Luke and Leslie

Hello again!  It's been a while!  I have been one busy girl since the last time I posted, which was over a week and a half ago about our second ski day in Keystone.  The Thursday night after that ski day, my best friend since I was 5 years old and her husband (who I've also known for a very long time as we all grew up in the same town) came out to visit.  They came out for a few days last year and we had a great time and I was so excited they were coming out again.  Of course, Leslie brought a giant bag of salt water taffy for us to enjoy.  Ryan also purchased a bag of salt water taffy because he remembered how much we enjoyed it last year when Leslie brought some.  Below, I am acting like I'm chewing on lots of taffy and Leslie actually is chewing on taffy.  Haha.

On Friday, Ryan had to work but Luke, Leslie, and I drove all around the city and beyond to different shops like Boulder Running Company, Sheplers, Sprouts, and the Outlets at Castle Rock.  We also stopped by a site that Luke's company is currently building on.  Ryan told Luke he felt sorry for him spending the day shopping with us girls but I'd say he made out like a bandit.  He found more stuff than Leslie and I did combined!  I think because he had so much luck he and Les should probably always come out to do shopping in Denver.  :)  Here are his boots that he never did take the stickers and tags off of (as you can see) even though he was wearing them around.  Some of the stickers worked themselves off though and I keep finding them in random places in the house...

That night we went to Mickey's for steaks as Leslie and I both LOVE us some medium rare prime rib.  Yum.  Can you tell we were raised in the Midwest?

Ryan and Luke were very impressed with the "personal pitchers" that Mickey's offered.  I'm pretty sure that neither of them actually took the step to pour their beer from the pitcher into a glass.

When we all asked for loaded baked potatoes they didn't mess around.

After dinner we went back to the house and just relaxed with some beer, pool, and movies.  It was so much fun spending time with old friends all day!  I will write about our next day of fun in the next post.

Ski Day 2

Yesterday Ryan and I both took a vacation day so we could go skiing again.  We got up to Keystone fairly late in the day (around noon) but that doesn't mean it was any warmer...I think it was in the teens!  This time I was confident that I would do better than last time but the first run down I wrecked twice right out of the gate.  I felt like I didn't have any control over my skis so we checked my boots and apparently I didn't have them nearly tight enough.  After Ryan fixed them all was much better.  :)  After a couple runs I was getting tired and cold so I headed into the club house at the summit to rest, warm up, and have lunch while Ryan skied a few more challenging runs by himself.  You can tell my nose and cheeks are pretty red from the cold.

Then Ryan came in to eat and get me for more skiing.  Of course he had to help me with my boots as I clearly didn't do a good job with them earlier.

While I'm still incredibly terrible at skiing, I am getting better and enjoying our trips up to the slopes!  And going on a weekday is great because there are far fewer people up there and the drive wasn't bad at all.



Keystone

Last Saturday we headed to Keystone and hit the slopes for the first time this year.  When we left town in the morning it was snowing but by the time we got to the resort it was over.

This was only the second time I had been skiing since we've lived in Denver.  Ryan's been a lot more than that and he is much better than I am as he used to go when he was younger too.  I had been a couple times when I was a kid so I thought it would be just like riding a bike but my outing two years ago proved otherwise.  I was quite atrocious.  Ryan even mentioned he wasn't sure why we bought me a helmet because I didn't go fast enough to hurt myself.  Well, this time I was MUCH better.  That doesn't mean I was good but I was able to make it down several runs with only a few small wipe outs and one yard sale (that's where you lose all of your gear all over the slope).  Here I am before the first run.  I was slightly terrified but still trying to smile.

It was really cold that day!  We took a break to warm up and eat our packed lunch after a couple runs and then headed back out for some more fun.  I had a great time and am so glad I'm getting better!  Hopefully by the end of the season I can do a few more challenging runs with Ryan and wreck less.

We headed back to town fairly early as I had a girls' night with Amy and Charlotte.  We had dinner at my favorite sushi place, Namiko's, and then went to watch Breaking Dawn: Part I.  Dinner was delicious and it was great catching up with the girls.  The movie was great too, if you're into tween movies like the three of us are.  :)

On Sunday, Ryan worked but we still had NFL on all day.  Go Broncos!!!  As usual when we're home and preoccupied, someone massacred a stuffed toy.  We still haven't found one of the ears. 

It was such a cold and snowy day that I was in the mood for some comfort food.  I ended up making meatloaf, mashed potato casserole, and asparagus.  Yummy.  Ryan was happy too because it's his mamma's meatloaf recipe that he loves.

 

It's still cold and snowy today so I made more comfort food:  chicken pot pie. 

With all the snow, comfort food, and decorations it's definitely starting to feel like Christmas!

Thanksgiving Weekend

I forgot to mention in my previous posts that I won a pair of tanzanite earrings in Playa!  They are what Ryan calls "cahardlies" as in "cahardly see them" but I think they're pretty.

Anyway, on to the three day weekend we had at home after returning from Mexico.  On Friday, we decided to put up Christmas decorations on the main floor.  Ryan hung the lights outside while I was still sleeping and then once I was up we started working on the inside.  We poured some eggnog spiked with Spice Box whiskey (delicious combination), turned on the Christmas tunes and got to work.

We bought a ton of new ornaments last year and all of them are shatter resistant.

Apparently this was not one of those shatter resistant ornaments.

 Ryan took a picture of this because he said it was the first time he'd seen me use a broom.  Very funny.

The girls watched all the holiday spirit from a distance.

Later that night I made a Thanksgiving type meal of roast chicken, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and cider brussels sprouts.  Yummy. 

On Saturday we went to the Avs game with Amy and Dion and afterward went to The Breckenridge Brewery.

Then on Sunday I got to go to The Lion King musical at the Buell Theater with some friends and dinner at Mickey's afterwards.  The musical was wonderful.  The costumes were amazing and the singing and music was so fun.  Dinner was very yummy too and I always love trying new places.

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving vacation and hope everyone else did as well.

End of Vacation

During our last three days in Playa we did a lot of relaxing.  We spent lots of time by the pool and beach.  I read three books!  It was perfect!  No matter where you were, servers would bring you drinks and food and every morning someone pushed around a cart with fresh tropical fruit which he would top with salt, chile, and lime.  Sooooo delicious.  One afternoon he pushed around a cart of ice cream with toppings.  That's the life for me.  :)  We also got to see and hold monkeys!  One day I held two squirrel monkeys and the next we both held a capuchin monkey.  I tried to buy a picture but their computers were acting up and we were getting ready to leave for the airport so I didn't get them.  :(   Here are a few pictures of our last days of vacation.

Ryan getting connected on the iPad:

Dinner at the steakhouse.  Super yum.

My big, ginormous, curly hair (which is normally pretty straight) that was out of control the entire time in Mexico.

Ryan being ornery while waiting for our shuttle bus into the town of Playa del Carmen.

Me and Pancho Villa (I think) in town.

Enjoying the beach and the ocean the last day before we had to head to the airport.

Waiting for the shuttle to the airport.  Clearly, I didn't want to leave!

As usual, a little ice cream cheered me up.

We got home late Thanksgiving night and really no restaurants were open so we had a delicious Thanksgiving meal of Ramen noodles.  The funny thing is if we would have been in Mexico we would have been able to enjoy a Thanksgiving feast!  It was actually wonderful to travel on Thanksgiving, though, because the airports were not busy at all and it was super easy to get in and out. 

I loved Playa and would love to go back!  I highly recommend going there if you're looking for a relaxing, warm vacation!

I'll write about our 3 day weekend following our vacation in my next post. 

Tulum Ruins

After the adventure portion of our tour we headed to the Tulum Mayan ruins.  A guide spent about an hour with us talking about the history of Tulum and the Mayans.  No one knows for sure what the Mayans originally called Tulum but they don't believe it was "Tulum" as that is the Mayan word for "fence" or "wall" and Tulum is fenced in on three sides by a rock wall (the fourth side is bordered by the ocean).  It is believed that when asked where they were from, inhabitants would respond with "Tulum".  Also, the guide said that most people in the Yucatan Peninsula don't believe all the hype about the world ending on December 21, 2012 according the Mayan calender.  Well, I guess I better start contributing to the 401k again if I've got more than a year to plan for.  Anyway, they believe that it was just an end of a period that will start over again, just like a day ends and and a new one starts. 

How beautiful is this?

As the city sat right on the ocean, it is believed it was a major trading port.  The residents were sustained by fresh water from an on site cenote.  It amazes me how smart these people were to find the fresh water and build such a sophisticated city that has survived to this day.  Apparently they were very short people as most of us tourists didn't fit well through doorways.

I don't know what these little structures are but when I asked Ryan he matter of factly replied "doghouses" and a girl beside us started laughing so hard because apparently she had just asked her husband and he just as matter of factly replied "outhouses".  Hmmm...even though I don't know the answer, I'm thinking neither one of theirs is probably the correct one.

Here are some more of pictures of the beautiful Mayan city.

More lizards!

Later that evening when we were back at the resort we went to listen to jazz and drink martinis before heading to dinner at the Italian restaurant.  They were having a Monday Night Football barbeque and broadcast out by the pool but we skipped it as we figured we can watch all the football we want when we're at home.

We had a wonderful time in Tulum and could have spent more time there at the ruins and in the market.  We thoroughly enjoyed our first three days in Mexico.  I'll post about the last three days next