Oops!...We broke another one.

Cathy took us to Steamboat Springs for a little pre-Christmas ski get away. A little skiing, a stay in a nice condo, a little relaxing, Bec gets some more snowboarding in...it sounded good. It was a balmy 5 F (-15 C) at the bottom of the mountain as we headed up the gondola and the 5 inches of snow from the previous night made for perfect packed powder snow conditions. Despite being a bit brisk it looked like it was going to be a awesome day. Unfortunately things change quickly and, in a turn of events similar to what happened with Jess two years ago, Bec was down on the first run. We're going to blame this one on the guy that setup Bec's snowboard binding (and he was from Brisbane no less). Anyway her knee began acting up and in the end she was having trouble just walking down the slope. I had her sit down and asked Cathy to call the ski patrol. But before Cathy even got to the lift we were suddenly surrounded by patrolmen in need of an injured skier to fuss over. Needless to say Bec got the toboggan ride/evacuation off the mountain. Turns out it was not an acute injury, just the aggravation of some old knee problems. A couple of days relaxation in one of Cathy's braces and she was good as new.

Speaking of breaking things...we decided to test another previous Aussie mishap by testing to see if Bec could actually run our vacuum cleaner without breaking it. Surprisingly she didn't suck the cord up into the machine. I guess the other instance was just a "fluke".

Colorado Christmas Card

We're quickly coming up on Christmas believe it or not. This weekend we finally got a chance to go out for the annual tree cut up at our neighbors heavily wooded property in the mountains. Picking the perfect tree is always an agonizing decision, but in the end a consciensous is reached, and some poor tree gets harvested. It's a win-win 'cause we get a nice Christmas tree and the woods are heathier for the thinning and reduction in fire danger. As usual the girls got a chance to wield chainsaws (no exchange students were harmed in the filming of this event) and, luckily for me, child labor laws don't apply to hauling Christmas trees out of the forrest. Hannah seemed to enjoy herself as well.

Hope all you readers have a great holiday!

The Cotton Headed Ninny-Muggins Martini

A giant ice ball, vanilla vodka, ginger-ale, and silver sprinkles. Mixed in the proper proportions these ingredients are key to an unusual drink, and the makings of an extravigant east coast wedding. Of course you have to have a beautiful bride and some proud parents to go with it, but I think the drink (or was it the name) has left a lasting impression on me.

Cathy and I made a quick trip back to New Jersey for her nephew Sean's wedding to Kelly Greenwood. With 200+ guests it was quite an affair and everyone had a blast. The specialty drink was the brain child of Kelly who wanted a signature drink on the bar menu. She also made all the table center pieces herself, and carefully organized all the other various wedding details to perfection (look out Martha Stewart).

We weren't the only busy folks this weekend. While Cathy and I where dancing the Hokey Pokey in Barrington, Jaimie was attending a theater convention, and Bec was up at the Winter Park Ski area getting her first snowboard lesson. Jaimie managed to get 6 call backs for college theater scholarships, and Bec swears she is shredding the corduroy like a pro.

Thanksgiving at Grandma's

Thanksgiving started off with and uneventful road trip to my Mums house in Los Alamos, New Mexico. As seen it the photo, Los Alamos is perched in top of a series of mesas in a high desert environment. Known mainly as the birth place of the atomic bomb, it is also extremely scenic and full of ancient Hispanic and Indian culture. Mom runs a quaint little bed & breakfast known as Casa del Rey in the suburb of White Rock. When a food based holiday is rolls around there is no better place to be cause Mom also happened to be an excellent baker, and cook. Dinner was excellent and with bellies stuffed I managed to nap away most of the afternoon.

No visit to this area is complete without a trip to the Plaza in Santa Fe for some jewelry shopping. Therefore, the day after Thanksgiving we headed down to make sure Bec had a chance to check out the wares. The town had a lot of their Christmas decorations out including the Spanish luminarios (a sand filled bag with a candle in it) that are placed on the walls and roofs, and lighted at night for an old fashion version of Christmas lights.

Saturday we took a short hike into the Tsankawi Indian ruins which is part of the Bandelier National Monument just outside White Rock. The whole area if full of old Indian cliff dwelling, and artifacts, but Tsankawi has been preserved due to it's high concentration. Ancient broken pottery is everywhere and everyone is on the honor system not to haul it away. The pictographs are one of the most fascinating things to me. We spent a couple of hours climbing ladders and exploring the caves before heading out.

I can't say that the ride back to Denver was uneventful. Quite the contrary. We went from dry roads and clear skies to blowing snow and ground blizzards. With multiple road closures around Denver we eventually got shunted onto one of the mostly highly congested mountain freeways in the state which turned a normal 6 hour drive into a 12 hour epic. During the trip Bec asked me if the weather ever got any worse than this. "Yes," I said "only then the road gets closed and we wouldn't be driving on it". Surprisingly we heard on the news that night that indeed they had closed the road behind us about an hour after we got on.