Speaking of winter sports...

View from the top

Are you kidding me? I should seriously give up on this post. Considering I'm only one post in, this is not a good sign. I have now tried to write this post twice and both times something has happened so that all my copy gets deleted. Third time's a charm, right? If not, I might accidentally drop my computer into the fire BK just built for us. Here we go- fingers crossed.

So here's the deal. I love the Olympics. Winter or summer- both are equally good. I think it's the peacemaker in me. I love when the whole world comes together for one thing, somewhat harmoniously for one purpose. Earlier this week I told BK I wanted to watch the opening ceremonies on Friday night. To which he replied, "Why don't you just YouTube it?" So not the point.

On the way down

Anyway, so speaking of winter sports, we started our travel this year with a family trip to Canyons Village in Park City, Utah. Unfortunately, they have had the least amount of snow in 30 years. Surprisingly though, the skiing was really fun and pretty good. There were a few icy spots at the end of the day on runs with a lot of shade and quite a few runs at the top of the mountains were closed because of lack of snow, but other than that, things were good.

Missing NeeNee, Nani and K Bear at the top

Skiing turned out to be a great family trip for us. And by family I mean BK's entire family- 9 adults and 3 kids. Aunt Linds and Uncle Tay went a day early, and the remaining 10 of us boarded a flight and got on our way the following morning. Park City is a great ski destination, with one of the best things being its proximity to Salt Lake City airport. Unlike other ski destinations where it could take a couple hours to get to the ski areas, when going to Park City it only takes 40ish minutes to get to the slopes.

Cousins!

We stayed at Westgate Resort in Canyons Village- the early risers in one suite and the late sleepers in the other. The resort was nice, but we all agreed it was laid out kind of weird. You had to go up and down and wind around all these random ways to get anywhere. It was almost like they built one lodge then just kept adding more as the needed more space. But the layout made no sense at all. Nice place, but not sure we'll be staying there again. We also discovered we liked the Park City side better.

Looking like she's enjoying ski school

One reason skiing proved to be a great vacation for us was that K Bear was in ski school which is essentially an all day babysitter, albeit an extremely expensive one. So K Bear was taken care of from 9 to 3 and BK and I could spend the day on the mountain. She wasn't the biggest fan the first day. BK and I walked by after a lunch break and she was crying and falling over on the bunny slope. This was frustrating for BK, but I reminded him that she was only three and probably very tired. The second day was better and she really happied up when Nani and NeeNee came to cheer her on. Maybe she just likes to perform.

First run of the trip

This trip was fun for me because I finally came to terms with the fact that I like to ski slow. If I can just meander my way down a really long run from the top to the base of the mountain, I am good to go. So what are my favorite runs? Greens, obviously. My skiing is a marathon, not a sprint. I have no need to go at break-neck speed down a really steep run. The Park City side of the mountain was great for BK and I because I could go all the way down the mountain on a green and he could break off onto harder blues and meet up with me at various midway points. Good times.

One of K Bear's cheerleaders

We had full kitchens in our rooms at the resort, so we ate in sometimes, but also ventured out for a few lunches and dinners. We celebrated Aunt K's birthday at Blind Dog Restaurant & Sushi, which is a cozy place with a huge variety of quality eats. I skipped out (tired kids and all) the night the fam went to 501 on Main, but BK reports that they had a good time and the food was great as well. We made two stops as a ski break during the day- The Farm and Red Pine Lodge- both had good food, but I probably preferred Red Pine Lodge to The Farm.

BK in his most natural state

So yeah, I think that's about it. BK had to head back a day early to go back to work, but we were able to enjoy a walk around Park City that morning while K Bear enjoyed herself at the Kid's Club. I'm not sure our ski trips will always look like this, but hopefully we'll be able to go on at least an annual basis. H Berry will join us at some point, but he still has a couple of years. He stayed home this time, floating around to various family members on my side.

BK and I have picked up our travel pace this year and are getting back into the swing of things. We jetted off to NYC about three weeks after we returned from skiing. More to come on that one...