Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Hot Chocolate 5K

Saturday afternoon was the start to a little girls trip!  Six of us girls who run together and are just great friends headed to Atlanta for the Hot Chocolate 15k/5k.  We were all doing the 5k together.  Dawn and I did the race last year and even though it is an early start we had a blast and wanted to do it again.  This time we made it a girls trip and we had a blast.  We finally made it to the expo to pick up our packets on Saturday.  I think there were several things going on around the World Congress building, but we were all thanking our lucky stars that we didn't have to deal with that traffic on a daily basis.  You take things for granted sometimes in these small towns!  We got our packets complete with our cute half-zip jackets, and headed to eat.  Again it took so long to get somewhere because I'm convince in Atlanta there's no easy way to get where your going.  We ate and headed to our hotel to check in.  This year we were staying right at Turner Field so we would be able to wake up and walk down to the race.  No traffic!  We learned that from last year.  After killing ourselves laughing that night we settled in for some sleep before waking up early.  I have to say the laughing and fun we have is what we do these trips for.  It is so much fun!
We woke up around 6:30 Sunday morning and got ready.  We walked down and headed to our corral and didn't have to stand around too long before the race started.  We had shopped on Thursday to make sure we were ready for this cold morning and it really wasn't bad at all.  Last year it was in the 60s and we knew we couldn't be so lucky this year.  It went great though!  In my age group I was 79th out of 1215 so I was excited with that.  I think I was 1154 out of 9138 females.  I'll take it!  Now we are all preparing for our Disney run next month...bring on the fun.  I love these ladies!
Hot Chocolate Expo 
Trying on our masks for the race...lets just say this led to a lot of laughs!!

Ready to Run!


And finished!






Headed home!

We love the good photo bombers in the back!


Breakfast of champions afterwards...Cracker Barrel

JanFest!

Saturday morning was JanFest with the UGA Auxillary in Athens.  This was Cohen's first year going to JanFest and she would be going for baton.  You are supposed to be 5 years old when you go so technically this was her first year to be eligible.  It was an early start to our day since we had to be there at 8:30.  I think it was a good experience for Cohen even though it was a bit overwhelming to her, especially at first.  There are hundreds of girls there, all ages, all levels, and for a little 5 year old that is a lot to take in.  She loved watching the UGA girls perform and when they broke everyone up into their skill level groups that was when Cohen became a little upset.  After some talking and encouraging her it would be ok she did get back to the group.  Soon into the morning her group started working on 2 baton tricks, which she doesn't do yet so I took her over to the easier group for a little bit.  I'm so glad I did because not only did she also get some 2 baton work on an easier level,  she also got snacks which was right up her alley.  After working on tricks they would make marshmallow batons and she was thoroughly enjoying that.  At lunch there was a break and again she was excited for some pizza!  Cohen played with her friends at lunch and after the lunch break she was excited to get started this time.  She even told me she was not going back to the easy group that she was going to back to the first group she tried.  I had to leave after lunch so Kelly came to stay with her.  We didn't feel comfortable leaving her since we weren't sure if she would get frustrated or not and I hated for someone else to have to handle that.  She did great though!  Kelly told me she was really working hard and seemed to enjoy the 2nd half of the day much better.  They worked on a routine after lunch and performed it at the end of the day.  I was so proud of her for trying so hard and doing something she had never did before.  I know this mama was overwhelmed so my baby girl had to be.  We had fun though and she has studied her UGA majorette poster every day since.  Its good to have a goal :)
Warming up

A switch to the easier group

Showing me her marshmallow baton...all smiles now

ATRM Girls!

The girls with Mrs. Amy

Cohen & Ansley

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Beaver Creek, Colorado

We are coming down off of a big high from our weekend!  Kelly and I went with our friends Alan and Jennifer to Beaver Creek, Colorado for a ski trip.  We left last Friday and came home on Monday.  It was a quick trip to us but so much fun!  You can't beat a weekend full of beautiful scenery, good friends, good food-especially chocolate chip cookies, lots of laughs and of course skiing!  We had the best time and it was such a nice little getaway.
We left bright and early last Friday morning.  We headed to the airport and with the time change we made it to Colorado around 10:30.  We ate lunch in Denver then continued driving on our way to Beaver Creek.  Beaver Creek is about 10-15 minutes from Vail.  Once we got there we got checked in, complete with a yummy chocolate chip cookie, then got settled in at our condo.  We stayed at Townsend Place which is a ski in ski out condo right beside the Beaver Creek village.  We weren't able to ski that day but we did pick up our skis and boots so we would be ready the next morning.  We also made our way to the grocery store for a few things, that turned out to be mostly snacks and chips!  We had a good laugh and took a picture of our groceries.  We also ate dinner while we were out and it was very good.  Afterwards we headed to the village to check out some of the shops.  The guys found some very interesting stores that night.  One was full of fur coats and one in the window had caught their eye or should I say the price caught their eyes...$7,100.00!  It was a mink coat with bobcat trim....hmmmm.  Another store sold bronze statues and they found a nice one in there for around $150,000.  Definitely some pricey stores ;)  We had fun looking though!  Most of the shops were closing up by this time so we finished walking around and headed back to the condo.  We were all getting pretty tired since it had been a long day and we had to rest up for skiing the next day.
Made it to Beaver Creek!

We took this picture to show the long icicles.  


Iin the Village

There were several ice sculptures in the village that would light up 

The expensive coat that we got a kick out of...

Our groceries...or should I say our chips and snacks!  
 The next morning we got up and got ready to head out to ski.  The lifts opened at 8:30 and I think we were on them at 9.  We spent our morning skiing.  Beaver Creek is a good size with a lot of lifts and runs.  On our second lift up I was taking a picture on my phone and my ski glove fell off the chair...not good.  Jennifer gave me her glove liner to wear and we had to ski back down hoping to see it.  Alan actually found it and it was a little off the groomed path so I'm thankful he was able to get to it.  After that little setback we headed back up the lift and off to the next run.  We actually headed to the very top of the summit.  At the top the elevation was 11,440 ft!  The view was breathtaking!  Looking out at these huge mountains covered in snow is so awesome!  We had to take some pictures at this point!
Ready to ski!
I love the aspen trees!  The white against that blue sky is just gorgeous!
On the chair lift.  This picture is where the glove fell off!



The gorgeous view!



A look at some of the ski runs...in the distance the skiers look like ants!

Top of the summit...11,440 ft


Group shot




From here we skied down a little further and decided we were ready for a lunch break.  Its amazing how skiing just wears you out...especially my feet and ankles!  Those boots are killer.  We had a very good lunch there on the mountain.  There was also a photographer there so we got a better group picture.



We got a lot of comments on our Georgia gear.  We even got an occasional "Go Dawgs!"  At this particular picture stop we had a laugh with a few LSU fans and this guy even decided to be a great photobomber.  Gotta love it!


I can't remember what day I took what pictures when it comes to the scenic ones on the slopes.  They may start to look alike but it was just so pretty I couldn't help it.

A view down to the village


The Ritz Carlton at the bottom of the Bachelor Gulch lift

Skiing down to Beaver Creek

All of the lifts close at either 3:30 or 4:00.  At the end of our first day we were ready to call it quits at about 3:15 so we headed on back to our room.  My feet were so ready to get those boots off!  We all got back and relaxed a bit before getting ready to head out to dinner.  We ate that night at a place called the Coyote Cafe.  It was a neat little restaurant.   After we ate we made a stop at the grocery store to grab lunch food for the next day.  We decided it would be cheaper than eating on the slopes again :)  Not to mention we had a lot of chips to eat up!  Because we were all aching from the day, and our motto for the trip was YOLO (you only live once), we decided to run to the hot tub.  It felt so good!  We could barely see each other through all the steam but it sure felt good to sit in that hot water and those jets.  After we had shriveled up and started to get hot we made a run back to the room before we could start to freeze outside!  We headed to bed to rest before going at it again the next day.

Sunday we woke up and got ready.  We had planned to separate for the morning and meet back at lunch.  Kelly and I had a rough start...when we got going Kelly forgot his ski goggles.  No big deal really there.  We caught the lift to start up and the way our lift was, we got on and then a few feet up was another place for others to get on.  It dips down so those riders can get on and when Kelly & I went over that low point, Kelly's ski poles snapped!  No sooner than the worker had said watch your poles did his poles crack.  Not good...   When we got off the lift I think he was feeling so weird without his poles.  We were going to ski back down to get him new poles.  He did really well without poles even if it did feel odd.  I think it also wore him out a little.  You don't realize how much you use those poles even for just having something to hold on to.  He made it though and luckily didn't have to pay for the poles.  I think that happens a lot in that particular spot.  So once we had those new poles we headed back up and skied.  We went to more slopes we hadn't skied on Saturday and actually enjoyed these even more.  We weren't hurting like we thought and felt better as the day went on.
ski foul...broken poles

new poles...and ready to go

waiting on the hubs to get poles




We skied until about 12:30 then took a lunch break.  We had to eat quick because the slopes closed at 3:30.  We had planned to meet up with Alan and Jennifer at 3:00 at the base of the Centennial lift.  Everyday at 3:00 at that lift they serve chocolate chip cookies.  These guys come out in white aprons and chef hats and serve plate after plate of cookies.  And the people come from everywhere for them too!  We had to get in on that and they were delicious!  Just what you need after skiing for sure.
At the bottom of the Centennial lift which is at the Beaver Creek village

Cookie time

more cookies
I thought this church was pretty
We then all headed up to ski together before the lifts closed.  We made it for the first run but the second run we were planning to do, the lift had closed.  Kelly & I went back to the bottom from there and Alan & Jen wanted to try one of the black runs.  It was a little sad finishing up knowing it was our last day to ski but we sure enjoyed it all!  When we got back to our condo we had to return our skis.  Kelly & I decided to have a little camera fun in the snow first.  It is fun just to fall back in deep snow and lay there, and for us be silly...



That night we had dinner reservations so we went to the village early to do a little shopping.  We then headed to the Chophouse for dinner which was a memorable one.  One thing I loved so much about our trip is how much laughing we did.  We love having good friends that we can talk to and laugh with.  It made for a memorable trip and one we enjoyed a lot!  I hope to have more fun ones in the future!

Even Duck Dynasty is in Beaver Creek