powder day

We woke up to a foot of snow this morn, and it's been dumping all day. Gene is thrilled. He even got up early to get "first chair", a ski bum term that means you'll do anything to get the freshest tracks down the mountain - even wait in line for a half hour before the lifts start running. Gene's brother Mikey has been here all winter driving a bus and snowboarding. He leaves in a couple weeks for Hawaii to wake board and eat fresh fruit.

I took the kids to the pool. Cody is such a go-getter. He is like a little alligator, all muscle! He almost flipped himself over the floaty thing by practically climbing out. I am constantly catching him just in the nick of time. He's going to be the mountain climber in our family.

What did I do?!

My sister told me a funny story of the "Oh my God" moment when she might have made a mistake by cutting all her hair off. It's a funny story because she actually looks awesome, and the hair cut is beautiful and perfect for her. i had that same moment after I cut off all Poppie's soft blond locks. She couldn't sit still, so I just started hacking away. It's for the better because she cried when I came near her with a brush, and at the ripe old age of 2 she looked like a rastafari.

After the hairs stopped flying and there was nothing to do but look in the mirror, she exclaimed, "It's a boy!". Now she thinks she is a boy. Actually, she thinks she is Liam, a boy in her class who has short blond hair.

We are all happier now, however, because we don't ever have to brush it, and I think she looks adorable. I've even been asked by "Aspen moms" where she go her hair cut. Maybe I could start up another little business, it'll be called The Bathroom Salon.

sun baithing

we are not too different from cats. I am guilty of falling deeply asleep as soon as the sun shines in and warms the car... when somebody else is driving of course. Prrrr... I even have been known to pull over on the side of the road and snooze a while if the sun is shining just right. There is nothing better. Gene does it too. If he home in the early afternoon, he finds the sunny spot on the couch and is snoring in no time. So there is no surprise that our kids inherited this love of soaking up the rays. Here they are on a cold February morning, as relaxed as if on the beach. A European beach even!

I saw dirt

Today was one of those days - out of coffee, aichy legs from inactivity, wound up kids... probably a low pressure system. I needed to blow off some stink, so I took Cody for a walk to the bakery for some sugar and caffeine. By the way,they were closed when I got there. Anyhow, along the way it dawned on me I was looking at something I hadn't seen in months - DIRT! (soil, to you scientific people) It was just laying there along the side of the bike path, in all it's wet, globby, somewhat frozen glory, as natural as can be. Can spring really be coming to the mountains? Is it time to trade out the snow boots for the mud boots? Can we take the studded snow tires off the car? Maybe it's time to gear up in the oh, so fashionable rain pants because the mud season is splashier in Aspen than anywhere else in the world! Hip hip hooray!

Nine out of ten locals will tell you the best part of living in Aspen is "off season". This is when we can find parking in the grocery store parking lot, walk down the street and address everybody by name, go out to eat without having to take out a loan, and the sidewalks are free of head to toe dead animal outfits. We love it. But like all good things, it's the "on season" that makes us appreciate the off season. And after all, we live here because we love to snowboard, cross country ski, hike, raft, ride bikes, and breath the sweet crisp mountain air. All of these things happen during the on season.

So for the next six glorious weeks we will be living in slippery wet muddy heaven. The town is ours and we love it! It's not a pretty time to visit, so stay away. We'll see you this summer. We like it empty. We love the muddy quiet roads and twelve loads of laundry each day because it's impossible to step outside without getting slimed. Already Poppie has has had a few "three outfit days", and forget about her wearing anything but boots until the middle of July.

Yay, Bring on the mud!