We Went to Vail

We spent a few days in our favorite home-away-from-home, Vail, in honor of Tabby’s 6th Birthday (actually tomorrow).

The weather on Friday looked like this ….

So Matt and I got a re-do on our semi-disastrous date day two weeks prior. Mom hung with the kids – who couldn’t ski in the deep powder and who didn’t want to brave the snow – and we skied our butts off.

We also had a great date lunch at The 10 which is a reservations-only restaurant at the top of the mountain. We’d never tried it before, so we treated ourselves. You get to go in and disrobe, including ski boots which is a big treat because even the most comfortable ski boots are decidedly uncomfy. Then you wear furry little slippers to lunch.

The average lunch fare on the mountain is chili and fries and pizza. And actually that’s what we had too, though upscaled versions of those with figs and lamb and stuff. It was tasty. As an after, we shared this sundae. Salted caramel ice cream, brownies, chocolate sauce and candied bacon. Mmmmmm

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Mom totally spoiled the kids. They had a picnic, read a billion books, painted with water colors and skipped naps. Is it any wonder we had to beg them to go skiing the next day?

The next day was super beautiful and with tons of nice snow, so we spent the morning at the bunny hill with the kids. Over to the left of the bunny hill happened to be a little event called the US Snowboarding Open, specifically the finals.

We watched from afar as crazy talented guys, including Benji Farrow, pictured above, did their insane tricks on the half pipe.

Back on the bunny hill, it was our Benji’s big day. After some initial regression from his victories in January, he rallied beautifully and …

Took his first runs on the gopher hill, which of course, means his first ride on the chairlift! Big time big boy!!

After Ben’s excellent morning, it was still beautiful weather, so Mom took Ben home and Matt, my dad and I took Tabby up the mountain.

It was a wonderful time. Tabby gets better and better every time we take her out and she really seems to enjoy skiing and she’s so proud of her achievements.

After our ski day, Kelly joined us and we went to dinner for Tabby’s birthday. After dinner, we came home to the cake I’d baked for her and presents.

Exhausted from two days of skiing, we went to bed early and woke up even earlier to pack up and head home.