Snowed in... Breckenridge, CO

 January 26th was finally here and we packed up all our gear and headed for higher elevation. Wade and I were both wishing we had chosen a warmer destination for our last family vacation before Luke leaves for college, but alas...reservations were made and we were stuck. Line em up boys, let's go!

After a 7 hour drive stuffed full of thick fog and mountain traffic we finally arrived and checked in at our great hotel the Grand Timber Lodge, or GTL for short (which also means Gym Tan Laundry in Snooki language) It was beautiful and situated just perfectly on the mountain. It also had a bevy of options to keep us busy when we weren't on the mountain.

Next morning we hit the slopes around 11:00. The great thing about our hotel was that when we were ready to ski, we literally crossed the road, skied down a short trail, and jumped on the lift! It was a bright sunny day with temps around 35 degrees. Since it hadn't reached above 15 at home for the entire month of January, we were in heaven with these temps. Here's lunch time on the mountain!

Jake starting to do some serious shredding. He's really fun to watch. He had saved his money from work and bought those adorable yellow pants the day before we left. It's all about the image with this kid.

The best thing about this vacation was that I didn't do my hair or makeup more than twice the whole week. We would go from mountain, to hot tub (as you see here) to dinner, to movie in front of the fire. Who needs to look hot for that? I loved it.
This hot tub soaked our tired bones every night. God bless its existence.

We explored the town a bit and they happened to be hosting the Annual Ice Sculpture Contest! Cool... literally. I slipped and fell right on my booty while admiring this emptied out egg shaped sculpture.

Totally Breck...

It's traditional on our family vacays that the kids get to pick something out while shopping. Usually a hoodie or something like that to remember the trip by. This year with such great winter sporting goods stores around they were on a mission to top off their snowboarding needs. We shopped adorable Main St. all day and walked away with a helmed for Jake, some goggles and a new beanie for Zac, and a thin quilted black jacket for Luke. It took ALL DAY... but it is such an adorable area you can't help but fall in love!

Went to dinner that night at a Taco Bar that boasted 20 different types of Margarita's. It was a very young, cool, college type feel and yes the Margarita's were fabulous. No Marg mix used here, they use fresh squeezed orange and lime juice to achieve a super fresh flavor.

We were well rested from a nice day off (shin bruises had minimized) and we were ready to hit the slopes again. I pestered some poor gentlemen to take one family photo for us. A hard sell when everyone is covered in snow gear from head to toe. He didn't do a great job but oh well, here it is!

My youngest little man, Zac, looking devastatingly cool in his new goggles and beanie.

 It was a full day of mountain fun, but MUCH colder since a storm had moved in the night before. It was 7 degrees that day... -14 with wind chill. Needless to say we melted in the hot tub for a long time that night.
The next day dawned with serious wind and snow blowing sideways ALL DAY! Good day to take a break. We filled our day with pool...

and board games in the lodge...

And then we trekked to the sister hotel and swam in their pool which included an outdoor slide which the littles couldn't resist. That's not fog in the background, it's serious blowing snow. Mountain was pretty empty that day.

Wade and I ditched the kids at the Hotel that night and managed a little away time. The hotel had a shuttle that picked you up at the front door and took you anywhere you wanted to go in the city of Breckenridge. Very handy for date nights, no parking, no warming up a cold truck, no DD! We went to a great restaurant recommended by a friend called Blue River Bistro. Live Jazz, Busy bar with after skiers, AMAZING food. Wade had steak (surprise surprise) and dubbed it the best he'd ever had. I had lamb chops and risotto. Truly wonderful place nestled right on Main St! The best thing about Breckenridge is that there is never a moment where you feel under dressed. There are people in ski pants and sweats everywhere.

And my biggest boy, soon to leave for college, teaching his little bro some skills.

My favorite pic of the week, all my boys ready to hit it.

It was a wonderful week. The boys said it was their favorite vacation yet! No, we weren't truly snowed in, but it felt that way because we didn't leave a 1 mile radius for 7 days! It was all family time. We watched a half a dozen movies together (everyone got a night to pick the movie). We hot tubbed and steam roomed until we were prunes. Zac learned to carve, Jake landed a 180, Luke managed to be away from his girlfriend for a whole week. We missed quizzes, tests, practices, work, and a hundred school assignments that will take us weeks to mend. It was worth it. Summer vacations are not conducive to our busy baseball lives, so this was perfect for us.
 

The boys already have lofty goals to visit Aspen, Vail, Telluride, Steamboat, and Copper Mountain in the future. Colorado mountains have not seen the last of us!