A big welcome to the sun, but not to the ticks

Since I have been slacking this will be one massive post.

SKIING:
Usually Erich and I cross-country ski because we can take the kids with us. For Valentines day, however we decided to buy ourselves downhill ski tickets. We live close to Sun Valley which is allegedly world class skiing (I am still partial to Discovery, Big Mountain, and Brighton). I was thoroughly impressed with my bargain hunting skills. I found lift tickets for $2 bucks apiece (they are usually $80+ apiece); we left our kids at daycare and headed out for what I thought would be record breaking frugal ski trip. If all had gone as planned it would have been.....but we'll get to that later. It was so awesome to ski without the kids. We couldn't believe it when it only took us five minutes after parking to head up to the mountain (usually it is more like an hour long ordeal getting all the kids and gear ready). It was a super hot day and the skiing was great, the views spectacular, we were feeling good. As the day went on it got hotter and hotter and the snow slushier and slushier. We decided to go to a less traveled route, not such a good idea. The slush was so difficult to navigate through that Erich fell an sliced his ear. So then we became that embarassing couple, you know the ones that have to call in ski patrol. Although Erich being the tough guy that he is did ski down to the bottom of the hill before getting any help. Anyhow after a quick trip to Urgent Care to get Erich's ear stitched up our frugal trip became a little more expensive. Injuries and all, however, it was sure fun to ski together just the two of us. I think this will be a tradition. Maybe next year we will even try teaching Jake.

THE SUN IS OUT
It is finally starting to thaw out here, which means evenings biking and playing in the back yard, and trading in our skis for hiking shoes. Last Saturday we decided to go check out a waterfall. It was pretty spectacular. You walk out to this canyon and look over a giant spring of water (we live over a huge aquifer). You walk down just a mile down the canyon and the spring-fed creek is really moving. There are even impressive waterfalls. The water, since it is spring-fed, has a beautiful blue hue. It would have been all around amazing if I didn't look down and see several ticks crawling up Erich's leg. Usually as soon as I see ticks I run for the car, but I actually finished the hike out before turning around. Thankfully none of the ticks got any bites in us.....Did I mention how much I HATE ticks!!!






FAMILY VACATION
Erich isn't big on vacationing, but each year when he goes to Boise for training he takes us with him. His training this year was this last week. We had LOTS of fun this year. With kids just staying in a hotel, eating yummy breakfasts and playing in the pool is exciting. Add to that the opportunity to go to the big parks, the zoo, the playlands and it is quite a lot of fun. The best part, however, was getting to see some great friends! Jake is still talking about his friends Boston and Jenna!