Opening ski season

Jeff and I had planned days off for opening day for ski season. Unfortunately, as soon as we landed for Thanksgiving, we received the notice that opening day was moved up a week because of the great snow conditions. So our opening day would have to wait for the originally scheduled opening day. And so we went. Though we got to the top of the mountain and Jeff realized he grabbed Emily's boots (both were red) so he had to turn around and go back home to get his. Eventually we were both there and got to ski together and enjoy early season skiing. And then we took the kids over the weekend. Great thing about living in a ski city, you can go whenever it suits you and for however long. Of course you can do that on vacation as well, but we prefer the ski for a few hours or longer if it's great and to be able to just come and go as we please.  

Hike

Snow and Utah ... This was from a hike in early November where it went from clear and sunny to a path with loads of snow. 

April (snow) showers

Utah spring weather is weird. April 17th we got a few inches of snow in the morning. Then it was melted by noon. Schitzo mother nature. 

Octoberfest at Snowbird

Snowbird knows how to celebrate. They host Octoberfest up there each year for several weekends. We had to partake and of course enjoyed ourselves there again. We tasted the tastes of Octoberfest and followed that up with a walk on the mountain. It was cook because it was really fall colliding with winter. 

Snowbird in June

Mom is in town for a visit and to watch the kids while I go to San Diego for work. Before I head out, we went and had some fun playing in the mountains. We went up to Snowbird and enjoyed their summer mountain fun. They have a great mountain coaster, swing zipline thing, vertical drop (bungee jump without the bungee but rather a rock climbing belay), and a gondola up to the top of the mountain. It was great day up in the mountains together. 

Snow storm Raleigh style

So we did get quite a bit of cold weather, ice, and snow with the latest winter storm here in Raleigh. I love how the kids have made the best of it. Coming from San Diego where it didn't snow, Kyle and Emily still find snow a novelty. And for the most part, it doesn't disrupt our daily routine. In fact, here it gets them out of school. When all was said and done, the kids had 2.5 days off of school due to the cold temperatures, ice, and snow (all days called off by the school district). Now they have Saturday school to make up 2 of the days, but we will see how that plays out because Saturdays are our days. The kids played outside for 4 days straight. It was amazing and wonderful. And we didn't lose power like we thought we would when the lights started to flicker. Our neighbors threw a snow party one of the evenings so we all had a potluck dinner at their house, hung out, played games and the kids watched a movie. 

All the streets in our neighborhood were covered in ice and having hilly streets, everyone was out with their sleds sliding down the streets during the day. No one attempted to drive for the first 3 days. It was a blast and such a fun community of neighbors we have.

Again, being from San Diego, the kids used what they know best to have some fun in the snow and ice. Here is Kyle boogie boarding down the street because it was a sheet of several inches of ice. And because we have boogie boards, not sleds. They wanted to use the surf boards, but the fins would have prevented any movement. You can take the kids out of San Diego, but you can't take the San Diego out of the kids. 

Kyle surfing down a hill

A bunch of kids sledding Raleigh-style

Kyle and Em surfing down the hill