This year we attend family camp at the end of summer instead of the beginning. Skylar and Parker had tons of fun and lots of mom and dad time. Parker even tried out his first ‘thrill’ experience – going up to the first platform on the tower of fear, and daring to free fall with the gaint swing.
Skylar continued her independence and went up the zip line (over 80 feet high) all by herself while Parker and I were practicing archery! But the best time was at the bay. Sunday, we hit low tide at the perfect point and had a nice breeze to whip up some waves. We kayaked out about 200 feet from shore and found ourselves beached, ankle deep on a sand bar.
Other families were parked there and the kids had fun fighting the waves. On our way home we stopped by a giant pumpkin farm. What do they feed those things?!?!
Skylar and I had a daddy day one Friday and we went to RoundTop Mountain for their adventure tour. We ran like rats through a maze, traveled down the mountain in an “OGO” ball filled with icy cold water, zoomed sideways down a water slide, and climbed, climbed, climbed through a multitude of nets, slack lines, climing walls, etc.
We went to Hershey Park to watch Skylar’s song & dance troupe put on a performance. While there we checked out Troeg’s brewery, made our own chocolate bars at the Hershey Museum interactive lab, rode a couple roller coasters, and then cooled off at the pool.
Aunt Sumi came to visit for Skylar’s 7th birthday. We went to I-Fly and the kids flew like Superman via indoor skydiving! Then we had birthday cake and gifts. Skylar is growing up so fast!
Skylar played a lot of soccer this year. She participated in skills training twice a week and also had games every Sat. She had a lot of corner kicks in this particular game. Go Skylar!
We had an Easter Egg party Saturday before Easter. Skylar and Parker still have fun chasing after eggs, and mom and dad love a good excuse to have a party. We must have had over 200 eggs!
Granpda came around noon and we had lunch and he gave Parker his birthday present. Right now everything is a gun: sticks, pipes, pens, rectangular cardboard boxes, hands, fingers, elbows, tripods, etc, etc, so we figured it was a safe bet.
Barnum and Bailey Circus announced this would be the last year they would perform. We decided to go see what will now be a relic of history.
The show was actually really good. Definitely worth the price of admission and I would say that they should continue touring but the truth is that we would never have gone if it hadn’t been announced that it was the last one.
The kids vacillated between eating and watching with shocked amusement. Half the fun was watching the expressions on their cotton candy filled cheeks.
It was interesting to see that 85% of the performers were either Hispanic or Chinese. Even the circus has outsourcing!
Our flight to Denver departed from Dulles at 5:45am, so we were up at 4:00am and out of the house shortly thereafter. Parker and Skylar were troopers and traveling was smooth sailing.
I slept most of the way while everyone else watched movies or played on their tablets. We arrived in Denver at 8:00am, got some breakfast (crepe place at the airport was phenomenal – especially for airport food), and proceeded to Josh and Sharon’s house.
We spent the day hanging out and walking their dogs in Stapleton (a highlight for Skylar and Parker) – beautiful trails and parks right in their neighborhood. Monday morning we got up right away and hit the road. On the way to Keystone we passed Loveland and decided to make a pitstop for our first day of skiing.
Loveland has great trails, lots of terrain for kids, but no bars on the lift which freaked me out (the daddy-bar served to keep Parker, 4 years old, and Skylar safely in their seats).
We skied a 1/2 day and then departed for Keystone where we arrived in time to settle in, fix dinner, and get some sleep. The next couple days we skied Keystone and discovered some fun kid zones to ski through (forts for snowball fights, ski-through houses, and other fun structures).
Monday after skiing we relaxed for a couple hours in the outdoor pool and hot tub while it snowed. Tuesday we found the terrain parks and we watched skiers and snowboarders perform massive stunts on huge ramps and half-pipes. Skylar caught some air going over a jump 😉
Thursday we departed Keystone and skied Loveland again for a full 4 hours before returning to Denver. Parker and Skylar learned how to tuck to go super-speed. We almost decided to go back to Dorado for Friday, but it would have been a bit stressful to get up early, drive an hour to ski and then get back in time for our 6:30 flight. We found some cool shops downtown (the highlight of Susan’s trip) and picked up some new gear for next ski season.
See you next year Sharon, Josh, Hank, Cody, Collin, Bryce, and Colorado!
We went to Wintergreen for our last East Coast ski trip of the year. I would definitely go back! The resort and village is much nicer than anything within 2 hours of D.C.
We loved the coffee and bakery shop in our lobby, there were multiple restaurants on site at the top of the mountain (with decent food), and there is a massive brewery only 3 miles away.
I found a ski tutorial video on YouTube Fri night that mentioned “Wedgies” for kids Parkers age. We bought them the next morning and after a whole season of hanging on to daddy – he was off and on his own doing great!
That made the entire ski experience awesome for everyone. The kids also loved going through the terrain parks.
