Elise & Tom: January 2007

Monday, January 22, 2007

skiing outside our apartment door

Today, after several days of drab, the skies were blue and the weather was perfect. Tom and I went out to enjoy the weather: Tom walked on a plowed path (with his Yak Traks, of course), and I skiied on the nearby "slopes." It is definitely a new treat for us to be able to ski (or snow shoe) right in our own neighborhood!

Our first snow-shoeing in CO

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our back-ordered snow shoes. Fortunately, our friends Marlo & Chic have extras.... so we hit the trail with them on Saturday. It was awesome! They live up above Golden, and the views were spectacular.

Been skiing since before she could walk!

We went snow-shoeing with Marlo, Chic & Stella last weekend. (Well, Tom, Marlo & I snow-shoed; Chic x-country skiied.) Fortunately, Stella loves the outdoors -- even when it's cold. Marlo & Chic are fans of the Baby Bjorn almost as much as Anu & Vijay: whatever they are doing, they just strap Stella in, and they're off! Her only complaint was when we stopped so that Marlo & Chic could pass her back & forth -- she wants to go, go, go all the time.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Hello, Anu!

geez it's cold out here...

no caption required

Winterfest '07

Sarah & Erik came to visit us this weekend. We had such a good time! Of course, we took them to Pearl Street (to go to Peppercorns, which did not disappoint), had a wonderful lunch at Foolish Craig's, went to 2 breweries, a minor league hockey game, went sledding, went to the gym, and had 3 fabulous breakfasts. Not bad for a weekend that never got above 10 degrees... Next time they come, we are hoping that they'll actually get to see the Rockies!

Game Time!

The Phoenix boys were not too excited to discover that our dinner plans would interfere with the Suns game. Never fear: they made a quick trip to the thrift store, and bought a VCR (complete with remote control) for $12.50. They taped the game, and after dinner, watched the game (commercial free!) "virtually live." (Oh, and the Suns won.)

How do you get up from this thing?

Aerodynamic? Yes. Ergonomic? Well, maybe not...

Off to the races!

Don't worry, Mom: I'm holding on with both hands. (And those Sport Hill pants are awesome!!)

Sarah & the Torpedo win

We didn't need to go too far to go sledding...

Shovel-sledding?

Tom insisted that we didn't really need to buy a sled -- that we could do just as well with a shovel. It wasn't quite as slick as the Torpedo, but he did OK...

Test driving the Zen-saucer

Erik trying out the saucer...

Erik, Elise & the Purple Puffy Jacket

I have not worn this jacket in 6 years, but I was happy to have it this weekend!!!

Gordon Biersch, after the hockey game

We have been enjoying going to the local minor-league hockey games. At every game, they announce that if you go to Gordon Biersch before or after the game, and show your ticket, that you can buy any GB beer for $1. So we went to dinner before the game -- only to discover that the deal only applies AFTER the game! So of course, we went back after the game, and made sure to collect our beers...

Sarah & Erik were good sports

Although they had to be questioning their own sanity (why did they leave 65 and sunny Phoenix for zero and snowing Boulder?), Sarah & Erik insisted that it was "fun" and "novel" to come hang out with us in our winter wonderland. We're sure glad they came for a visit!!

And they're off!

Without a doubt, the "Torpedo" (a little plastic toboggan-shapped sled) was the fastest, followed by the Zen-Disc (you had absolutely no steering control, but it was fun!), and the "Rapid Runner" was dead-last. In fact, the Rapid Runner wouldn't move at all! About 3 seconds after this photo, Tom & Erik were at the bottom of the hill, and I was still in the same spot, laughing -- but immobile.

Can they really cut glass?

Tom shows us just how sensitive his own personal barometers are when it is zero degrees out. Of course, going to Peppercorn was still worth the frigid cold!

Thursday, January 11, 2007

BNC Wednesday Hikers

We recently had a wonderful hike with the Boulder Newcomers. Fortunately, we received a wonderful Christmas present called Yak Traks (similar to Stable Icers), so we had no problems tromping around in the snow. When in Rome...

Hiking in East Boulder

We had a strange-sky day recently: it was fairly warm, there was snow everywhere (which was melting fast!) and the sky looked like a Ghostbusters scene. It was really beautiful.

Monday, January 01, 2007

A beautiful day for skiing

There is a local ski resort that's only about 25 miles from here, called Eldora (in Nederland). Even though it was a holiday, it wasn't very crowded -- so we headed up the mountain for the afternoon, and had a wonderful time. We stayed on the "green" trails, but I hope that before long we can either ski or snow-shoe to the back-country hut: it is 2 miles of black-diamond trail away from the lodge.

Elise & Tom