The One Where We Are Home for the Holidays

Christmas was spent in VA. 3 weeks of visiting with friends and family.

Tracy's Uncle Mike, Aunt Jeanne & cousins Allie & Davis came into town for Christmas. We all went to DC for a day of ice skating in the Sculpture Garden, visiting the WWII Memorial & Arlington Cemetery. Christmas Eve was spent at Tracy's Aunt Jenny & Uncle Carlton's house. Lots of eating, playing pool & video games. We celebrated Christmas morning at Tracy's parents house with the whole family, then headed to Richmond to spend Christmas Evening with Stan's family.

December 30th, we met up with Dyani & Frank, Stacey & John, BMaust, Sully & Matt for a Wizards game. We had dinner at the new Clydes in the GalleryPlace Mall, watched the Wizards game in the Club, then finished the night off, where else...Fado, where Ken stopped by after working the game & Ketsia even made an appearance. Great to see everyone!

New Years was uneventful, since we left early New Years day to head to Jacksonville, FL for the Gator Bowl. We stayed on Amelia Island which I'm sure is a cute town in the Spring/Summer. Unfortunately while we were there, most everything was closed because of New Years. VT played Louisville and won. Sorry KY Wright's.

Stan, Tracy & Frisco headed back to Colorado in their Suburban the first week of January. 3 days later, after an uneventful trip (which is always a plus when traveling) we arrived back in Colorado.

hmmm...very interesting.

Hi I'm Lily...and this is my G-Daddy T...

We need one of these in CO.

Who are these 3 beautiful chicas?

Where's Frisco?

Allie, Mike & Davis...chillin' out.

What are these fun, round things?

The boys at the Wiz game...having problems uploading the girls...

The One When Chrissy Visits

Chrissy Conlan came to visit in December on her way home from Australia. We got her out on the mountain of Keystone and on a snowboard for the first time. It was probably one of the coldest day we've had and it was snowing, but she did a fantastic job!

Tracy, Chrissy & Frisco took 3 days to drive back to VA for the Winter Holidays. Chrissy, thanks for visiting our new home and for keeping me company on the drive home!!!

The One of Da Crib

Here are more pictures of the house...

This is a view from our loft. You can see Lake Dillon & Keystone Ski Resort.

Here is our Family Room with our nice red gas fireplace.

The Loft...Master Bedroom is the left door on the main level. A bathroom is the other door on the main level.

The 2 Bedrooms upstairs, each has it's own bathroom.

The downstairs bedroom & rec room.

Hot tub is outside...

The One When We Ate Turkey

We went home for Thanksgiving!

Wednesday we went to Marcy's to visit, see the new hardwood floors and help prepare for her first time hosting Thanksgiving! We had other plans, but heard it turned out fantastic!!

Stan's sister Lisa moved back to the East Coast from Portland, Oregon, just as we moved West. They bought a cute house in Richmond and are getting settled. We went down to Richmond to spend Thanksgiving with Lisa & Dave, their kids, Ashlynne (4) & Morganne (1) and Stan's mom, Lois. Friday we drove to Roanoke, where Stan's mom lives to visit with more family and eat more! Then Saturday we headed to VT for the last home football game vs. UNC. VT won and is off to the ACC Championship game in Jax! Unfortunately, we lost to Florida State. It was a quick trip, but fun to see everyone.

"Mine...all mine!!"

Spending quality time with our nieces...

Ashlynne...playning hard.

"I'm pooped! When's dinner?"

Lisa catching her mom sneak a taste...

Ashlynne, reading Morganne & Uncle Stan a story.

The One of Summit County

This is the Year of Snow!

The most snow in 14 years; so we've been told.

We have season passes that gives us unlimited riding at A-Basin, Breckenridge & Keystone Ski Resorts and 10 days at Vail and/or Beaver Creek Ski Resorts. Tracy also has a season pass at Copper Mountain. Absolutely no excuse to get out on the mountain, even if it's just a few runs.

A-Basin was the first to open, so we got to warm up before the big opening day. Vail Opening Day was November 18 and we were there. Vail is about 30 miles away. Beaver Creek is a couple miles past Vail. Keystone is the closest to us about 5 miles away. A-Basin is a couple miles past Keystone. Breckenridge & Copper Mountains are about 10-15 miles from us. So we have a lot of choices each week. We got into a routine early on...snowboard all day, eat lunch, chill in the hot tub, early bedtime, wake up and do it all over again! Rough life.

Stan & Tracy after a day of snowboarding at A-Basin.

Because of all the early season snow, we had to learn how to be locals fast, including learning to clear the snow. Tracy shoveled the driveway 2 days in a row. We then became smart and invested in a snowblower. It takes no more than 20 minutes to blow the driveway now!! The deck however is a different story. It took us a couple weeks to figure out that we needed to keep the deck above the hot tub clear so it would not drip on us while we were "relaxing."

A few mishaps...learning the ways of cold winters and new houses.
1. Tracy decided it was time to clean up the caulk around the Master Bathroom tub. So she applied some caulk remover to the old caulk and then went off to do other things while the remover did it's thing. Even after the 3 hour time period was up...Tracy forgot about it. 2 weeks later...while bringing stuff into the storage room downstairs (under the Master bathroom), Tracy found a puddle. The plumber was called, 15 minutes later arrived, could not figure out where it was coming from, until Tracy remembered what she had done 2 weeks prior. Plumber left without charging the clueless blonde. Needless to say, new caulk was applied immediately.
2. Tracy got home from running errands around Noon one day. After unloading the car, she went inside to complete the rest of her To Do List. Went to bed around 11:00 p.m. and awoke to the neighbors car door closing and Frisco barking. This made her somehow realize that she had left the garage door open, so she got up and closed it. The next morning, Tracy and Frisco walked out of the bedroom into the living room and kitchen and were chilled. Even the kitchen floors were freezing. The house has radiant in floor heating, which you don't realize how wonderful it is until it's not working!! The heating company (same co as the plumber) was called and 15 minutes later arrived. The guy stared at the pipes and could not figure out what was wrong, until we made a trip to the garage after Tracy mentioned she had left the door open. The house had in floor heating, but the garage has regular radiant, copper pipe heating. Unfortunately the garage is hooked up to the same zone as the living room and kitchen. The copper pipe had froze (luckily it did not burst) from the 10 hours the garage was left open. A couple heaters from Wal-Mart (yes we have a Wal-Mart out here) and the heat was working again. Again...no charge!!

Lots to learn!

Who is that snowblowing?

It's Stan!

A Winter Wonderland in our backyard.

Lake Dillon is completely frozen. People Kiteboard, Cross Country Ski and Snowshoe across it during the winter.

The One When We Moved

In November 2005, Stan, Tracy & Frisco moved to the Mountains of Colorado!

This blog is to keep our family and friends informed as to what is going on out here...enjoy!!

Why Colorado? Because we can...it works...we want to see what else is out there beyond the DC metro area...and we would like to get in some major snowboarding before we get too "old!"

Yes, it's going to be an interesting adventure, with Stan commuting to DC Monday night - Friday and in Colorado Friday night - Monday, but so far, it's been working out beautifully! As Stan says, "It feels like I'm on vacation every weekend!"
*****
The adventure started with Tracy & Frisco driving across country, from Virginia to Colorado, on November 9, 2005 with the help of Tracy's friends, Dyani & Ketsia. The trip took 3 days, with a stop in Louisville, KY to visit Tracy's cousin Wes, his wife Tricia and their son Collin.

Tracy, Ketsia & Dyani finally arriving in Colorado.

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The house is in the city of Dillon, CO which is located an hour from Denver at Exit 205, off I-70 West. There are 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms, a gas fireplace, pool table, outdoor hot tub and a fantastic view of Keystone Mountain and Lake Dillon! Here are some pix...

The Front of the House.

The Back of the House. Notice the built-in Doggie Door. The Hot Tub is under the left side of the Deck.