Crystal Mountain Day 1

Our house has been extremely quiet and empty feeling since Friday has been gone. Faced with a three day weekend (Pulaski Day here in Chicago on Monday) during which neither kid had ANY classes... it had a chance to feel even more quiet and empty here. So, we decided to plan a last minute get-away to our "happy place"... Crystal Mountain. We truly love it there. It's a great place for us to spend time as a family and have a change of scenery from the city. We honestly don't go often enough. :-)

Anyway, we took off as soon as Clara got out of school on Friday as it's a pretty good drive from here. We got in late, got everyone settled into their beds in the condo and got some good sleep since Jeff and the kids planned on being on the slopes as soon as they opened.

Photos like this....
... are the reason I own a wide angle lens. :-) I use it for a lot of other things, but it's taking photos like that one that amuses me.

The kids geared up and ready to head to the slopes...
Getting their skis on....
One Alex ready to go...
And one Clara ready to go as well...
(it was Mardi Gras on the Mountain, hence the beads)

My family of skiers...
And off they go....
And here they come down their first run...



After this, I barely saw them again. They were all over! The next time we were all together again (besides when they took a snack break) was when Jeff and I went over to watch the kids compete in the NASTAR downhill races! Those photos to come in another post...