Park City Mountain Resort’s Alpine Coaster: Slowpokes Need Not Apply

January 19, 2011 By

My young children are adrenaline junkies. At least that is the conclusion I’ve come to based upon their addiction to Park City Mountain Resort’s Alpine Coaster.

Or maybe they’re all about scaring the bejeebers out of their mom.

After a full day of skiing, we took two runs down the Alpine Coaster. For my kids, “brake” is a bad word and we are expected to go full-throttle.

For the first run, 6-year-old Hadley went with my husband while my son and I followed. When we reached the bottom, I found my jubilant but disappointed daughter who said they had caught up to the people in front who were riding the brake the whole way.

Gasp! Not the dreaded “b” word!

For our second run, I promised my daughter we’d follow my speedy husband. I even interrogated the parents in front of them to see if we needed to give them a head start at the base. They, too had adrenaline-addicted children and assured us it wouldn’t be a problem.

The problem was the car in front of them that came to a literal standstill on the tracks, causing a potentially disastrous and dangerous situation. The parents in front of us took charge.

“HURRY UP, DON’T STOP!”

The perpetrator was riding with his 7-year-old son and shouted back, “Hey, I’ve got a kid on-board.”

He then turned around to discover he’d caused a traffic jam that consisted of much younger kids and so he sheepishly kicked his car into gear.

Lesson learned: There is a special place in this world for the brake-riders of this world.

And it ain’t in front of us.

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

The Ingrate…or amnesic

January 18, 2011 By

On Friday, Jamie and I hired a babysitter so we could attend a Bishopric dinner at a local restaurant. We arrived a few minutes early so we opted to run into Costco to get some cash. As we walked in arm-and-arm, I commented,

“I can’t remember the last time just the two of us went on a date.”

“Oh, really? What about that week-long cruise we took aboard the Norwegian Epic in November. Oh, and then there was our Serendipity date in NYC last month. Oh, and don’t forget when we went skiing with just the two of us in Park City Mountain Resort a few weeks ago.”

“I’ll shut up now.”

(Photo: At the Waldorf Astoria in NYC.)

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

You win some, you lose some

January 16, 2011 By

Our stake recently experienced some major boundary changes. For those not in the know, each LDS ward is part of a stake (which is usually comprised of about seven different congregations). Members are expected to attend their assigned ward that is based on geography.

We have been in one of the smallest wards in our stake, which poses its own kind of problems when it comes to filling positions (i.e. teachers, leaders, etc). But with the boundary realignment, we are now the third largest. Today was like a joyous reunion as many dear friends now fall within our boundaries.

The children’s Primary classes are divided by age group. Much to her chagrin, all of Hadley’s besties are in the 7-year-old class and she is with the 6-year-olds. We have been in this ward for several years and there has never been another girl her age. She was desperately hoping for a change so I was encouraged when she announced:

“I have some good news and some bad news!”
“Tell me!”
“Well, the good news is Ethan is no longer in our ward.”
“That’s the good news? What’s the bad news?”
“We got a new boy in his place.”

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

A cross-country skiing resolution

January 13, 2011 By

Just the other day I was whining about how homesick I am for cross-country skiing my golf course in Canada. Then, as I was driving Haddie to school yesterday, I surveyed the expansive soccer fields located just below my house.

For the first time ever, I noticed someone had carved a cross-country ski track around the perimeter. Elated, I resolved, “I AM GOING CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING TODAY.”

I took Bode to preschool, and raced home to find my skis. But here’s a little problem: I haven’t been cross-country skiing since I moved to Colorado. Though my beloved husband is an advanced alpine skier, he had “The Incident” when I took him cross-country skiing for the first time on my golf course several years ago.

“The Incident” being that he fell over sideways and claimed he got a concussion.

At 0.00005 mile per hour, I don’t think that is even possible.

After some digging in the garage, I found my cross-country skis and poles but my boots were MIA.

So, I had a glorious day snowshoeing instead.


But I now have a New Year’s resolution: Do more cross-country skiing.

And get organized so as to make that happen.

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: Colorado, Humor, skiing Tagged With:

Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

January 11, 2011 By

Confession: My absolutely favorite conditions are the day after we’ve had a big dump of snow and the morning dawns bright, glistening and beautiful.

Monday was that day.

My preference is indisputably attributed to my Canadian upbringing. I’m never more homesick than when it snows and I’m unable to go cross-country skiing on my golf course or ice skating on Lake Bonavista with my dad.

I recreated a little cut of home by making my mom’s famous oatmeal-coconut chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate with fresh whipped cream. As luck would have it, Bode does not have preschool on Mondays and Hadley only had to go to school for a 15-minute reading assessment so we invited our besties Alex and Seanie over for a playdate.

My fun started by shoveling the driveway and sidewalk early that morning. And yes, this is my idea of a fun and enjoyable workout. I’d take fresh, crisp air over a germ-infested, sweaty gym any day.

It’s our tradition every winter to build and tunnel out a snow cave. This was the Hurricane in 2009.


My, what a difference a couple of years makes.


We recruited Sean and Alex to help us build.


And we even constructed a slide on it as well.


It was a much-needed day at play in balmy 25-degree F temps with our beloved friends whom we haven’t seen since before winter break.

Though after spending a few hours with Alex, I started to get worried when she made the suggestion:

“Why don’t we make snow angels face-first instead of on our backs?”

Call me a naysayer but that didn’t sound like one stitch of fun and I figured I’d let her learn that the hard way.

And she did after five seconds of her self-imposed Freezee-to-the-Face.

“OK, NEVER MIND, NEVER MIND!” she screamed as icicles formed on her eyebrows.


She would make a great Canuck.

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

So it begins (the ski season, that is)

January 10, 2011 By

We’re in the throes of ski season and are having a grand ol’ time. Last week, we hit Echo Mountain (details forthcoming), two weeks ago, it was Park City Mountain Resort and in a few weeks we’ll be skiing Telluride followed by Crested Butte Mountain Resort.

My torn meniscus is throbbing just thinking about it all.

When we were at Park City Mountain Resort, we enrolled the kids in their their Signature 3 and 5 ski school classes. Bode was delighted to meet THE “Frosty the Snowman” (he had the name tag to prove it) while Hadley was greeted by a fun-loving instructor:

“Hadley, I am going to be your butler today. Do you know what a butler is?”
She shook her head.
“I will do anything you want and will also bring you hot cocoa.”

He has hereby set the bar too high for all future suitors.

With the children happily in their classes, Jamie and I braced ourselves for the onslaught of holiday skiers but were shocked to practically have the mountain to ourselves for the first two hours.

Around 11 a.m., the lines started picking up but we didn’t care. We had found some great stashes of untracked powder that the resort had received in the last 24 hours and marveled at the unprecedented 84-inch base that early in the season.

For lunch, we had the best burger and nachos on this earth at Legends Bar & Grill (I exaggerate not. Jamie spends the entire year craving these bad boys). We skied a fun runs after that but we knew it was time to call it a day as we stood in the long line at the Silverlode lift. Some funky music was blasting and my husband muttered something to me.

Me: “What did you say? You want to sing the blues?”
Jamie “No, I said ‘I want to see the Boos!” (Our nickname for the children).

I blamed it on the helmet…and blond hair underneath it.

We retrieved two very jubilant children whose instructors had filled out a through progress report for us to track. Bode’s teacher said he had a great attitude and was working on stopping with a wedge (though he excelled at going straight). This was not a surprise.

We did, after all, name him after ski racing legend Bode Miller.

As for Hadley, she learned how to skate ski across flat terrain and mastered linking her wedge turns. She is apparently already plotting her escape from us.

“Mommy, how old do I have to be to ski without you and Daddy?”

And so it begins.

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

My Carbon Copy

January 8, 2011 By

My mom is not a computer person so she rarely reads my blog. My Dad keeps her apprised of our happenings but evidently my previous post about my spirited, hilarious and head-strong daughter was a must-read because she called me to discuss.

Or rather, she called to gloat.

“HADLEY IS JUST LIKE YOU!!!!”

For a mother, it is called “Payback….”

(Photo: Adventure Girl’s first time snowshoeing at age 3 at Avalanche Ranch. Even then she was smack-talking me).

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

A force to be reckoned with

January 7, 2011 By

Hadley. She is a wonderful, wild girl.

Sometimes I see so much of myself in her that it frightens me. The good (fun), the bad (opinionated) –it’s all condensed in one six-year-old package that I hope will turn out so much better than I ever was.

While she loves dressing up and looking like a girl, she does not like girl things. When I shop for her toys, I go to the boy section for dinosaurs and animals.

But on a recent (and rare) shopping trip to a department store, she was delighted to follow me around trying on clothes. We spent about a half-hour smelling perfumes, after which she signed, “I just love being a girl.”

She should totally write a song about it.

Hadley is a terribly complicated little thing who has loads of friends but is not afraid to tell it like it is, occasionally stepping on toes.

Or knocking people over.

Case in point: recess.

“I usually just like to play with the boys at recess,” she professed to me the other day.
“Why is that?”
“The girls don’t like playing my games. The boys do. They’re fun.”

I knew what game she was talking about. She and Bode LOVE Super Mario and his dinosaur sidekick, Yoshi. Haddie invented a game, Yoshi, where she (or someone else) chases kids around the school grounds trying to tag them whilst yelling “YOSHI HUNGRY!”

Gotta recognize the creativity in that kid.

Problem is she has allegedly recruited so many kids to play that it grew rough and violent. Another confession:

“Our teacher banned our whole class from playing Yoshi.”

I didn’t know whether I should be upset or proud.

We recently introduced the kids to A Christmas Story, my all-time favorite holiday movie. I’ve wanted to watch it since I babysat two of my rambunctious neighborhood boys and they announced they asked Santa for a BB Gun for Christmas.

Here’s for hoping their Santa’s reaction is the same as the one on the movie.

Hadley’s favorite part of the movie was when poor Flick got his tongue stuck on the frozen pole.

“What was it they said to dare him, Mommy?”
“Double-dog dare.”

All night long, she kept quizzing me, trying to commit it to memory.


I pray for the playground kids now that The Hurricane has returned from Christmas break.

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

Back to the grind and my forray into Indian cooking

January 6, 2011 By

After a wonderful winter break, the kiddos are back in school. I am amazed at how much work I can finally get done in the three hours Bode is in preschool.

I may just go into shock when he’s in school full-time.

To those mothers who feel lost when this milestone hits? Welp, ICan’tRelate.

Because these are treasured, fleeting days, I try my very darnedest to get my work done before they wake up in the mornings and while they’re in school. That way when they come home, we can delve into whatever activity we have planned.

This month, they’re doing swim lessons twice a week. My little fish Haddie is progressing toward joining the swim team next year. And Bode? Welp, he flunked the Minnows class last summer because he refused to put his face in the water.

And yep, he gets that from me.

We’ve also been spending time in the kitchen. Bode made chocolate chip cookies for the first time yesterday and I’ve been cooking up a storm from my new Indian cookbook Jamie gave me for Christmas.

Though I’m trying to figure out for whom that gift was really designated.

I remember once upon a time when I wanted frivolous presents. My, what a difference a few years make because this bureau was what Jamie and I gave each other.


Y’all can have your jewels and fancy electronics. This organizational system for our mail and miscellaneous items has given me a much needed gift: sanity.

I wish I could say my ethnic cooking is going as well. The last few years, Jamie and I have become moderately obsessed with Indian food. Every time I return home to Calgary (where there is a large East Indian and Pakistani population), I curse that I never capitalized on it in my youth. Not only are there some killer restaurants but our grocery stores are chock-full of glorious Garam Masala-esque products vs. the Mexican-heavy offerings in the U.S.

It seemed only natural to learn how to make our own so on Tuesday, I attempted Adraki Murgh Tikki (ginger chicken bites) and Naan Bread. Last night, I made our family’s favorite to celebrate back-to-school: Chicken Tikka Masala.

I pride myself on being a pretty good cook but Indian food calls for entirely different ingredients that will require me to track down a specialty market. And then there are the funky methods of cooking include cheese clothes (huh?), “Tadka” (tempering), “Dum” (steaming) and Tandoori. Normally Naan bread is made in a clay oven but knowing the book is targeted to Gringos, the author suggested broiling it on the top rack.

I don’t know if you’ve ever done this but here’s a little insight: Food gets done VERY quickly when using this method.

And yes, dinner was served when the smoke alarm went off.

Next stop: Our local Indian restaurant.

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

Good ’til the last drop (of 2010)

January 1, 2011 By

We arrived home Thursday after a frenzied Christmas vacation in Utah. Normally, we plan New Year’s Eve get togethers with our friends but this year we decided to lay low.

Waaaaay low.

I spent the day unpacking and duplicating Jamie’s sister’s glorious New Year’s Eve meal: Pork Tacos with Avocado Poblano Guacamole. I made the most amazing wassail ever and we topped off the evening with homemade chocolate chip crumbles, ice cream and dulce de leche. New Year’s morning, we had waffles with fresh blackberries and whipped cream.

Forget partying. New Year’s festivities should be all about the food.

We finally got our 84″-inch HDTV fixed ($350 later) so that evening we snuggled in the basement watching The Lord of the Rings. When we emerged, it was 8:30 p.m. and I announced, “Let’s watch the ball drop.”

Of course, it was too early but in my early-bird opinion, waiting ’til midnight is highly overrated. We found the countdown to 2010 on YouTube and did our own.

The kids didn’t know the difference.

Neither did I, really.

They went wild, chanting “Party Party Party!” as we jumped on the bed and did the bunny hop. At one point, Hadley interrupted our festivities and said, “Wait. This is a lame party. We don’t even have any friends here.”

And then she went back to her lame party.

To demonstrate just how lame it was, I even tried to spruce it up at dinnertime.

Me: “Should I set the dining room table with the nice China?”
Jamie: “No, I don’t want to have to do dishes. Let’s just do paper plates.”
Me: “You never do the dishes. I do.”
Jamie: “As always, I’m just looking out for you.”

Here’s to more glorious lameness in 2011.

© Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck–A Denver Mom’s Blog
Filed Under: holidays, Humor, Jamie
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »