a day at crystal.

yesterday we took the kids down to crystal for a day of skiing. (except for samuel, he stayed with the lovely miss robyn). the morning started out *perfect*; sunny with nice powder. it only lasted for about an hour before the clouds set in, but even with the clouds it was comfortable and not too cold. katie did a half-day lesson in the morning and ate lunch at the kid's club. we picked her up and her and i stayed on the discovery lift (aka bunny hill) while the boys went off to play on some more difficult terrain. austin skiied down some double black diamonds with nathan (i swear, that child has ~no~ fear). katie and i skiied for awhile and then went inside the lodge for a hot chocolate break. then we skiied a little more until the boys returned, and we all went up together. katie did awesome, nathan helped her about half the way down on some steeper parts, and then she went down about half by herself. her ski instructor was super impressed with her, she is a fast little learner and he said next time she should advance to the green otter class. the only comments on her report card were that she needs to "stay in control more and don't look down at your skis!" LOL i would say one of the highlights of my day wasn't on the slopes though; it was on the drive down there and back. on the way there austin and i spotted a group of about 3 elk in the forest, and on the way home nathan said "oh! there they are again!" no one else had seen them so we turned around and went back and there was an entire herd of them, about 20 feet off the side of the road in a grove of trees. there had to be at least 10 of them. it was *so* awesome.

i didn't take my camera yesterday, so here are some pics from last time we went to crystal...


discovery lift with daddy.

a helping hand from daddy.