snow birds

Did you get my clue from the last post? We went to Park City, Utah, to play in the moguls (well, only I played in the moguls). Our whole family met up at my parents' condo for a week of playing in the snow.

I skied two days (Mon and Fri) mostly on my own at the 9990 lift. On Friday afternoon, I joined my dad and niece for her first double blue run. Bravo! We're all looking forward to the year she can ski with me; me for the company, and her parents so they don't have to keep up with her.

It's getting hard to show everybody together, so here's a mediocre photo of the cast.

A series of storms hit the area the week before we arrived, so we got to play in deep snow.
The nieces love Clara, and she was amazed by them. They both wanted to hold her often and did their best to make her smile and laugh. Happy times!

Local horses don't mind the snow or the kids (though they wished we had brought apples like we did last year).

Just because Clara is small doesn't mean she can't join the fun. We took the bus to downtown and walked back on the multi-use trail. We almost made it back home before Clara got hungry, but she handled her first outdoor drink of milk well.
We left the baby with the family one morning to do a short snow shoe adventure. We hiked the hill/canyon just to the left of the gondola where we unexpectedly encountered a moose. The moose wasn't willing to pose for a close-up, so you'll have to look carefully to find her in the photo below.

A recurring source of amusement was watching my parents track their calorie intake with an app on their iPhones. They would compare notes to make sure that neither cheated. In that spirit, here's a recap of my high altitude training:

Two days skiing (I hiked up to Murdock bowl on Fri afternoon)

One 2 hour snowshoe adventure (probably less than 800' climbing)

One flat 6.5 mile walk

Two days playing with the nieces (in the snow and at the pool)

Alas, the vacation ended, and we're back home in IL. Mercifully, we returned to blue, sunny skies, not to be confused with skis, of which we have no need here.