Backcountry Bust

I had grand backcountry plans for today. I met my brother Erik at his house in Breckenridge bright and early so we could hike up Peak 10 and ski down 4th of July bowl - an opportunity to put my avalanche gear to use for the first time in years. We geared up and rode the Falcon Express lift to the top of peak 10 and encountered howling winds and white-out conditions. On top of the questionable avalanche danger, it was miserable, so we nixed those plans and instead drove across the valley to Baldy Mountain. We hiked a few miles to a spot where the wind was tolerable, but unfortunately the snow was not. Terrible, wind-packed slab, a.k.a crap. At least it was some good high-altitude exercise, I suppose.

The good news is, I got a snowboard for the price of a 12-pack. I've been wanting to learn to board 'cause I'm convinced it will be more fun in the powder, and Erik is going to let me use his old board and boots to learn to be a knuckle-dragger. I gave him a 6-pack and his buddies in the ski shop a 6-pack in return for a full tune-up. Not a bad deal!

Kindergarten math?

I'm sure I wasn't doing 4-digit addition in Kindergarten, but amazingly, Andrew is. We've been really impressed by the education he's getting at Free Horizon Montessori School, which is a public charter school in Jefferson county. Here are a few of the math problem's he's solved recently.

9222
+ 2999
= 12221

8464
+ 4648
= 13112

Not bad for a 5 year old!

Spring skiing at Breck

Amy and I took the kids to Breckenridge on Saturday for some early Spring conditions. The snow was icy in the morning and slushy by about 11:00, with a temperature of about 50 degrees F.

Andrew insisted on skiing through the terrain park on his first run.


Elizabeth went a little way all by herself - without anyone holding her harness.



We enjoyed a nice lunch outside at Peak 8!

Elizabeth's 2-year adoption anniversary

On Friday we celebrated 2 years with Elizabeth as part of our family. On March 6, 2007 we first held Elizabeth in an office building in Nanchang, China. Here is my blog post from that day. We celebrated as a family yesterday by going skiing and then giving the kids a treat for dinner (McDonalds), followed by some games at home. A great day!

Here is a photo of Elizabeth getting ready to ski.