This past weekend was the best powder days we have seen so far this year. We headed up to the slopes early on Saturday morning with our friend Tracey who was visiting from Chicago. After a rather sketchy drive over Vail Pass we eventually made it over to Beaver Creek. There we met up with Tracey’s brother Jay who joined us last year in Steamboat. The snow never seemed to stop the entire time we were there, and the conditions were mostly ideal. There was some thick patchy fog at times, that really made it hard to see the terrain, but we had many great runs!

Originally we planned to drive back over the pass to Breckenridge after our day in Beaver Creek, but decided that might not be the best idea with all of the snow that was falling. So we opted to switch to a new hotel on the western side of the pass. One lesson we quickly learned as we pulled out of the parking lot was that there is a place called Eagle-Vail that is close to Beaver Creek and another place just called Eagle that is 20 miles further west. Unfortunately the hotel we booked was way out in Eagle and not in the nearby Eagle-Vail. I wonder if this is a common problem?

After an uneventful evening in Eagle, we woke up early Sunday morning to make the drive back closer to Denver with a stop for a day on the slopes at Keystone. We ran into a few traffic issues along the way, but eventually arrived around 9 am for an early start. On one of Tracey’s prior visits we took her out on the snowcat rides to the Outback Bowls, which she (and everyone else) wanted to do again. We immediately worked our way out there, and even though we discovered that the snowcat was not running, we decided to make the short uphill hike so we could drop down into the bowls anyway.

I was so glad we decided to hike, as the powder was incredible! I’d say at the top we were in close to a foot of fresh snow and later in the trees we found spots with at least a foot and a half! We had so much fun there we decided to take the lift and subsequent hike once again to do it all over. Unfortunately this run didn’t turn out to be as much fun for one in our group. Tracey snagged a rock on her way down, twisting her leg, ripping off her ski, and as we later found out breaking a bone in her ankle. We were as far out as you can possibly get and she couldn’t stand. Fortunately a nice local stopped and alerted ski patrol to her exact location. The remaining members of the group still managed to have a few more awesome runs on our way back to the parking lot, before we met up with Tracey at the medical center to receive the bad news. She was planning to come back out in a month for some more skiing, so let’s hope for a speedy recovery.

Despite the unfortunate accident, we had an amazing time. There was so much snow I’m not sure how you couldn’t have love it. And as they say, if there wasn’t a little danger involved than it wouldn’t be any fun. Here are some pictures Kim snapped throughout the weekend.

Beaver Creek on Dwellable

Keystone on Dwellable

Less than one month after I started putting some serious effort into the basement, I’d like to provide a quick update and some photos. I removed most of the old framing, except for a section that seems to be solidly anchored, which I’m now considering keeping. I then started leveling the floor and sealing up the foundation walls. If you view each of the photos below, I’ve provided a link to a similar before shot so you can see how I’m progressing. There is still lots to be done, but I’m hoping the sealing will be done by the end of the year, then it’s time to actually start building things.

Last night we finally got our Christmas tree put together and fully decorated. The number of ornaments we have has tripled in the last year, so we have a much fuller tree than years past. This is the same little tree we’ve had since 2004 and it’s treated us very well. I still have to get the outside lights up on the house, but I need an extension cord and possibly a timer before doing so. I think I’ll go make a couple of purchases now during my lunch break.

Also while in Cincinnati I helped (or supervised) the annual hanging of the star on my parents house. My dad and I made the star many years ago for a cub scout project and it is still in fairly good shape after being outside every winter since. We used to put out a ton of lights all over the house, but it has been scaled back since my brother and I moved out. Though this is still more lights than I put on our house in Denver. Kim also sent wreaths to both of our parents for this Christmas. I’ve heard they smell wonder and they look very nice. I tried smelling one but I guess I’m still stuffed up from my cold last week.

Kim and I spent this past weekend in Cincinnati and I snapped a few pictures of some of the various events. First you’ll see what happens when Cincinnati gets some snow and the Hais boys get bored. Yep, they figured out how to snowboard in the flat backyard. And then after that we traveled out to various spots in Indiana looking for a couple of perfect Christmas trees, including one that’s easily over 20 feet tall. I hope you enjoy the pics, I sure enjoyed taking them.

Sunday afternoon we spent some time working on the basement project that I mentioned here nearly two years ago. I have multiple different plans drawn up in SketchUp, but prior to this day had done very little actual work toward achieving my goal. Well that has changed, and I’m posting these pictures to force myself into keeping regular updates going on the project. I’m trying to dedicate at least one night a week to the project, hoping that eventually I’ll start having fun with it and put in even more time. Right now the dirty work is not much fun at all.

So here are a few pictures that Kim snapped on Sunday. You’ll see that I am busy tearing down some previous framing that was not done very well. I figure that I’ll want my walls to actually stand up for years to come, so redoing them is the only way to go. Once we get all of the wood out of the way, we’ll be removing any loose material from the walls and then resealing them with some products I picked up from Home Depot. You’ll also see a photo an area of the floor that is not level with the rest of the basement, which I am already in the process of filling in. We are slowly making some progress and I hope I’ll be able to post some more pictures next week with some visible changes being made.

Sorry if some of the photos are a bit blurry, the camera was set to manual focus and Kim didn’t realize that.

After no trick-or-treaters showed up last year, we opted to skip it this year and instead head out ourselves. No, we didn’t go door to door, we headed to a bar down the road to see SoundRabbit play. It was a great time, and we ended up staying much later than originally planned. Some friends of ours were having a big party downtown, and we wanted to go there as well, but by the time we arrived it was pretty much over. It appeared that everyone had a good time, and the train ride home was hilarious.

Sunday morning we went down to Civic Center Park in downtown Denver for the Obama rally. The “doors” opened at 10am, and we arrived before 11 to find thousands of people already there. There were many different speakers before Obama arrived to address the crowd estimated at well over 100,000 people. Multiple streets were closed due to the overwhelming crowd, including some of the busiest in town, and it’s been said this was the largest rally that has been held. It was crazy to see that many people gathered in one place, and I was glad that I attended even though I could barely see a thing, though hearing the speech was not a problem.

Yesterday I dropped off my mail in ballot (along with Kim’s) at a designated early voting location. Though I’m sure it doesn’t need to be said, don’t forget to vote! Even though my vote is already in, I may head out during lunch next Tuesday to a local polling location just to take in the vibe for awhile. I’ll be sure to wear the “I Voted” sticker that they gave to me yesterday proudly.

Saturday afternoon we went out to Red Rocks for the Red Bull Soapbox Race. The pits opened at 10am, and the races started at noon. We had wanted to get there before race time, but didn’t get out there until shortly after it started. However, we ran into all sorts of problems getting in. As I expected, the parking lots in the park were closed. So we headed out toward the nearby speedway, where a shuttle was supposed to take people to the race. However, after sitting in traffic for an hour or so we found out the exit for the speedway had been closed and a sign said that the entire event was full. After stopping for some gas I was determined to get in, so I found a way to get into the town of Morrison via some small roads (one of which was dirt), we then parked on the side of the street and walked a couple miles into the park. It was worth all of the frustration, and we had a great time watching over half of the competition.

I took lots of pictures over the weekend, and here’s the first batch. As many already know, Kim got her hair chopped off on Friday. She had over ten inches cut off and donated to Locks of Love.