DAY 3: DID WE REALLY FIT ALL OF THIS INTO ONE DAY?

Wednesday evening we had plans in Keystone and since our lift tickets were good for both Keystone or Breckenridge we decided to just spend the whole day their skiing and then continuing with our night plans there. Again, it took us forever to get out the door and make our way to Keystone which is about 15 miles farther from Breckenridge. We didn't have to rent our skis though because we had kept them from the day before. As we unloaded our skis I realized that I had someone else's skis. Somehow in yesterday's craziness, I had picked up the wrong skis...now whether someone else had walked off with mine first I don't know. They were the exact same skis but they had the rental sticker from another company...and they didn't fit my boots...UGH!!! I spent the next hour walking around the little village of Keystone trying to get "my skis" adjusted to fit my boots without getting them taken away from me since they weren't really mine. It was then that I decided I could trade my Gold's Gym membership in and just purchase a pair of ski boots to walk around in. I was in tears from walking so much in those boots. Walking in those boots are never comfortable but my calves hurt from the day before from stopping so much and having to go a little slower with the kids. I had also lost a glove in the trek but I didn't care to retrace my steps to try and find it.

 I had sent everyone else up to the mountain to ski and told them I'd be waiting at the bottom when they got done. I waited for at least 30 minutes and after a text from Jennifer I thought they were at a different lift. So I walked even more trying to get to them. That's when the tears came. I decided to go back to where we had all started and I was just going to ski by myself for the rest of the day. As I walked to a bench to rest before I headed up the mountain, I sat down right next to Calli, Carson and Colson. "Mama!" coming from Calli's mouth never sounded so good! It turned out that Russell had come down with the kids and Carson had finally gotten the hang of it...she had a smile on her face and was ready to go again. Wes had stayed on the mountain with Jennifer as she kept stopping to rest and clinging to trees as she kept telling Wes she couldn't do it. The runs were pretty long which made for good skiing. Here's Jennifer after she finally had gotten off the mountain. I died laughing at her which did not make her happy. I made a run with the kids and had to listen to Colson accuse everyone of running into him on purpose at the few spots we had to "pole" 

Our activities that night included night tubing and dinner at the tip top of the mountain. The tubing was lots of fun! You could tube by yourself or hook on with up to 4 people. Calli and Carson did a lot together and Colson went with me every time. There were 5 lanes and the attendant would ask you "do you want to go straight or spin?" If you said spin he would say "little spin or super spin". Colson's reply every time when asked do you want to go straight or spin? He'd say "super straight". Wes' night was ruined after about the third time when he staed he wanted to go straight and the attendant did a super spin on  him. He thinks he blacked out halfway down and wanted to throw up. He wasn't good until the next morning and he didn't tube any more after that. So you'd tube down and ride the magic carpet up the the top again. It's the lazy man's way of tubing but oh was it good! 

After that we took a second gondola ride up to the very top of the mountainh and ate dinner at a fondue place. We had prepared for a long day on this day and my guess was that Colson would be the biggest bear of us all. I was wrong! Every one else was sorely disappointed in the food and the atmosphere and Colson loved everything! While we were all just eating enough to fill us up so we wouldn't have to drive through Arby's (the only fast food we ever saw), Calli wasn't eating anything because she was worried that the cross contamination of forks and fondue stick on raw meat would make her sick, Colson kept having me cook more and more for him. He wanted to come back every day he enthusiastically exclaimed. At the end when our waitress came to give us our very expensive ticket, Colson stated in his most angelic voice "I like that lady. She never stops smiling". Even the next day as we drove around he blurted out "That was just enough food". "What are you talking about?" I said. He looked at me with a 'why can't you keep up look' and said "Last night. That was just enough food for me and it was delicious. Can we go back?"

I think everyone preferred skiing at Keystone but I preferred Breckenridge. Chalk it up to the 12 miles I walked in some very uncomfortable boots that left a bad taste in my mouth. Who knows? My analysis of skiing is a comparison to childbirth. You forget how much work it is until you go again. But at the end of the day it's all worth it.