On Friday February 11th, we left for a 5 night ski vacation/dental conference in Steamboat Springs, Colorado! We LOVE dental conferences like these. :-) We didn't want to be lonely, so we took 17 important people in our lives! Yep, there were 13 adults and 7 children on this ski adventure and we had the best time!
Gigi and Pops
Grandma and Pa
Aunt Jeannie, Uncle Ronnie and Duane
Uncle Gabe and Aunt Stacie
Austin (9), Isaac (7), Ethan (5), Lucas (2)
Joey and Whitney Bongiorno
JB (5) and Noah (3)
My favorite quotes from the trip:
JB during his first ascent in a plane while going through the clouds: "Mama, where's Jesus? We're above the clouds. Where is he?"
Ethan, when he passed gas at a restaurant: "Fire in the Hole!"
I was a little nervous about this trip's flight since it would be the longest since Lauren has started walking and being VErY active, but she was great! I even gave her Benedryl during our layover in ATL, but this little strong-willed baby fought through the Benedryl sleepiness and forced herself to stay awake. She would yawn, rub her eyes, and throw her head back but never went to sleep! I guess she didn't want to miss anything! She watched 2 movies, had snacks, and played with Gigi and Pops.
The 3 of us, Gigi and Pops, and The Bongiorno's arrived in Steamboat Springs while the rest of the gang landed in Denver and enjoyed their drive looking at lots of elk and moose along the way.
Lauren literally gave it up and fell asleep while taxiing on the runway in SBS! That was her only nap all day long!
Waiting for the Daddies to get our luggage.
Lauren loved riding in all of the shuttle buses from the airport and around town all week long. She's definitely going to like riding the school bus one day. (I wonder if we'll let her do that by herself when the time comes?)
We arrived at Trappeur's Crossing Resort and checked in to the Champagne Lodge (which I HIGHLY recommend to anyone!). The weather was beautiful all week long. High's in the low 30's, low's in the teens. Sunny skies. Perfect!
This little bear statue was in the main lodge. I told LEB to stand next to it for a picture and she proudly stood right beside it and smiled really big. :-)
Next order of business on arrival day was to pick up our skis. Lauren getting her diaper changed and not missing a beat with "Bugs Life".
Day 2. Our first day of skiing was great! Grandma and Aunt Jeannie watched LEB while Eric and I skied with everyone. Austin, Isaac, Ethan, JB and Noah all went to ski school. They all did so good!
AUSTIN
ISAAC
Ethan on the lift with his mom and Duane
Isaac and Austin on the lift with their dad
Just hanging out with Gigi after a good 1st full day in SBS.
My little gnome.
Enjoying her cookie at the lodge office.
Ready for a dip in the pool!
There was a swim out partition between the indoor and outdoor pool and Eric took Lauren under it! Twice! I don't think she loved it, but she didn't hate it!
Lauren loves being with her cousins
On Sunday, Gigi and Pops took a break from skiing and spent the day with Lauren. Gigi said that she was worn out by lunch time. For those of you who really know Lauren, she doesn't lay her head down on your shoulder often. She must have been exhausted!
Silly mommy and Lauren
Day 3. The Berry boys on one of the summits.
Ready to go tubing! We took a shuttle to the Hausenhill Tubing area. I had no idea what to expect with Lauren and tubing, but I was excited to try it with her.
Isaac loving on Lauren
Walking towards to hill with Grandma
Pops and Gigi
Pa and Grandma
Some of the kids with Uncle Ronnie
"Okay, Lauren! Are you ready?" says Mommy. "Mommy, I was born ready," says LEB.
Joey and JB!
Lauren Elizabeth "dare devil" Berry absolutely loved tubing! She would smile the entire way down and sometimes let out a little "weeee"! When we got to the bottom, she would start shaking her head and say "No, no, no, no". She didn't want to start! So, we left her in the tube for the entire hour and just pulled her up the hill on the conveyor belt over and over. The wind, chilliness, fast speed and few bumps didn't phase her one bit!
Whitney and JB
This is an action shot of us while we were going down.
Lauren with Dada.
Going back up the hill.
Back on the shuttle after an entire hour of fun!
"Oh my gosh, mommy. I can't move. I had so much fun though! I can't wait to go tubing behind the boat this summer at Crystal Lake!"
Eating Mexican for dinner.
Joey with his boys
Noah!
Noah practicing his wink.
6 of the 7 kids having dinner on the 4th night.
Bunny made the trip, of course. This bunny HAS to be the most traveled little bunny in the entire world.
Eating snow.
...pitter patter...
The Bongiorno's
Duane at one of the summits
It may be hard to see but "baby" and goofy are watching TV with LEB.
Grandma and LEB
Aunt Jeannie and LeB
Lucas
Lauren pulled the Oreo container off the counter...
success!
Happy Valentine's Day!
Aunt Stacie got them Webkinz for Valentine's Day
One of my two Valentine's
We spent Monday with Lauren walking along Main Street and looking in the little shoppes.
I love this picture of Lauren with her skinny jeans and snow boots...
We borrowed Duane's rental car to go down town and Lauren used Ethan's booster seat. It wasn't too bad! She still has a few years yet before a booster seat will be in our car but she did pretty good in it!
Exhausted after a morning of walking...
Lauren didn't really like touching snow but by the end of the week, she was making progress.
Mommy and Lauren spending time together at the wine and cheese reception in the main lodge. They had juice boxes for the kids and she ate tons of fruit.
Coloring with Ethan.
"I think I'm ready, Dada!"
Lauren will be old enough for the 2-1/2 year old ski school class next year! Can you believe it?!
Lauren's latest fun thing to do is pretend to drive. At home, she likes to sit in the driver's seat of my car parked in the garage and turn knobs, pretend to toot the horn, and drive.
"What? It's 20 degrees? You could have fooled me!"
JB and Noah left with their mommy and daddy on Tuesday to go back home. These boys had a lot of new experiences (1st time flying, seeing snow, skiing) and I'm sure they'll be talking about them for a long time in sunny Orlando!
Lauren and I went to the natural Hot Springs on Tuesday with Gigi and Pops. It was beautiful!!
We were sad to leave on Wednesday, but I guess we had to! I love being in the clean, crisp air with beautiful mountains and nice, awesome people once a year and can't wait to go back next year. This was our first trip to Steamboat Springs and I think it may be my favorite.
Coloring on the flight back home.
"See you back in Florida, everyone!"
