Christmas in Angel Fire

The week before Christmas my parents rented a house in Angel Fire, NM, and they asked us to join them.   We left December 16 and headed to my parents house and then met my sister’s family in Angel Fire the 17th.  It was a long drive with the kids, but they did okay.  We had been talking about the trip for weeks, and they were so excited to go skiing and see their cousins.

We were fortunate that Angel Fire had a lot of snow this season.  It actually snowed twice when were there.   The first snow storm was a blizzard, and also happened to be our first day of skiing.  None of the kids had skied before, so needless to say they didn’t last long on the slopes.  The blowing snow was too much for boys.  Hunter didn’t like the tight boots and by the time we managed to get them on he was ready to leave.  Epic did make it down the bunny slope once.  Nici took the boys back to the house mid-morning and Lynde and I somehow managed to make it to noon.  I had never been so cold in my life!  I am not sure how, but Jonathan and Boog skied most of the afternoon.  The majority of the trails hadn’t even been groomed yet, and had so much powder they were difficult to make it down. 

Tuesday was our second day of skiing.  It was a beautiful day!  No snow and lots of sun.  It was still rather chilly.  We left the boys at home with my parents that day.  Lynde joined us and picked up skiing very quickly.

Wednesday we convinced Hunter to try skiing again.  It was amazing how much easier it was to get his boots and skis on when it wasn’t snowing.  He went down a hill a few times between Jonathan’s legs, but then he lost interest.  We wished there had been a flat area where he could have played around on his skis, but the only flat area was in ski school.  We all decided Angel Fire is not the place to go if you want to try and teach preschoolers to ski by yourself.  We were glad that he was willing to try again and are hopeful that next he will be ready to try ski school.

Thursday was another snow storm, and were were pretty much stuck in our house. At this point most of us had caught Epic’s cold so it was nice to take it easy.  Thankfully the grocery store down the street had a Redbox to keep us entertained.  Hunter also somehow managed to get strep throat on the trip.  We had a scare Wednesday night.  He went to bed and then shortly afterwards woke up panicking because he couldn’t breathe due to drainage.  The next day he had a fever.  Luckily they had a local clinic because we wouldn’t have been able to make it to Taos in the snow storm.

By Friday we were all well enough to venture to Taos.  We visited the Taos Pueblos and ate out to celebrate my 30th birthday.
Saturday we went to a candle light service and the Torch Light Parade.  The parade is at dark at the base of the ski slope.  Several people ski down the slope while holding a red torch.  When they all got to the bottom of the mountain there was a fireworks show.

Christmas morning Santa visited and then we headed home.  The first half of the drive home was interesting.  There were huge drifts in the OK panhandle and snow was blowing across the road.  We had never seen anything like it before.

December 26 we headed back to OK.  After being gone 10 days were were ready to be home and away from from snow for awhile.  We enjoyed our first family vacation and look forward to more ski strips in the future.

Trying on our ski gear before our trip. 

Our home away from home

Celebrating my 30th birthday.  I love this picture, because you can see the excitement on Hunter’s face. 

Nici and I celebrating my birthday.


Christmas Eve

Making snow angels.  We picked a good year to vacation in the mountains.  We had no idea that Oklahoma would have a mild winter and this would be our only opportunity to play in snow this year.

Katelyn wasn’t a huge fan of the snow and wouldn’t leave her snow gear on.

Katelyn and Jonathan sledding at the sledding hill.  She went once, but didn’t like the snow flying onto her face.

Hunter first time skiing.  There wasn’t a flat place to teach him so he had a difficult time standing up.  We didn’t make down the bunny hill, because he didn’t want to ride the ski lift.  The baby slope had a lift with bench seats, which was not really kid friendly.

Click on the video below to see Hunter skiing between Daddy’s legs

Hot chocolate after skiing.

Jonathan and I both grew ups skiing, but this was only our second time to ski together.  The last time wasn’t that enjoyable of an experience, because I had problems seeing.  It wasn’t until we stopped for lunch that I realized that I had lost a contact!  Boog and Nici were teaching Lynde to ski this day.  It was nice to have a day to ourselves.  Jonathan was so patience with me.  I am a super slow skier, but he never once complained.

Torch Light Parade on Christmas Eve

Santa found Angel Fire.  Hunter is enjoying chocolate before breakfast.

The drive home was interesting.  It is hard to tell in this picture, but on the left hand side you can see that snow is just below the snow fence.  The snow along the side of the road was as tall as our car.  The wind was blowing making it hard for the snow plows to keep up.