Spring Break Trip - Day 2

It took some coaxing for everyone to get out of bed this morning! The best thing about the day, though, was that it was really clear and warm. The mountains were covered with lots of snow. I had toyed with the idea of taking the kids to their first ski-lesson, but realized right before we left Fort Worth that they didn't have good clothes/jackets, etc. I had researched some alternate fun and figured out that there was a snow-tubing & sledding hill close by [at Ski Apache Resort]. Leo and the kids agreed that would be fun and we spent about three hours there. Leo and Mary had brought extra snow pants/coats/mittens from the condo stash, so the kids were well dressed when we started. However, it actually got so warm that we dragged the tubes through mud for most of the visit. The whole thing was still really fun - one of the highlights was that Leo, I and the five kids all fit in one raft-tube for a couple rides, even over a big jump. The only reason we left was because it got very busy and the kids wanted (late) lunch. While looking for Nicky and Mary - who had begun the day watching us - had disappeared off to some of the local shopping establishments... The rest of us had a fun lunch at Pizza Hut. Had our second food mixup of the trip (Denny's: food we ordered never came; Pizza Hut: food we ordered never came) - each time they've made it up to us with food to-go. Met Nicky and Mary over at the go-kart track. All of us had a great time racing each other (watch out for Erin - driving maniac!) on the mid-speed cars before we put Mollie, Shannon and Sean on the "Turtle Track" for a spin around at 2 mph (funny). Got back to the condo around 1630L and found Chuck there (another lucky family meeting). Spent an hour with shovels in the driveway and got it nearly all shoveled. Then had to get cleaned up (muddy) and ready so we could go out with him for dinner at the Texas Club (1800L). That was an exceptionally good meal - we all had Texas dice (chicken fried steak morsels) and plates across the table included catfish, chicken fried chicken, burgers and pasta. Everyone in a good mood when we returned to the condo. First, the kids tried the hot tub (see MAR 2009) and then the adults did. It was harder to get the kids to bed than last night - they were having too much fun playing with their Nintendo DS and watching TV. I was actually very tired and hit the hay around 2300L - but Nicky stayed up until well after midnight...