Crested Butte Mountain Resort’s Skiing & Non-skiing Activities: An Unprecedented Family Vacation

February 17, 2011 By

My family had an unprecedented vacation to Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR).

It wasn’t just attributed to the eight inches of fresh powder without a lift line in sight or the glistening Elk Mountains (the frozen equivalent of Shangri-La). But rather, because I skied my first double-black diamond run (Rachels)…and later managed to fall getting off the chairlift as I avoided a wayward ski-schooler.

Par for the course in a funky mountain hamlet where you should expect the unexpected.

Camp CB

Hands down, Crested Butte is my favorite Colorado mountain town (read my summer exploits) and I was positively giddy to ski Crested Butte Mountain Resort for the first time.

My family awoke to snow flurries but by the time Hadley and Bode headed to Camp CB in the Whetstone Building, it was a bluebird day with fresh powder. The children’s center’s location requires a bit of a hike in snow boots but was characteristically uncrowded (great news as it pertains to teacher-to-student ratios) and we met Bubba and Betty, the resort’s friendly mascots.

Four-year-old Bode was enrolled in the Explorers Level II program. There are two magic carpet areas (Aspen and Pine) and he spent his day on the more advanced of the two mastering his pizzas and stops. Hadley bonded with her teacher “Sparkles” and was thrilled to graduate to a Level 5 skier under her guidance.

At the end of the day, I took Haddie for a run down the Red Lady lift. She impressed me with her parallel-turning moxie so I decided to return the favor.

“Do you want to watch Mommy ski deep powder?” I [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado, Family travel, Humor, skiing, travel Tagged With:

What is your family’s love language?

February 14, 2011 By

Jamie and I are different.

Sure, in many ways we think alike, have the same interests and similar methodology with raising our children.

But we go about life very differently. He is low-key. Methodical. Wise.

I am not.

One of the areas in which we are most different is how we need to connect. I am physical. I crave affection. My 4-year-old son Bode is the same and we maul each other all day long with kisses and snuggles whereas my 6-year-old Hadley barely likes to be touched. Jamie is somewhere in the middle.

We both work from home and in such a setting, you would think we see each other all day. This is not the case and he often spends most of the day (and sometimes the evening) holed up in his basement den.

At the conclusion of one such day, I desperately wanted to snuggle up and just talk to him.

He just wanted to unwind by

CLICK TO READ ON AT MILEHIGHMAMAS.COM

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Humor, Jamie

The Tale of Two Internships

February 10, 2011 By

Last week, I received permission to hire a couple of interns. Though I’ve had the tremendous support of amazing contributing bloggers (and frankly, couldn’t do it without them), I feel like I’m drowning in the day-to-day operations that include scrounging up content, planning events, doing all the social media/promotions, writing a weekly newsletter, wading through the hundreds of email pitches I receive and being expected to develop area partnerships while also growing our audience.

Forget “drowning.” Perhaps I should say I already “drowned.”

The prospect of interviewing interns has me reflecting back upon my own internships (and yes, that would be plural). I was a woman with divided loyalties. My major was Broadcast Journalism but I decided as I neared my senior year I wanted to go into public relations.

(Something about working in hickville North Dakota to “pay my dues” just didn’t appeal to me, which is what happens to most broadcast journalists).

For my final semester, I did a study abroad in the Middle East and had applied at various media outlets prior to departure. I was thrilled to be accepted as SkiUtah’s intern (the PR/marketing end of Utah’s ski industry) and while I was in Jerusalem, I was offered a spot at CNN’s Crossfire in Washington, D.C.

It was an agonizing decision but I ultimately returned to Utah to work in the ski industry. The problem was, BYU’s Communications Department required a broadcast journalism internship so I also moonlighted at KUTV 2News in Salt Lake City.

I had the best and worst of both worlds and SkiUtah was the best. My boss Amber Older had just been hired as the Public Relations Director at the same time and she had a lot of confidence in me. Utah had recently won the bid to host the 2002 Olympic Games so I toured the country doing ski shows, writing press releases, hob nobbing with journalists and becoming the Crazy Canuck ski reporter on the radio.

Juxtapose that with KUTV 2News where I was given the very lowliest of jobs (one of which included watching hundreds of hours of their cooking chef “The Gabby Gourmet” to count the number of times he referred to a specific stove so they could bill the client).

Undaunted, I resolved I wanted some real field experience so invited myself along on the morning shoots with their reporter, LeAnn. Not only was she a complete snob but she didn’t for one moment acknowledge the initiative it took for an intern to drag herself up at 4 a.m. to haul her sorry camera equipment around.

Suffice it to say, KUTV 2News was the worst.

It all worked out in the end. I jumped for joy when that miserable internship was over and I landed my first real job doing public relations at Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort. All’s fair in love, war and internships.

At least that’s what I’m going to ensure the interns I hire. :)

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Humor

Mommy & Me Ski Lesson at Echo Mountain

February 9, 2011 By

There are Mommy & Me sign language, yoga and swim classes but why should it stop there?

At Echo Mountain it keeps going—straight down the mountain in their Parent and Me private ski lessons for 3-year-old skiers and his/her parent. The concept is brilliant and simple: Take a one-hour lesson with your child to prepare them for group instruction by age 4.

I learned to ski at a one-lift hill in Canada and there is a special place in my heart for small resorts. In addition to proximity to Denver (just 35 miles away outside of Evergreen), Echo Mountains is also about affordability and offers great ski school packages, terrain parks, and night skiing until 9 p.m. five nights a week.

Oh, and the free parking in the small lot and lack of stairs in the lodge were awesome, too.

If you’ve ever walked a mile in your ski boots or attempted to traverse down slippery steps, you know what I’m talking about.

Mommy & Me Class

This wasn’t my son Bode’s first time on skis and I’d like to say he shined but he didn’t. In fact, [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado, Family travel, Humor, outdoors, skiing, travel

A poker face he has not

February 8, 2011 By

Last week, Denver had a cold snap that rendered everyone wussy (spoken like a true Canadian). With a mere three inches of snow on the ground, school was canceled for two days. Then, we woke up to a half a foot of snow on Sunday so church was canceled as well.

Did I mention school and church were never, ever canceled in Canada?

Because let’s face it: if snow and cold were the standard for snow days, Canadians just wouldn’t go anywhere in the wintertime.

Between all those days off and a sick mama, we’ve been playing a lot of board and card games. I love that my kids are finally old enough to play and some of our especial favorite are Uno Attack, Trouble and Sorry.

At four years old, Bode is doing a fantastic job at learning. Most of the time. When he and I were playing Uno Attack yesterday, he started placing his cards on the holder and murmured,

“OK, dere’s some red and then two blues….”

“Bode, you’re not supposed to tell me what you have in your hand.”

“I’m not telling you, Mommy. I’m telling me.”

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Bode, Humor

Denver’s Best Place to Skate Outdoors This Winter

February 4, 2011 By

A couple of weekends ago, my family had one of our favorite winter adventures in Colorado: We skated Evergreen Lake.

Located just 20 minutes from Denver off I-70, this lake is surrounded by blue spruce, pines, evergreens and is about as close to an authentic Canadian skating experience as you can get in the Denver-area.

Side note: I was raised gliding along frozen lakes and rivers and learned very quickly that pretty much anywhere is skatable and that frozen nose hairs are a fashion statement.

A large portion of the 40-acre Evergreen Lake is Zambonied (a true Canadian verb) into a skating area with several smaller enclaves for hockey. The Evergreen Lakehouse is a stellar place to warm up to some hot chocolate or an affordable selection of food from the snack bar.

Six-year-old Haddie took skating lessons last year but it was 4-year-old Bode’s first time on skates. Several parents had constructed makeshift structures to help their beginners but I did it the old-fashioned way: I strained my back as I leaned over teaching him how to glide. And I let him fall. A lot.

By the end, he was starting to get it and I was ecstatic I am installing one of my childhood passions into my American-Canadian half-breeds.

And enjoying a dose of the best Colorado has to offer along the way.

Tip: Be sure to call Evergreen Lake’s hotline (720) 880-1391 the morning of your visit for ice conditions. If you are planning a weekend visit, the earlier you go the better. The lake gets busier as the day goes on. Plus, if it’s warm the ice will get soft and slushy.

Prices: Tot (3 years and under): free; Youth (4 – 18) : $4.75; Adult (19 – 59): $5.00. Skate rental is $6.

Eats: Run (don’t walk) to Country Road Cafe. Located in Kittredge (just 2 miles from Evergreen), this unassuming log cabin is home to the best breakfast in Colorado (and often has a long wait on the weekends to prove it). With over 100 items on their menu, you can’t go wrong with their nine different kinds of Eggs Benedict or their famous smashed mashes. My husband has never deviated from their gargantuan breakfast burrito and my kids adore the fluffy over-sized stuffed pancakes. This time, I was tempted by their daily specials: an omelet with steak, mushroom, blue cheese, truffle Hollandaise and crispy onions. But the French toast stuffed with lemon-poppy cheesecake topped with almonds was pretty tempting, too.

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Colorado, Family travel, Humor, outdoors, travel

How Strep (and Being LOST) Helped Me Save Mankind

February 1, 2011 By

The end is near.

At least the light at the end of my of my strep-induced vow of silence, not the other “end” (though I felt close a few times last weekend).

I’ve had strep many times but nothing like this latest bout, which I deemed STREPZILLA. I was rendered unable to speak or eat due to the agonizing pain.

On the plus side, I dropped five pounds.

I stayed home from church on Sunday and went to the Urgent Care where they loaded me up with antibiotics and sub-par painkillers. I say sub-par because Jamie doped me up with Percocet the night prior and that was the only thing that came close to depleting the pain.

It also gave me a killer buzz that kept me up all night.

Jamie helped out a lot over the weekend but I knew he would be back to work as usual on Monday (Bode’s day off). The little dude has been a great sport coping with his deadbeat mother but I asked my friend Eva to watch him so he could have some social interaction with people who don’t use perturbing charades to communicate.

The toughest part about this latest illness has been lack of sleep. I was up most of my first night due to pain. The second night, because of the Aforementioned Buzz. By the third night, I was loopy and desperately needed to sleep. But I had a challenge even greater than pain and buzzes: phlegm.

If you’ve never had strep, there is a lot of accompanying phlegm due to the infection. This is where strep is the root of all evil: your throat is so sore you can’t swallow so I was reduced to carrying around a “spit glass” with me at all times.

It’s no wonder everyone treated me like a leper except for Fat Kitty who has an appreciation for spit and bathes himself daily in it.

To stay entertained on Sunday evening, we watched a few episodes from the first season of LOST. If you’re not familiar with the show, Flight 815 crashed on an island and the survivors have many unexplainable and mysterious encounters. In the second season one of the characters (Desmond) spends three years inside of a Hatch inputting numbers into a computer every 108 minutes to prevent the world from being destroyed.

That night as I went to bed, I was almost delirious from lack of sleep. Every time I’d start to nod off, phlegm would well up in my mouth and I needed to spit it out. In my frenzied state, my dreams transcended reality. I became Desmond but instead of inputting numbers, I had the imperative responsibility of spitting every 15 minutes or the entire earth would be subjected to a catastrophic electro-magnetic explosion.

You heard it here people: My phlegm is single-handedly responsible for saving the world.

You’re welcome.

This is not the first time I have dreamed about LOST. Check out my post last April when Hurley almost suffocated me to death.

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Health, Humor

“Crap” My Great Uncle Says

January 26, 2011 By

I’m not sure how I started writing him. Dear Great Uncle Peter, that is. My dad, a faithful letter-writer for years, sometimes mentioned him and I was always curious about the enigmatic Great Uncle Peter. Never married. Lives in Manitoba’s frozen tundra. Traveled every country in Europe, North Africa, Egypt and Israel (to name a few).

We became pen pals shortly after Jamie and I got married but once my kiddos arrived, I admit I was horrible with keeping in touch. That pretty much sums up my correspondence with anyone who is not online: NIL.

But over the years, I’ve often thought about Great Uncle Peter and missed his letters. Have you heard of the infamous Twitter feed and now-TV show S#*! My Dad Says on CBS? Welp, that about sums up delightfully crotchety 90-year-old Great Uncle Peter and so I dropped him a Christmas card/letter about my family’s happenings and tropical travels.

I just received a response back and he does not disappoint:

Nice to hear that you are still active and enjoying life. I don’t really understand what you can really say about holiday beaches. To me they are all the same–sand, water, mosquitoes and skimpy bathing suits. In some cases even murder is included.

With an intro like that, Great Uncle Peter and I are back “on” as pen pals.

=======

After writing this post, my mind wandered back to my dad’s brother Lawrence’s memorable Christmas letter five years ago wherein he talked about errr…”crap,” rape and pillage…..

Thus sums up my father’s colorful side of the family.

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Family, Humor

Why I Am ABC Network’s “Angel of Death”

January 24, 2011 By

I get attached to a few primetime television shows, particularly during the dark winter months. I was in mourning when LOST ended its epic run and I have berated the networks for cutting shows mid-season without any regard (or explanation) for their devoted audience.

I get that it’s all about ratings and money. For this reason when a new show debuts, I’m a careful devotee so as to protect my heart from cancellation. Some shows I am currently invested in are The Good Wife, Parenthood, Modern Family and Brothers and Sisters.

So I was a little bit more than displeased to read this article detailing ABC’s early renewals for next year. Castle and Cougar Town were the two shows that lead the pack while my beloved Brothers and Sisters is potentially on the chopping block.

I don’t know if you watch Cougar Town–or would admit to doing so–but it is the least funny comedy on television (which, if you’re supposed to be making people laugh, is a bit of a problem). Without giving it much thought, I turned to Twitter to voice my frustration:

Scratching my head how ABC would renew a crap show like #CougarTown yet Brothers & Sisters is on the chopping block?

I’m not proud of using a word like “crap” in a public forum but in my defense, my tweet was limited to 140 characters and I could not fit in “obnoxious” or “laborious.”

A few minutes later, I received a reply from a man named Kevin Biegel:

you are the devil who haunts my dreams

Now, normally I discount anyone who does not use proper capitalization or punctuation and receiving a rebuttal like this would offend some people. But I got a kick out of it and felt intrigued. Could it be? Someone finally gets me?

I Googled Kevin and (brace yourselves for this): He is the producer of Cougar Town. And he found it in his heart to call me–’lil ol’ me–a She-Devil.

Any normal person would have let it drop but I could not pass up a captive Twitter audience with Hollywood elite. Who knows–he might even cast me in his next sub-par comedy about an Arvada mom who vents her network frustrations to thousands of faceless people on Twitter.

My response to Kevin?

I’ve heard the show’s producer is very talented. P.S. I prefer to be called “Angel of Death.” :)

I expect ABC to come knocking on my door any minute now.

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT MILEHIGHMAMAS.COM

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Favorite Posts, Humor

Kids Being Kids at Park City’s Gorgoza (Tubing) Park

January 20, 2011 By

When I was single in my late-20s, my friend Garritt and I went tubing at Gorgoza Park in Park City. As we shot down the mountain at unconscionable speeds, we giggled like a couple of school girls.

However at one point, we were mortified when we realized we were the only ones our age without children.

Fast-forward 10 years and my family of four went tubing at Gorgoza Park for the first time together…and had an amazing time. I finally felt like I had full license to be a kid, with my kids.

I grew up tubing on a steep gully in Canada but since moving to Colorado, our sledding efforts have been sub-par at best because the snow in our area is frequently too powdery, which prevents us from going more than 0.0005 mile/hour and it’s not easy to pull two small children up a steep hill!

Enter: Gorgoza Park’s lift-serviced, impeccably groomed and fast runs.

It had been a bluebird day, which transpired into a starry night. We connected with one of my best college friends Lori, and her family of five, at the base and later went back to our condo for pizza.

Both of my children met the 42-inch minimum height requirement to tube the upper part of the hill but I figured 4-year-old Bode would want to play it safe and stay lower.

I was wrong.

After a couple of runs on his small tube, he announced he wanted to go higher. Even his 6-year-old sister (whom I have dubbed “Adventure Girl”) was wary. We swapped their small tubes for large ones and made the pilgrimage to the top. As we gazed down the four steep tracks, Bode squealed, “I’m weady!”

With that, he linked up to my husband’s tube and tore down the mountain. It was one of those tender moments as a mother when I witnessed my little guy growing up.

Then I proceeded to link up to my daughter’s tube and scream like a baby the enter way down.

Our starlit night was replete with ecstatic faces, new horizons, dear friends, hot chocolate in the warm-up yurt and lasting memories. It is what Dirty Dancing’s song, “I had the time of my life” is all about.

But with good, clean tubing.

Gorgoza Park adult prices: $8 (1 ride), $22 (2 hours), $33 (4 hours). Individuals under 42”: $4 (1 ride, $12 (2 hours), $18 (4 hours). Persons less than 42″ (must be 3 years old) are limited to 390′ conveyor and lower lanes.

Address: 3863 Kilby Rd in Park City, 435.658.264.

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Bode, Family travel, Humor, travel, Utah
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