Winter Break

It feels like Colorado in the winter, finally.  The tourists are here in full force and I have a good friend staying with us for 2 weeks, my kids are on winter break, meaning we have a week off from school.  The snow finally came and left the mountains in great shape for skiing.  Yesterday was one of my favorite Colorado days.  There wasn't a cloud in the sky.
  We woke up and decided to head to Denver to get some errands done.  Glasses, contacts, Costco, mall, the usual.  Joe left early and drove to Copper Mountain to ski with some friends and he called as we were getting ready to leave for Denver and said he never made it to Copper because of car issues.  He got the car running and drove it back to Montezuma.  I changed my mind about Denver and we all piled in my car and drove to Keystone, got a good parking spot, and walked right onto the gondola with no waiting.  The skiing was fantastic.  Soft mogals, good cruisers and my kids were amazing little skiers.  I can't believe how overnight they have improved.  Hannah skis mogals like she's been training for something big and Jordan skis smooth and careful and technical.  It's fun to watch them.  I ski mogals looking for the highways, as close to the edge of the trees as possible and I try to not bash my knees and lower back.  This not so young body anymore hurts out there skiing that stuff.  We stopped and had some food at the Outpost.  We made our way to the front side and skied some cruisers.  We ended the day at the Snake eating wings and having a cocktail.  I love winter break. 
This morning I spoke with the owners of the place we're renting for the summer in Costa Rica and finalized our dates.  It's nice to know we now have a place for a great price and we aren't stressing about it anymore.  The couple that we are renting from live on the property, were extremely nice and have a few casitas for rent.  I am confident this will be perfect for us and I can't wait to stay there.  It's close to the beach and close to our property so we can hopefully get some work done.  The architect said he will have the permit by the time we get to Costa Rica and man is he on the ball.  He came highly recommended from a guy Jack knows that lives in Tamarindo and so far he has not disappointed us.  We have paid a small fee to him and have received our plans for our casita in return and so much more.  It pays to not rush into things and just be on Tico time.  He, on the other hand does not seem to be on Tico time and is in the git er done mode.  We like that.  The blogs I've read on how things are done in Costa Rica are amazing to read and I am prepared-I think.  Our Architect there so far has not given us that challange, yet.  We'll see this summer how much we can get done.  I'm hoping just to plant a tree.