We have spent every weekend in January in the mountains as the kids started their four weekly ski lessons. Both Jude and Anna seem to be enjoying themselves and making progress. We hope to be able to take them skiing with us when their four weeks are up.

Last weekend I did something I had never done before – stay in a hotel with just me and the kids. Our condo was booked (or so we thought) and Marcy had class so I took the kids and we stayed at the Inn at Keystone, pretty close to the slopes. We all had a great time and the kids managed to get a good night’s sleep before they got to ski school bright and early on Saturday morning.

This weekend we went up to the condo and invited one of Jude’s school friends to come as well. We were having a nice evening and then Denise & Phil (our co-owners in the condo) showed up with their kids. They had invited some friends of theirs as well. So on Friday night we had eight adults and eight kids staying at the condo. That was pretty much at capacity. We had Jude and Anna sleeping on the floor of the master bedroom closet – something they didn’t really enjoy. Consequently, no one had a great sleep.

So, the kids had their weekly ski lesson that went well and Marcy and I have had the chance to ski together for the first time in many years. It has been great and we hope to have the kids ski with us after their lessons are done. They both seem to enjoy it which is the main thing.

But being in the mountains isn’t just about skiing. Today, we all went sledding. Jude had one of his friends from school staying at Keystone as well, so they joined us for some sledding in Frisco today. You can check out Jude’s style in the video here and below is a photo of Jude and his school friend hurtling down the hill (Jude is in front).

Jude has been progressing well in his swimming lessons. Both kids had weekly lessons for most of the last year and it shows. Jude can now pretty much do freestyle and he is even trying his hand at backstroke which he is doing in the photo here.

The other new activity the kids are doing these days is a creative movement class. These are kids only classes and Jude and Anna do it together along with two of their school friends. They both seem to like it and it fits in well with their schedule. They still both have plenty of free time with only doing half days at school. And we want to expose them to as many things as possible to see what grabs their interest.