Brad the skier

This is Brad going up the moving carpet in his ski lessons. It was the coolest thing. A little conveyor belt pulls them up the hill and then they line up for their turn.

Mom had to take Brad out for the 'prep' session at a local park. No, there isn't much snow but he didn't know that. :) First thing the next morning, Brad started lessons at Breck. The place was about 100x nicer than the terrain I used to teach on. He loved it.

More Breck Extreme

This pic on the left was taken just after they opened the run. It was the most amazing skiing either of us have ever seen. Woo hoo! :)

The story gets even better. As we skied off the t-bar at the top of this bowl, we saw a line of people gathered behind the orange ropes. Rick said, you know they are waiting there because they are about to open that run. We heard hoops and hollars as the skiers were released onto this 'playground' for the first time.

Here is the line for the t-bar once word started getting around about the incredible snow up here and the newly opened run. Luckilly, it was worth the wait. Any skiing you get in after this morning is 'gravy'.

Extreme Breck

Here is a picture of Rick standing at the top of what I have to say was some of the most extreme skiing we have ever experienced. We dropped off Brad for his lesson and headed up to the top of Breck. The weather was every skier's dream. It was snowing like crazy all morning and it stopped snowing as we rode up the chairlift. The sun was even out. We could see fluffy powder below.

As we reached the top of the hill, we saw a t-bar going up to the bowls at the very top of the mountain. We asked one of the skiers who came down what it was like up there. She said, 'it was amazing'. So, we skied over to this t-bar. The rules on the t-bar were like ordering a Cheesesteak in Philli. You get it right or forget it. It was hard to load and many of the snowboarders fell off. They didn't stop the bar and those poor guys were sent to the end of the line. You can see the sign right below where it says 't-bar' there is a caution sign warning everyone that the lift is for experts only...there is no grooming...there will be trees, rocks, and natural elements...ski at your own risk.

Rick looked at me and said, 'we gotta try it, right?'. He knew I was salavating over this. I had to find out what it was like up there. As we looked up the face of the mountain it was covered in fresh, deep, powdery snow. The only tracks that were up there had been made this morning by the small croud of people in this line.

We got to the top and skied down the first time. It was incredible. Many people stopped to just take a deep breath and soak it all in. Knee deep powder, fresh virgin snow, only a hand full of people for miles around. It was like being at the top of the world. You can see me pointing over the crest of the hill where we are about to ski. Behind me is a snowboarder. He is just stopping to enjoy how amazing this place

is.

Rick would never admit it, but he carved up this face like it was no problem at all. Every time I would look over, he was right there shredding it up with a big smile. We were like kids in a candy store up there.

A white Christmas

It actually was snowing when we woke up Christmas morning. It was truly magical. The kids were bunking with us because we had a bunch of family staying over (which made the whole day what it was, of course). The jumped in bed with us and then we told them Santa had come. They ran over to the window and big, fluffy snowflakes were falling. It was so special.

A houseful of family! A fire going in the fireplace. Christmas music playing the background. A big breakfast in the oven. Ahhh....

Fun with Grandma

Your final tour through the freakshow AKA Winterworld

Again, please scroll to 'The Nightmare before Christmas' and read the ad before you read this post. You gotta get the full affect.

This is the spinning candy cane room the ad talked about. Brad held onto the rails for dear life and didn't want to go in there. Can you see why?

Matt and the gangsta low-ridin' Santa doing gang signs for us as we doubled over in laugter.

Here are the 'carolers' singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer...just to BRIAN in this Black snowflake room. Nobody knows why the room is black, where the other kids are, and why the two carolers were just lurking around the place. Do you see that exit sign in the background? We were considering it!

Here you can see how much Brian and DeDe were enjoying the train room. We called it the 'train wreck' as some of the areas seemed to have

been destroyed by a tornado. See pic of the train wreck room at left.

The gingerbread men on a rafting vacation...What?

Gothic Elves? What, I ask you, is this place?

Please scroll down and read the first post about Winterworld before reviewing this post so you get the whole affect. So do you see the lady in the background looking down to hide her laughter and confusion? That is Matt's girlfriend, Candice. Do you see the curtains in the back that look like a no-tell motel? And, of course, if you are wondering why the elf has black gothic clothing and chains under his costume, so were we. We think that the Elves were in on the sham as was the 'bartender shown here.

Are you getting the feel that this was more of a haunted house than a Winter wonderland? You're right! At least, we think. This bartender was actually changing the sign for 'Free Cookies' (handwritten, of course) to say "Cookies 50cents." We think the employees were ex-cons or something.
This is Mrs. Claus, our tour guide. She was the only one who was not in on the scam we had fallen victim to. She lead us along just like this place was normal. She did tell the kids to look in a room and see the Elves. But there were no Elves in there. She said they were hiding because they are 'sneaky right before Christmas.' My kids were totally pissed about that. Can you blame them? Here is Brad peering into the room (as he did several times) and then proceeding to ask me what happened to the Elves.

More Buffalo Bill's silence of the Lambs room / Nutcracker room here.

Can you feel the kid's excitment? Or is it more utter confusion and dismay? You know when you can't even impress kids this little with your antics, your game is pretty beat. Look, even Brian is like, 'what in the heck is this?'

Winterworld - Or a serial killer's basement?

In case you are wondering why this tree is upside down, so were we! Is this some Satanic ritual? Is this just a massive oversight in the design? Did someone from the afterprom committee have this leftover?

Please scroll down to read the ad about winterworld on my previous post before reviewing these pictures...So, Winterworld was the strangest creepiest place that any of us have seen in a while. The nutcracker room we renamed, "Buffalo Bill's Silence of the Lambs room" as you can see from the pictures. They actually had clothing from the Ballerinas but the dancers were mysteriously headless and well, all of their bodies were missing.

You can see this lady trying desperately to understand what this place is supposed to be. She is thinking, 'maybe I am the only one who thinks this is so creepy'. Oh, no, my friend...everyone does.