Winter Park Wonderland....April 12,13,14

I have to begin this post with our wonderful, fantastic, exciting news...Kristoffer proposed to Asha this evening, in Derby and she said yes.  I hope I get this right....so here goes......he took her out onto the unique Derby mudflats, where they often go for walks and sunset drinks.  Earlier in the day he had dug out the words "Will you marry me?" on the mudflats, and poured petrol into it. He blindfolded her, lit the words up, took the blindfold off and got down on one knee and proposed! He has set a very high standard as far as marriage proposals go in our family...good luck to the rest of the family!  So we are very happy for them both and the phone call this morning from them was giddy with delight! We wish them a loving, happy. fulfilled life together.

Back to Colorado.......
We have been to more basketball games where the Nuggets have continued their winning streak, and there have been some particularly thrilling ones, where they have won in the dying seconds.  We also went to a game with other Aussie exchangees and it was great to have a chat and catchup with Tanya....and not much basketball watching!!
Last Tuesday Joshuah and Stuart both had the day off school due to a blizzard warning.  The temp got down to -16C with a maximum of -6C, so a bitterly cold day.  It snowed, but nothing like we have had previously, and we didn't see much of a blizzard, but it was great  for them to have the day off.  So Stu and I went out to lunch and to the movies to see Life of Pi...can I say... $2.50 a ticket!! The bit that intrigued me the most though was the choice of popcorn seasoning.  Who would have thought you could put this on popcorn!! (and no, we didn't have any!)
The snowboarders are loving it.  They have progressed to the Terrain Park, which means (as Jen would say) jumps and stuff or as Jakeb would say " pulled off a bunch of methods, indys, nose grabs, 180s, melons, and 50-50s in the park today. So much steez" (he's learning the lingo). Jakeb and Joshuah are pretty good at the terrain park and really want Dad to do it with them, as does Stu, and despite all the falls and bumps, he's doing OK!
Jakeb coaches him along, but there is great hysterics from Jakeb and Joshuah when he falls over (often). But after every snowboarding day he comes back and says "Jen, I just love doing this with my boys", and then there is great discussion, watchingGoPro action, talking about it, looking at photos, talking about it!!!!  He's especially happy when Morgan comes as well and it is the 3 boys with him....and of course he wishes Kristoffer was also here.

On Friday night, Stuart and I drove up to Winter Park, a ski resort town in the mountains, to spend the weekend with Sharon and Lindsay Smith, other exchangees from Australia.  We had been offered free accommodation through a workmate of Lindsay's and were invited up by the Smiths. The drive up was beautiful, surrounded by mountains, but a lot of the snow had already melted.  Winter Park has 2 more weekends of skiing before they close down the lifts. Was this our accommodation in Winter Park?

or this?
or even this?

     no, we finally found the Lodge where we were staying (in the Harry Potter "suite"!!)

Saturday morning Jakeb, Morgan and Joshuah drove up and met Stu and Lindsay on the mountains, (who had caught the free shuttle bus up to the lifts).  They spent the day up there snowboarding and skiing, while Sharon and I had the day to ourselves.
 Sharon wanted to take me snowshoeing, but there wasn't much snow about, so instead we went for a walk through the forest....

When I first arrived in Denver in January, it took me a few weeks to get used to the elevation and I had constant headaches,  feeling light headed and nauseous.  Denver is know as the "mile high city" at an elevation of 5280 feet.  The base elevation of Winter Park is  9000 feet, so I was  unprepared for the altitude up there.  After walking for a while through the forest I started to feel nauseous....and that evening had the worst headache I have ever had.  Water is the remedy and I will need to drink heaps next time.
After our walk through the beautiful pine forest we grabbed some lunch then headed back to the lodge and jumped into the hot tub.  I have only been in one before...a wood heated one in Canada on an island, amongst the stars and pine trees...and this was pretty fabulous as well!  In the background we had a road and beyond that...snowy mountains!!  The fellas returned from their day up in the mountains, a bit sore, and we all enjoyed a wine and beer in the hot tub.

Morgan and Joshuah stayed up with us at the lodge that night and Jakeb drove to Boulder that evening for a party and stayed the night there.
Sunday morning we woke to be greeted by a stunning sight. It had snowed all night and what was previously a mediocre looking ski resort town had been transformed into a winter wonderland!  This caused great excitement amongst my family for their snowboarding day ahead of them and ooh's and aah's from Sharon and I at how pretty it was.
                            
                      

                             
I ventured out to the car park to load the car up and found this........

Lots of giggles later I managed to find the boot and doors to put the bags in.  Snow was (my) knee deep and ...yes...COLD!!  I then did my first drive in snow...albeit out of the carpark, (but the snow was really deep)...up the road to a snowshoeing track.  This time the snow WAS deep and again,  lots of hysterical laughter later, Sharon and I managed to get our snow shoes on and headed off.  I am still in awe of the beauty of snow and the fact that I am living in a place where we can easily access such sights.

I had to experience lying down in the snow., it is so fluffy and light, but probably not such a good idea. I reckon I nearly lost my two little fingers from frostbite....such pain...and such a short time.

Sharon and I then had a lovely lunch of soup, salad and cheese bread at a little restaurant before we went for a drive around Winter Park and drooled at some of the magnificent houses and scenery.  The Smiths' headed back to Denver at 3pm and I waited for the last ski run to go and collect the boys.
                          

An "awesome" weekend of snowboarding for the boys in my life, and a fantastic weekend for us spent with great company.  Thanks Sharon and Lindsay!
Monday we heard the dreadful news of the bombing at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. The vision was disturbing and I have to say being away from home in times like this is difficult.  I was overseas with mum when 9/11 happened and all I wanted was to get back to Tom Price to the family. I guess the good thing is most of my immediate family are here with us.  We had tickets to our first Ice Hockey game Monday night, but decided against going as we didn't really want to be in a large crowd at a sporting event.
All day Monday it snowed and snowed and when Stuart got home from school, he and Jakeb went to a park down the road, laden with snow shovel and esky.....and built some jumps...good to see the improvisation from the two Aussies....

 Check out the youtube link put together by Jakeb of their afternoon at the park.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xYKQs3DCVDg