"Early morning April 4 shots ring out..."

What an amazing year. Mindy, Elle, Talin, Ava, and I went to Solitude. It had snowed about 2 inches in the valley overnight, but I was surprised at how much had accumulated at 8000 ft, maybe another 10-12 inches. We started up the canyon and the flakes started to fall again. We have gotten really quite proficient at skiing with three little ones. Its all about preparation. The key is to get bibs, coats, and even ski boots on the kids at home before we leave. That way when we get to the mountain its just gloves, helmets, and goggles. Mindy jumps out (with the car still moving) to get the kiddie day passes; I go move the cones at the end of the premium parking spaces to fit just one more in; I jump out, get my boots on, finish kitting up the kids and carry the skis to the bottom of the lift; Mindy brings Ava to me and we are on the lift within 10 minutes of pulling into the parking lot... I take Elle and Ava and Mindy takes T-Dog (This photo was actually taken in 2008, but you get the idea. Talin looks so little.)

We took a couple warm up runs on link and then moved to Moonbeam. There was quite a bit of loose powder all over the mountain and Elle was eating it up. It was very satisfying to see her go off to the side of the run to get in the deep snow. The density was amazingly light. However, with all the snow falling, the kids wore out quickly. We made about three runs on Moonbeam and headed to the lodge. Mindy said "do you want to go and take a quick run while I watch the kids?" which I translate to "I want to take a run by myself!" So I said "why don't you go ahead." So when we were in the car on the way home I asked "How was your run?" She said "Honeycomb was awesome." Which meant that she had taken like three runs. I responded "Well played babe, well played." She replied "Naturally."

That night we met the Mangrums, Morgans, Jensens, and Flandros at Rodizio for wonderful b-day dinner. A very good day!