Tales from the Hill's Country

Quips, stories and observations from our adventures in marriage and parenting (as told by Katie).

Thursday, March 31, 2011

On the Slopes

The meatpies were life-changing and hanging out with our friends was a blast... but we went to Breckenridge for one thing:
To ski!
Or snowboard (that's Danton).
Or try to snowboard... (that's Casey).

The last time I'd gone skiing I pretty much stayed on the green and blue slopes, and figured I'd do the same this trip. But I was amazed at how easily I was able to ski the harder slopes and even went up the t-bar to ski one of the black slopes in the bowl at the top of the mountain! Here's the t-bar and run from a second peak:
And here I am before the ledge... trying not to shake from fear!
Stepping off the ledge was the hardest part... it was smooth sailing from there! I was so excited!!

On the way back down the mountain I met up with K-Dog,
(He's the speck in the middle of the photo.)

And then we met up with the rest of the gang (including Chris!):
And I finally got my couple photo on the mountain!
Check out the plastic bag on Chris' hand... he went snowboarding with his broken thumb! (This is after he had seen the Breckenridge doctor.) I was so afraid he'd fall and break his other hand! The rest of the afternoon I skied right behind Chris and every time he stumbled I zipped right up to him to make sure he was ok! It was the most nerve racking afternoon!

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Mimi's Meat Pies

The next time you're in Breckenridge, there is one stop you have to make. It's to see Ms. Kathy at Mimi's Meatpies!

Ms. Kathy is a Texan, who married a Louisianian (I knew I liked her!) and now lives in Colorado with her husband. She's also Liz's dad's cousin.
She is a wonderful person to chat with and makes the most amazing meat pies! Here are Laura, Liz and I enjoying the Louisiana meat pie (spicy, warm and delicious!)
A close up of the deliciousness:
Later I tried the mac&cheese meatpie. Ok, this is change-your-life amazing. I'll never be the same.
I also tried the PB&J pie and Banana's Foster Pie (not all at the same time!) which were both equally tasty. Next time I'll have to try the chili meatpie, chicken & broccoli meat pie... and whatever amazing concoctions Ms. Kathy dreams up in the meantime!

And, to put some icing on the cake of her restaurant, there's a little table for children to enjoy:
Brilliant!

Mimi's Meatpies in Breckenridge... eat one and you won't be disappointed. I'm telling you change-your-life good!!

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Snowy Activities

Although we all primarily went to Breckenridge to ski, we did take advantage of some other snow-related activities.

Mike and Ms. Sharon's house is on the side of a hill. A snowy hill. So the boys created a luge:
The picture does not do justice to how dangerous that thing was!

Here's Justin with all of the tools needed to build and experience the luge:
Then there's the after ski drinks. I don't recommend drinking and skiing. But I do recommend skiing, then drinking!
(Another shot of me without Chris)
(And a shot of Liz without Danton!)

For your after-ski drink, however, I do NOT recommend the Jalapeno Margarita:
Don't be fooled by it's pretty color. The drink is awful! Not spicy, just disgusting.

But we didn't just drink cold drinks. We also had some of the world's best hot chocolate. Here's Barton, enjoying a glass:
Speaking of Barton, we had two of the most adorable children to hang out with after a day on the mountain!
Those of us non-parents had a grand time playing with the kiddos:
But man are they exhausting!
Justin played some game that involved snowballs and bowling:
And I rocked Laura's fabulous ski-cap when we explored downtown Breckenridge:
That is until I found my own fabulous hat!
I texted this photo to my friend Adam who used to live in Breckenridge and asked if I looked like a local. He responded that I look like a yokel! Looks like I'm ready for Crazy Hat Uno 2011!

Monday, March 28, 2011

Poor Chris!

On our first day of skiing, Chris went with Laura and Liz for snowboarding lessons. I went off to enjoy the slopes with Tara and we met up a lunch. Chris told me all about how much fun he was having and how he was really getting a hang of snowboarding. I was really happy and expecting for us to be skiing blue and black slopes together by the end of the trip!

When we met up again at the end of the day, however, Chris told me he fell and badly bruised his hand. It was a beautiful shade of purple. Later that afternoon, I found him not looking so hot:
He had wrapped it up with a scarf and was elevating it. The hand was now extremely swollen and the purple was getting deeper. I insisted Chris go see the doctor. And that's what I thought he did when he left with K-Dog early the next morning.

Instead, when I met up with them at lunch, Chris told me he hadn't seen the doctor yet and that he'd been snowboarding all day! Men! He could move it and didn't think it was broken so he didn't see the point. After some more encouragement from me, he finally did go to the doctor at the end of the day. After some x-rays, the thumb was declared shattered. Yes, broken in six places! The doctor gave Chris a cast and a lecture about not snowboarding on an injury:
This next photo attempts to show you some of the amazing colors we saw on Chris' hand... but it really doesn't do it justice:
When we got back to Houston, we saw a Doctor who recommended surgery.

My husband once pulled out his own wisdom tooth while traveling internationally for work so he wouldn't have to fly home and miss an important meeting (true story). So when I told his family that he'd be going under, his sister, Jojo, was shocked. She was certain he would watch a youtube video, grab a shot of whiskey and attempt the surgery himself. When I told Chris about her prediction he responded, "marriage has made me soft."

So last Friday morning we woke up at 4:30am to get Chris ready for surgery. As a young wife, I wasn't thrilled about the idea of my husband going under anesthesia and being cut open, but Chris seemed totally fine with it. He even told work that it was outpatient so he'd probably be back to work for the afternoon! Ha!

My parents of course knew what was going on, but I hadn't given my mom every detail of where and when. So you can imagine my surprise when she walked into the waiting room 15 minutes after Chris and I had arrived! She thought I might enjoy the company and I have to admit I did. We commandeered a corner of the waiting room and got quite comfortable!
The doctor was very pleased with the surgery and Chris is now on the mend. He has a soft cast and in a few weeks, he'll get a harder one.

As I drove a very medicated Chris home he told me I should just drop him off at work. Then I asked him why his hand was orange (from the iodine) and he told me that he'd had chicken wings!

This injury has been a little on the inconvenient side, but thankfully we have wonderful friends and family. My mom kept me company in the waiting room (and sat with Chris after the surgery while I went for a jog). My dad mowed our lawn for us, which was very appreciated!! (Chris insisted that he could push the mower with one hand... and then passed out.) Our friend Mark volunteered to come by and help me move some things into the attic (thankfully I managed, but the willingness was so kind). And many of our friends called and e-mailed to check on Chris' recovery. We're so blessed!

After hibernating for nearly 36 hours after his surgery, Chris was ready to brave the outdoors.
(Of course I had to get the "under construction" part of our yard in the frame!)

Several days later, his hand feels fine and he's back to work. That pain medicine is crazy though! Chris has said that coming off that has been worse than the pain itself!

Of all the snow-related injuries, I'm thankful that Chris' is just mildly inconvenient. I've enjoyed being his helper and learning that I'm much more capable than I thought (like moving heavy things into the attic!), but it'll be nice in three months when he'll be all fixed up. Looks like I'm peeling the crawfish this season!

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Getting on the slopes

It takes a lot of getting ready to ski down a mountain.

First, there are the fabulous outfits:
Now before you make fun of my ski bib by saying something like, "what, is that from the 90's??" allow me to tell you that yes, my ski bib is from 1996 when I used to wear it skiing in high school. So it's not dorky... it's vintage.

Besides, one of the cutest kids I know rocks a ski bib:
That's Barton, Tara and Lyon's son. He's not ski age yet... but he's getting ready!
So once you have all 15 pieces of clothing and equipment attached to your body, you ride the gondola up the mountain.
(That's K-Dog and I)

Then you wait in line for the ski lift:
And finally, you ride up the mountain!
(That's Mike and Ms. Sharon)
(That's me with K-Dog and Casey.)(It was a running joke that because Chris and I ski/ride at different levels we didn't see much of each other on the mountain. Leaving me to take "couples photos" with all of his friends!)

When you finally ski down the run, you then wait for everyone to catch up. Which is a perfect opportunity to take an "artistic" self-portrait:
Then you do it all over again! Whew!

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Skiers vs. Snowboarders

I'm a skier.

The last time I went skiing (over a decade ago) snowboarding was just starting to be a nuisance on the slopes. But now these hippies have taken over. The war between skiers and riders separates brother from brother:
Liz started out snowboarding,
But found the error of her ways and switched mid-trip.
 Chris, Danton and Casey all snowboarded:
Those guys would look a lot cooler if there wasn't a huge yellow sign in the background proclaiming it's a sissy slope!

Laura chose snowboarding:
Here are she and Chris at the end of day one:
Laura was injured and had to sit out the rest of the trip and Chris shattered his thumb and required surgery (more on that later).

Meanwhile the skiers stayed healthy and happy:

Skiing vs. Snowboarding. Doesn't sound like much of a competition to me!

Friday, March 25, 2011

Cooking in Colorado

Once all ten of us made it to the Ski Haus, we headed to the grocery store to prepare for the week. Chris and his friends love to cook and are really good at it, so I was excited for the meals.

We managed to squeeze nine of us into the van and headed to the grocery store. Five full carts later we were challenged with squeezing back into the van with all of our groceries.
Thankfully all those games of tetris paid off and we made it back for cookfest:
Throughout the week we had amazing steaks:
Dramatic Bananas Foster:
And hearty breakfasts:
Here's Kate (Tara and Lyon's daughter) with egg on her face!
Let's pause to acknowledge how cute she is.


Get it? Egg on her face! I truly thought I was the only one who was so tickled by this pun. But when everyone else downloaded their photos to our shared photobucket site... I found 4 more photos of Kate with egg on her face! My humor feels so validated!

Egg on the face! If Kate had been around when that phrased was coined, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't mean "to be embarrassed" it would mean, "to be ridiculously adorable".