that reminded all of us of Japan so we cooked Mike's famous Japanese curry and rice.  I think everyone was transported back to the time we all lived there.  It was so good to be back with our friends again.  

The next morning we got ready for our first day on the slopes.  Mike took the kids out first while I stayed behind to pick things up and get ready for our swap at lunchtime.  Josh, Sean, Andrew and Peter took the Silver Queen Express lift so that they could do some black runs while Mike, Sam, Morgan, Emma, and Abby rode up the Red Lady Express lift to ski the Paradise Bowl.  They were all having a great time until they came to the Teocalli 2 person lift and saw the enormously long line.  Instead of waiting in the line they decided to ski down to the East River Express Lift instead.  The line at that lift was even longer and since there was no where to go except up the lift, they waited the hour wait to get on the lift only to have to ski back down the mountain to meet for lunch. It was a bit of a crazy morning. It's amazing how the sun and food can make people happy again.  After lunch the little girls were done skiing so they went back to the house with Mike and Madeline.  Josh, Sean and Andrew headed back up to do some double black diamond runs while Sam, Peter and I took the Red Lady Express so that we could ski Paradise Bowl and the fun runs in that area.  We spent a good portion of our morning skiing down Paradise Bowl and Ruby Chief which was a double blue run.  We also enjoyed the fun little terrain park that was all rolling hills and fun turns.  It was like riding on a roller coaster ride.  We ended our day skiing some of the blues near Prospect.  The homes that were over there were absolutely amazing.  When we got to the bottom we enjoyed hearing about Andrew's adventure with Josh and Sean and how they did 2 double black diamond runs.  I think it's safe to say that Andrew has surpassed my skills on the skis.  ​

This morning I took the first shift skiing with the kids while Mike watched Madeline back at the house.  Josh and Sean headed off on a backcountry tour while the rest of us headed up the Red Lady Express Lift to ski near Paradise bowl again.  We did more of the same runs we had done the day before and even got Abby to ski down Ruby Chief, a double blue run, without too many problems.  Everyone loved the hilly terrain park run and it seemed like everyone was just happy to keep doing that run.  After we took Abby on that the first time she perked up and started skiing a little faster.  She was so excited by how fun that run was.  We spent most of the time on the runs near the Paradise Express lift.  As it got closer to lunch we headed down to the Teocalli lift and took that up so that we could ski Poverty Gulch down to the bottom.  The lines weren't bad at all today.  After lunch Mike, Andrew, and Peter went back out to ski.  Unfortunately, the good weather turned quickly into snow and wind.  I'm not sure how much the boys enjoyed the afternoon skiing but they still managed to get in a few good runs while the girls and I enjoyed some girl time back at the house.  Emma and Abby played for a while in the snow next to the driveway while I introduced Madeline to snow.  I actually put some of it in her hands to see how she would react.  She wasn't really sure what to think of the snow.  It didn't put a smile on her face and it didn't make her cry.  She learned pretty quickly that it was cold and when I put her hand near the snow bank to see if she would grab it, she knew better than to touch that cold thing.  

After everyone was done skiing and showered we spent another fun evening together with our friends.  Tonight we ate Southwestern Chicken Skillet and boy was it yummy.  The best part was watching Peter and Sean being super silly as they cleaned up dinner.  

Since this was our last day to ski we packed up everything into the car and Mike drove to park the car in the free lot while I took the kids to meet our friends at the lifts.  Andrew and Peter decided to join the girls this morning and we did more runs on Paradise Bowl and then headed down to the East River Express lift to try some of the blue runs over there.  The girls took the Floresta run to Lower Treasury and skied to the bottom while Andrew and Peter tried the Double Top Glades run which was a black mogul run.  We ended up waiting at the bottom a good 5-10 minutes for those boys.  When we got back to the top of that lift Emma wanted to try that run so I took her on it.  The first part of the run was small moguls through the trees.  It was awesome at first.  Then we came to the cliff and as I looked down I realized we had gotten ourselves into a really tough run.  The pitch was steep and the moguls were almost as tall as Emma. We did pretty well for the first half of that section until Emma lost her footing and tumbled 20 feet below.  She was ok but lost her polls.  A kind skier coming down after us was able to grab her poles and handed them off to me.  I was terrified as I saw her tumble and tumble and was so relieved when she finally stopped and said she was ok.  Everyone was waiting for us at the bottom and after retelling what had just happened, I was once again so relieved and grateful that Emma didn't get hurt.  We all headed back up the lift to the Teocalli lift so that we could head back down the mountain to meet Mike for lunch.  After lunch Mike went on a few runs with Josh and all the boys before the Holleys had to leave. Then he went on a few more runs with Andrew and Peter.  At one point he got separated from Andrew and Peter and so everyone came back down to the bottom.  There were words exchanged.  Mike was not so happy about what happened, but then he put on a happy face and did another run with the boys so that they could end our trip with smiles instead of frowns.