Sunny Days and Visitors

So little Jake is becoming not so little anymore. I've officially decided he can make mess as quick as I can clean it :) Thankfully he's so darn cute it's hard to get too frustrated with him. He's passed the walking stage and is now running and climbing everywhere. Still not too many words but he manages to express himself quite clearly! As for Erich and I, we've had some time these past few weekends to explore and enjoy the winter. More cross-country skiing of course. Our new thing this year is to pack a backcountry stove and to throw a tarp out midway through our ski for a little brisk picnic! It's chilly but fun. It's a good break for Jake to get out of the backpack. our other highlight was having Erich's parents and sister make a surprise visit. We went and explored some hot springs and headed up to Sun Valley. I have to say that McCall is the true treasure of Idaho not Sun Valley. I think my favorite part of Twin Falls is being closer to Family--we just love having company.

Happy New Year

Can't believe it is 2010! To bring in the new year Kara was sick so we stayed home and had a movie marathon. After sleeping and gorging ourselves with TV for hours Kara felt better and we were ready to celebrate the new year a more typical Gleckler way. We went on two fun cross-country ski trips. One to the South hills and one to the Sun Valley area. We were really worried there wouldn't be enough snow to ski. Boy were we surprised when the road was closed for a half hour while they cleared off an avalanche and when the powder was 2-3 feet deep. Poor Libby got the workout of the season swimming through all the snow. The South Hills was quite the adventure. We found an old road to follow which took us up and up and up. When we started cresting the top I thought I saw a ski lift. Sure enough we had cross-country skiied up to the top of Magic Valley Downhill Ski Hill. I always wondered what it would be like to down hill ski with cross-country skis. YEAH, not such a good combo. We started down a green run (I typically do blacks no problem) and biffed it within the first 15 feet...total face plant :) We looked like the misfits with a dog on the ski hill and a kid in a backpack! Don't judge us please. Anyhow we quickly found a road off the main ski routes and pludged ourselves through the powder back to the car. Our trip to Sun Valley was one of the most spectacular trips ever. The sun was brilliant and with all the fresh snow glistening it truly was a gorgeous day of skiing (And yes the sparkling snow was more beautiful than Edward's skin for all you Twilight fans!) Anyhow it felt great to be out skiing again, and Jake was a relatively great sport throughout it all.