Happy Birthday

Happy 10th Birthday to Michael today. He got a "get out homework" free coupon today which he was thrilled with! He also got his big present when he got home from school....a Yamaha keyboard. Needless to say he was speechless but the first words out of Ben's mouth was "it's not fair!". Oh well.

Last week Ben went to a "young writer's conference" where he was able to share his "published" book that he did in school. He was very, very proud of his Sea Life ABC book that he wrote and illustrated.

A picture of Keni and his favorite cat toy. It's a bit wet and gross now since he likes to lick it.

Skiing

Ben's favorite activity...looking for stuff that people dropped off the chair lift.....

We just got back from our end of Spring Break ski trip. The boys and I headed up to Keystone after work on Thursday...we arrived to find that we had be "upgraded" to a bigger condo right on Keystone Lake. A good start! We also had full privileges at the Keystone Inn's fitness center (Donna's favorite pool!). Mike and Steve rolled in around 1am due to Steve's late flight and Mike forgetting his ski pass (a detour home).

We skied Keystone on Friday and had a short day since some were pretty tired. Ben and I spent some time skiing together on the blue runs on the front side of the mountain while the others skied the out back. Ben was happy, happy when he found he could ski the tree trails on the sides of the slopes.

Montezuma Bowl at A-Basin

Friday night Michael didn't feel well so Saturday morning Mike and Steve took Ben over to A-Basin for his ski lesson. He didn't want to go to A-Basin (I HATE A-Basin he said even thought he'd never been there). Oh...and since he was the only kid signed up for a blue run lesson he got a private lesson for the price of a group! Michael felt well enough to go over and join them by lunch. I was glad we missed the morning since Steve said it was so fogged in at the top they could hardly see. We got to to the new bowl at the back of the mountain which was fun even though it was still windy and chilly. WE finished at 3:30 to find a very happy Ben (his instructor got a nice tip) and a sad Michael who reported that someone had stolen our lunch backpack. Yes, the "green" pack that we have been using for our ski lunches for that past 4 or 5 years was stolen! And at A-Basin of all places. We lost a fleece, a pair of gloves and a few drinks and chocolate. That pack has been to many ski areas during all times of the year and we never had a problem before. Sigh. Saturday night we had a quick dinner on the way home from skiing (ski boots and all) and then everyone went over the play in the pool while I enjoyed my "complimentary" 50 minutes massage at the Keystone Inn. Nice huh? Now I know why Donna goes to the spa! I guess they were promoting their newly renovated spa since everyone who booked a condo this week got a free visit. I'm not complaining.

Sunday was supposed to be snowy but we lucked out and the weather held. Mike had to have a talk with Ben since he thought he could do all the tree trails, on all the slopes, all day! He wasn't happy that he actually had to ski straight down on a few runs so the rest of us didn't have to hang around on the slope waiting for him to reappear out of the trees somewhere. He also got a talking to after he decided to make his own trails and ended up on the edge of a 7' drop....he fell before he got there otherwise eh would of shot out of the trees into nothing...

Mike getting Ben out of the trees

Keni

We have a new house member....Keni is a 1 year old, male cat. He is actually Nala's son from a previous litter and I brought him home to recover from an upper respiratory infection. He is very sweet and LOVES Welby, Mike and the kids. I'm not sure if Mike reciprocates but at least he tolerates. He and Copper took about 3 days but now they are sleeping near each other and playing so all is good. Oh, and Nala is at a great foster home with her kittens.

My Birthday

Another Colorado snowy birthday! At least it is only 4" instead of the 4-18" they we predicting last night. The kids weren't too happy since they had to go to school.....I don't have any exciting plans today. The boys and I went out to dinner last night since I thought we'd be house bound today.

Kittens

Nala had her kittens Saturday morning. Apparently around 5:30am Ben woke up, turned on his light and watch the whole process from his bed. He didn't tell me until after breakfast. There are 5 little ones that survived.

March

I always think of March as spring but it never is here in Colorado. We had over a foot of snow on Sunday and then another 4" or so yesterday. It will warm up over the next few days so it should melt of pretty quickly. I do have a Hyacinth plant blooming in my window....the boys made Mike buy it for me what they were at Safeway on Saturday. Mike was in getting Michael's prescriptions for yet another bout of pneumonia. I was at a Wildland fire refresher class and so Mike had to take him to the doctor's to get checked and put on oxygen. We kept him home from school Monday but he was SO worried about missing his CSAP testing we let him go in Tuesday and Wednesday with his oxygen. He was really feeling great but his lungs weren't quite ready. He's back full swing today and without the oxygen.

We're fostering a very sweet Momma cat...we'll, she's a Momma to be. She's hanging out in Ben's room (which he loves) and we're just waiting for those kittens to appear any day now.

Mike will be out in Juneau for 2 weeks starting Monday. I'm sure we'll have some sort of blizzard again at that time....he's been out of town for our last 2 big ones.

Ben's 8th Birthday

Friday was Ben's 8th Birthday. We had a quiet night at home with presents

and cake and then headed to the Denver Aquarium Saturday afternoon.