The Vaille Family

Every January the International Snow Sculpture Championships come to Breckenridge.

Lexi and Miles voted for the peace hand, which won the people's choice.

After a quick after school snack, we surprised the kids when we asked them if they wanted to go night skiing. "It's a school night!" Jeremiah says. "It'll be ok, lets go" I reply. So we dressed everyone all warm and off we headed. On the way Lexi asked what it was like to go night skiing. Just so happened she also had her baklava over her eyes at that time so I told her it is just like now, you can't see a thing. Troy looks in the rear view mirror and sees her eyes cover and he rolls all the windows down, making a lot of wind and says, "ok, that's more like it" We all laughed.

Once we got to the parking lot, Troy and I could not get our boots on fast enough. The kids were overly excited to get on the hill. We had an uneventful ride up in the gondola. Once we got to the top, Lexi asked exactly 75 times "Can I put my skies on now? How about now?" as we walked from the gondola to School Marm. "Ok, Now you can put them on Lexi" Everyone got there gear on and off we went. Miles started in a pizza and he did wonderful! Lexi was showing off her skills skiing backwards and Jeremiah has great control on the snowboard. Troy and I commented to each other how much they have improved thanks to Kroozers.

We are cruising down the slope and Miles started screaming "WOOOO HOOOOO", we all joined in "WOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOO" There it is, that, fabulous free feeling, no worries in the world, my family by my side, the mountain and the trees. It can't get much better than this!!!! And at that moment I felt like they all got it, that same wonderful feeling.

Miles skied the entire run all by himself! We can't believe how good he is doing! Although, he needs to learn to get up on his own when he falls. He fell several times and would just lay exactly as he fell until someone picked him up and off he would go again. Troy had him follow his tracks for a while and he did good going back and forth across the mountain. At one point he looked at me and said "Mom, this is an awesome night skiing!!" "Yes, it is Miles" I replied with a smile he obviously knew was special because he went right over to Troy, said the same thing to him and was met with an agreeing hug. Dad, I can't wait for you to ski with him again, you will also be amazed by his improvements.

Lexi would have gone down the hill much faster if she didn't

have to wait on her brothers. She skis really well, bending down to grab snow to eat without missing a beat. She hit every little jump she could find and on the cat walks went up the wall where ever she could. Always looking for the most fun way that one is!

Jeremiah did really well on his board. That was the longest run he has taken yet. He has good control and can turn every which way. He had a little trouble on the flat areas because he does not like to go too fast yet (he is the smart one), so he would loose speed on the flat parts. He just called me over and I pulled him to the hill. I'm sure he'll figure it out cause it can't be cool to have your Mom pull you forever can it? He took a few good spills catching an edge, always when we started going a little faster, but he always got right back up and went at it again.

We got to the bottom and all three kids wanted to go for another run, we check the time and it had taken us a little over hour to get down so we decided we better head home and get dinner. Not one of them argued or threw out a "ppppplease", they just all grabbed their gear and headed for the car. On the way home, we told the kids how proud we are of each of them and we all talked about what a fun night it was. I'm so glad they are all able to ski with us, and all enjoy the sport. I plan to have many more nights making memories on the slopes!!!

  

The Battle Brawlers game from Grandma Gayle and Grandpa Dale was a big hit.

                                          Lexi getting her Harlynn time.

Jeremiah requested pizza for dinner of course.

 Fun party!

Jeremiah's birthday fell on a Monday this year.  He took cupcake to share with his class and after school had a few more presents to open. 

 Presents are fun no matter who they are for!

I guess if you turn your garage into a masterbed room, you have to expect all little sanding and drilling in your living room around derby time.