Spring Break 2010

My parents have a place in New Mexico and they go there every chance they get. They have spent Spring Break in New Mexico for the past several years. Their place is about a 20 minute drive from Angel Fire, 45 minutes from Taos, a little over an hour to Red River and about 40 minutes or so to Sipapu. When we got all the snow here several weeks ago, Matt got out his snowboard and actually strapped in to "ride" down our driveway. He has had the itch to go snowboarding for a while, so we decided that we would take the family and head to New Mexico for Spring Break. It was an awesome trip. Here are the highlights:

We got to snowboard for 3 days. My parents were wonderful to let us go and watch the kids. We spent the morning hanging out and bought 1/2 day passes on the mountain. The first day we went to Angel Fire and the conditions were great. It was actually a little hot. People were skiing and riding in short sleeves and shorts.


I hadn't been snowboarding in over 3 years and the last time I had gone was not a great experience. We were trying to get pregnant with Avery at the time and it had only been 6 months since losing Tyndale, so my nerves were on edge. I had an absolute panic attack on the mountain and I was paralyzed by fear (fear of already being pregnant, falling down and miscarrying). I went from being a pretty decent snowboarder to wanting to take off my board and slide down on my butt. It was bizarre. Needless to say, I was a little worried about how I would do this time. Just like riding a bike, it all came back to me. And this time I wasn't afraid!

We spent Wednesday in Red River for the 17th. That day Avery got sick all over me in the candy store and I left with my vomit-laden clothes in a plastic sack and a 1/2 lb of fudge that made everything okay. :-)

Thursday we decided to do a 1/2 day at a smaller ski area called Sipapu. It was a really great place. VERY small, but very family friendly and not as crowded as Angel Fire. This place is so small that if you blink while driving by, you might just miss it. Matt and I took a private advanced lesson and learned a thing or two.


My niece and nephew had taken beginning snowboarding lessons and we spent a lot of our time waiting for them on the mountain. Matt got creative while we waited on them to come down.


On Friday we had an Easter egg hunt. My mom is so great about planning stuff like this. The kids loved it, especially Avery. She just loved finding her eggs. We didn't have baskets for everyone, so the kids used plastic sacks from Wal-mart.


Friday during our hunt it started to snow. It was really funny because my mom kept giving my niece and nephews clues on where eggs were. She would say, "You're warm...warmer....HOT!" and so after a few minutes Avery finally chimes in too and said, "No, I'm cold!" As you can see from the picture above, the ground was clear from snow. And a few hours later this is what it looked like from my parent's front door:


The next day Matt and I did another 1/2 day at Angel Fire. The skies were clear but the temp was around 20 degrees and there was about 11 inches of fresh powder to ride in. We decided to attempt a few "tricks" in the terrain park. There is no video of me--I tried many and completed none. But Matt did a few and here is the only one we got on camera. He makes it look easy, but trust me, it is NOT.




Other fun things that happened on this trip include Avery getting her first S'more. She tried to eat the whole thing, but then she just ditched the cracker and marshmallow and went in for the good stuff.

And Reagan just got the cracker, but he was happy just the same.

This was our first vacation as a family of four. It was wonderful with the exception of a few minor hiccups (Avery getting sick, Matt also getting sick, Matt putting a massive dent in the bumper of our car...). I'm already searching the calendar for when we can go again. What a fun place! I'm so thankful for this time we had together.