More Spruce Tree House

Click on any of these to see them larger!

Mesa Verde National Park

After skiing for two days, we wanted something a little different to do so we headed over to Mesa Verde National Park. There, you can see the Cliff Dwellings. We just had to drive about 30 minues west of Durango to the entrance of the park and then another 20 miles of winding mountain road to the actual Visitor's Center. We were able to catch the end of a Park Ranger guided tour of one of Spruce Tree House (one of the dwellings) .

Tired Kids

A few more of Aaron on his skis

And Mia too...

I keep posting these backwards! The picture of Mia on the bottom should be the one on the top. Anyway...one of the cutest things in the world is a little 4 year old on skis!! I totally wish I could have gotten video but we were already lugging around enough stuff. Just seeing her slide down the hill on her little skis was too cute. She actually went down a longer hill than this one and was able to stop and even turn a little!

Chairlift

I posted these backwards, but you get the idea I hope! Aaron was excited to be able to ride the chairlift! Mia didn't get to do that in her class, so we didn't take her on the lift. I think she probably could have done it, but for sure she will be ready next year!

REAL Snow!

I know that some of you reading this blog live in places that have been getting TONS of snow. Some of you might even be getting a little bit sick of it! However. Our kiddos have FINALLY gotten to see what REAL snow looks like! And they've gotten to walk on it, play in it and ski on it! Yay!

Our school district has three teacher work days in a row (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday) the first week of February every year so we decided to take the kids to Colorado to see some snow! We went to Durango, Colorado and it was a blast. Aaron and Mia each took a full day ski lesson and then James and I took them out on the bunny slopes the second day to practice. They did great - even better than I expected. Considering that I am kind of a nervous skier I thought they would be the same way, but I forgot that kids really don't have any fear - heh.

It's a 14 hour drive from Austin to Durango, but definitely worth it. I hope we can go often enough that they get more practice. Now, I will dig through my photos (I took over 300!) and post a few!