Vail Resorts = Heaven on Earth

Hello Beaver Creek

Music and our love for the GREAT outdoors – A common bond that Scott and I quickly connected over when we met in 2007.  That next winter we headed west to hit the slopes and freeze our lungs as we skied down mountain peaks at a speed that would make most people’s knees shake.  It became a wintery tradition. 

We found out we were pregnant with our little Dumplin after we had booked a ski trip to Tahoe in 2011.  Seeing how we didn’t want to eat our words “kids aren’t going to change who we are” off we went.  So I guess you could say we weren’t completely surprised when we booked a trip to Vail, CO this past winter only to discover a few weeks later that I was pregnant (clearly booking ski trips get me pregnant). 

Beautiful

While well aware of the risks associated with downhill skiing while pregnant, I am also aware there are risks driving a car while pregnant, walking on a sidewalk alongside a busy street while pregnant, or eating unpasteurized cheese while pregnant.  I will control what I can, but being aware of every step and trying to take every pre-caution will only get you so far and doesn’t guarantee anything.  So I put on my skis and carefully glided down the slopes of Beaver Creek and Vail (but now I’m getting ahead of myself).

Knowing that both Scott and I wanted to ski and we wanted to take our busy toddler with us, the only reasonable thing to do was take Nana along.  She happily agreed to joining the Fish3 mountainside.  She would take care of Paisley while Scott and I hit the slopes.  Plus it’s ALWAYS handy to have an extra set of hands while corralling a small child. 

On the flight to Denver, Paisley was happy to crawl from my lap, to Nana’s lap, to his Dadda’s lap.  It wasn’t long after takeoff that he laid his head down while sprawled across our laps and entered dreamland.  We noticed he was feeling hot and hotter with each passing minute which prompted Scott to dig the thermometer out of the diaper bag.  Sure enough he spiked a 102.4 temp.  Lovely!

He slept the entire flight and woke up in Denver hot, disoriented and not like our boy at all.  After a quick stop at Wal-Mart where we loaded up on baby meds and juices we headed to a quick clinic to get him checked out.  Due to the riff-raff looking ill people in the waiting room, Scott sat in the waiting room while P and I waited safely in the car.  Roughly an hour later we had a diagnosis (double ear infection), a prescription (Amoxicillin), and were driving up to the mountains.

Happy Fish

We were beyond happy with our accommodations at the Borders Lodge.  We were greeted with wine and chocolates (I stuck with the chocolates) and our balcony looked out over the ski slopes.  Mom and P had their own bedroom/bathroom as did Scott and I.  We sat the pack-n-play up, gave our little sicky his medicine and we all slept like babies!

The next morning our little guy woke up his normal rambunctious self.  Happy to see he wasn’t acting pitiful.  Nana tended to him while Scott and I headed out to pick up skis, groceries, and breakfast.  Before our breakfast had digested, Scott and I were suited up and taking the lift up the mountain.  Nana and P stood on the balcony and waved until we disappeared in to the clouds.

Reason #5670 I love my husband; I am a good skier, he is an excellent skier.  I like to go fast; he likes to go faster than fast.  The good thing about these ski trips, we always meet up with 10-15 friends.  The guys like to do the reckless runs while the girls go the safer routes.  Typically Scott meets up with the boys and does the boy thing and I meet up with the girls.  But on this day, we spent the day skiing together, all day.  Not as fast as he’d like, avoiding the black runs like the plague, just me and my guy.  We stopped at the top of the slopes and took in the valley below.  We watched families with small children ski past and we talked about the years to come when we would ski with our 2 children on this very mountain.  It was a blue sky day where the snow sparkled like someone had spilled glitter down the runs.  The snow wasn’t the greatest, but there was just enough.  By 3:00pm we were ready to head back to our condo and grab lunch. 

Nana and P had been playing up a storm as the condo was a happy destruction of books, crayons, trucks and clothes.  He continued to act happy and feel fine, not spiking a fever for the rest of the trip (Amen!).  After getting cleaned up, we headed to Beaver Creek Village to grab dinner.  I love the little ski villages nestled in the middle of the slopes, filled with people in ski gear, laugher and music fill the brisk air, and everyone is just happy being in this moment. 

P & his Nana

My heart is happiest when I am with my family.  However, adding my family to the warmth of a condo on the mountain, watching the lights from the snow cats climb higher and higher, and seeing a light snow storm settle in for the night adds even more happy to my already full heart.  It is magical.

To Be Continued...