Ruidoso, NM

February is a slower time of the year at the golf course for Kevin so that often means vacation for us. yeah! This year we joined Carrie and Richard for some snow skiing. Carrie started talking about how her work had a cabin for us to use and then we decided it was "driveable" and then all we needed were the details. We left early Thurs morning (or should I say Wed night) and made it to our destination in only 9 hours and no drama from the kiddos (OK so just minor drama that is expected). We met the Ellis's minus Richard at the cabin and enjoyed a fairly quiet evening.

Then next morning we hit the slopes while Carrie stayed with the youngest ones at the cabin. The boys went to ski school which meant Kevin and I had the day to kill ourselves on the slopes. I survived :) And I even went down one blue slope (with a few falls of course but no broken bones). Ski school evidently went well and the boys told us all about pizza wedges and french fries.

Richard joined us that evening and the next morning we all hit the slopes. Kenzie wanted to ski so bad but she had a hard time keeping her skis on and we almost broke Kevin's back so we called it an early day and left Richard and Carrie to ski. By the end of the day rumor has it that Austin was skiing faster than Carrie.

Sunday brought a cold front and high winds and nasty snow so we tubed. With all the snow and wind we were concerned but the kids were not. They had a blast.

Never mind that her jacket covered her whole face. She kept right on talking and it prevent her cheeks from getting near as red as the rest of the kiddos.

Monday morning we headed home. This trip was a little longer with about a dozen stops (or at least it seemed that way) but in the end definitely worth it.

I learned that I can ski a little and I can even make it up the mountain without getting car sick. Last year on our vacation we started trying to remember some of the famous sayings so I will write down a few from this trip

Klayton - "Daddy, this bathroom smells as bad as it did the last time." at a convenience store bathroom that we stopped at on our way home from levelland at Christmas

Austin - "I thought this mountain was supposed to have snow." and "Daddy, if you want to see me when I am older you will have to come here because I am going to live in the mountains so I can live close enough to take my kids to ski school.

Kelly - " *&?!, *&!?, *&*!" while playing nertz

Richard - "don't touch the melting sugar"

I am sure I could go on but that is enough for now.

What great memories and the smiles on the kids faces were priceless