Thursday, March 13, 2008

Ski Trip 2008

A post by Leigh: An adult only vacation - finally!! While we missed Miss Riley Paige - we were pumped to hit the slopes with our good friends & neighbors who were soon to be moving to Chicago - Brad & Dana. They flew to Denver from Dallas after they dropped the boys off with the grandparents in Dallas while Matt and I dropped Ri Ri off in Lufkin and flew out of Houston. We met in the mountains and were so excited for our vacation to start. While we were waiting for our shuttle to take us to Winter Park - Dana & I decide to go get coffee - after all, based on our calculations we had a good 25 min until the shuttle got there. We leisurely make our way over to the coffee stand - then decide to hit the ladies room - then cheer on some soldiers coming back from Iraq and all the sudden our cell phones are ringing. It's the guys "the shuttle is here - where are you?"....we were at where we thought we had left the guys...outside baggage claim looking at the street. Matt says "cross over and you should see us"....due to the fact Matt messes with me all the time I say "Matt - there is no way the shuttle is already there, we just left, we don't see you. I have crossed the street...where are you?"...so just for all of you who haven't been to the Denver airport - there are two identical sides of baggage claims and sure enough,Dana & I had managed to get to the opposite side and the shuttle driver had threatened to leave b/c we were so late. Sweating and laughing we finally race to the other side of the airport and make it to the shuttle - after which Dana & I decide we would not make a good pair on the "Amazing Race" and settle in for the 2 hour shuttle ride. After that fiasco - the rest of the vacation was cake. We had so much fun cruising the slopes. The weather could not have been better - we had beat the Spring Break crowds - just awesome all the way around! And we went tubing one night also - a bit of a shady place, "cash only", no waivers, so if we happened to crash and burn on the tube - no record of us ever being there - but it was so much fun - felt like a kid again! We also ventured into the town of Winter Park a few nights for some good eats. One night the restaurant was so crowded with a long wait - Dana and I sweet talked the waiter into serving us at the pool tables where no one else was getting served. We'd like to think it was our good looks that got us the special service - but we also slipped him some cash - so maybe it was a combination :-) All and all - a wonderful ski vacation - full of fun, good times, good food/drinks and actually some rest too - and a good parting trip with our friends.

Riley's Shrek Party

So here's the first of the catch-up posts. I'll get some more up this week for sure...lots been happening as of late. On February 8th, Riley turned 2 years old, and we celebrated on the 10th with a Shrek themed birthday party! We ended up just hosting it at the house and had friends and family over for a couple hours. I have to give Leigh ALL the credit for throwing a really good party! Who knew you could get so much Shrek party stuff?? Leigh even ordered Shrek t-shirts for her and I, and an outfit for Riley that had Shrek on it. The decorations were all Shrek related and there was some green "swamp juice" for the kids refreshments. Riley was still a little more interested in playing than opening presents, but it looked like she had a really good time. It's still hard for me to believe that she is now 2 years old! Here's a few pics...