This is one of my favorite family traditions, renting a condo and staying in Keystone for a few days of skiing and family time. It is so much easier to get kids on the ski hill right out of a cabin instead of two hours earlier at home. Unfortunately because Cambrie was in France, she didn't come with us on this trip. We learned that we are not very good loading a ski lift without our sixth family member. We kept spacing incorrectly and more than once were squished by the bar support. Kelton and Daxton have become incredible skiers. We can ski absolutely anywhere on the mountain with them. We took time playing on the large ski jumps. They were the perfect size to simply float over and that was so much fun. We decided to spend some time exploring the peaks on the other side of the mountain. We had a couple fresh inches of snow which meant that our paths were soft and fun. Maybe we had too much confidence in our kids, but at one point we took them down Wolverine, a black diamond, that was strictly moguls and trees. It was exactly the kind of run I like to ski for fun. Kelton went flying by all of us, and I had no doubt he would be waiting for us at the bottom of the run. Daxton insisted on going just as fast and I was pretty sure they had each other in their sights. Poor McKenzie has had to change the way she skis. Her hips don't allow her to tackle moguls or speed like she used to and about half way down the run she needed to take a break to let them rest. While Jeremy stayed with her, I went ahead to find the boys...and couldn't find them. I was thinking about the conversation I was going to have with ski patrol, "Yes, my seven and nine year old son went by themselves on this black diamond run at the very edge of the resort and I have no idea where they are. Of course I'm a responsible parent. Why do you ask?" Eventually they showed up and were telling us stories about a stream they had found (great) and how it was really hard to push out (yikes). I wish I could say that was the only time we lost the kids but it wasn't. At one point Daxton had fallen in the trees and no one saw where. As Jeremy and Kelton dashed back up to look for him, I waited below. Daxton showed up with a really kind woman who helped dig him out. But at that point Kelton was lost. Geesh! I was in the process of taking up the other kids and were just a few rows back from loading the lift when Kelton comes cruising down the hill. He busts in front of everyone in line, gets stuck by the shack next to the lift, and a lifty pulls him out just in time to almost toss him onto the lift with us! We were pretty lucky there wasn't innocent bystanders in the way.
Jeremy and I eventually realized that we still need to wait a few years for their little legs to get stronger before we take them all over the mountain like that. They had just as much fun over on our old familiar runs and even perfected the jumps we have found within the trees. Daxton started a trend on the first day that we held onto the whole trip. Whenever we met up along the run he put his poles on top of his head like alien antenna. In acknowledgement whoever saw him put up their poles too. It became our sign for "all is well." Every time I saw my family with alien antenna poles it put a smile on my face.
When we weren't on the mountain we were back at the condo. Every year we end up staying somewhere different and this one ranked right up there with our favorites. It was as the base of the gondola which meant we could easily walk to and from the hill in the morning and for lunch. It's amazing how much more energy the kids have when they can take a real lunch break. The location was so perfect and the mountain view was gorgeous. The lobby had a selection of great games for us to play and we taught the boys a few new ones: Apples to Apples, Scategories, and Pictionary.
The weekend corresponded with March Madness. This year everyone in our family put together a bracket. Not one of us had paid any attention to college basketball through the season so it was pretty fair. Jeremy and I filled out our brackets based on experience. McKenzie chose her teams based on who had the best gymnastics team. Kelton always chose the highest ranked team. And Daxton chose his at random, leaning towards the teams with shorter names because they were easier to write. Whoever made it farthest in the tournament got to go to King Soopers and choose whatever ice-cream treat they wanted to share with the family. Would you believe it but Daxton made it the farthest!? It was hysterical how he kept winning. Here he is showing off his winning-most bracket.
Spending time like this with my kids is so incredible. 
