Winter has finally released its grip on Rochester, so we decided to attack an annoying outdoor project before we get to having any fun. Since building our deck last year, a variety of animals have found our deck to be the perfect place to hide out. We’ve provided refuge to a family of robins, a rabid possum, moles, mice, and bunnies. We decided to skirt the deck to take back our back yard from the wild kingdom. As a side benefit we thought a skirt would provide a more finished look. The rest of this entry will chronicle some of the decisions we made and steps we took to complete the project.

Our deck prior to building the skirt

Another angle shows the perfect haven for furry critters of all kinds

Day 1: The Shopping Trip
We took some measurements of the deck and made a quick napkin sketch to take to Lowes for some ideas. The maximum height of the deck from the top to the ground was around 32″. We headed first to the lumber department to check out lattice. We knew though that the holes would be big enough to allow mice, moles, and eager birds through it. This just wouldn’t do. When we costed out the number of board feet it would take to use deck boards instead we nearly had a heart attack.

Our epiphany came in the garden department where we found stacks of Dog-Ear Wood Fence Board. The wood is rough cut and intended for fences. The advantage of the material is how thin it is which would fit nicely under the overhang of the deck boards. At $1.69 for 6′ boards we figured we could get 2 slats per board. It would take about 70 boards to face the entire deck which would cost just under $120.

Fence boards and stones ready to be installed

Next we needed to figure out what to attach the slats to along the ground. I ended up with a very simple idea. We would stake 2×4’s horizontally into the ground. I purchased (6) 12′ 2×4’s for this purpose. To provide one more critter barrier I thought a bit of stone installed beneath the skirt might frustrate those trying to dig under the skirt. For this, we bought 20 bags of drainage rock.

I didn’t need to buy any screws because we had a ton of FastenMaster Deck screws from building the kids’ play set. These screws have square heads and will not corrode in the new kind of pressure treated wood.

Day 2: Figuring out the Technique
The first real day of construction took the longest because I needed to build the base plate into which we would fasten the bottom of the skirt. Using my chop saw, I first cut 18″ stakes to drive into the ground.

18″ stakes would hold the base plate

I used a plumb line to establish the face of the skirt and left 1.5″ of space behind the plumb line for the 2×4 to fit. After pounding the stakes in with a sledge hammer, I put stone underneath where the base plate would be attached. Then I attached the base plate to the stakes.

The base plate is installed along the ground.

With the base plate in place we were able to begin installing the skirting. We started under the stairs; working our way from the most complicated end to the least. Under the stairs we had to notch some boards to match the rise and run. The length of the skirt boards varied slightly as the distance between the top of the deck and the ground changed. We butt the boards against one another, knowing that as they dry they will shrink. At one point there looked to be a tilt to the boards left to right, so we began to use our level to ensure each board was true. By the end of the first night I had completed part of one side.

Days 3 and 4: Getting in a Rhythm to Finish the Job
The third day was a Saturday, so we could count on a full day of work. We set up our work site with an electric drill for pilot holes and a cordless drill to drive the screws. Tricia could bark the lengths of the boards to me for cutting while she was installing the boards. We made it through 2 sides of the project before we couldn’t bend over anymore.

Kris cutting deck skirt boards

Tricia installing deck skirt boards

Day 4 we rounded the last corner of the 20×25′ deck and installed the last board. To make absolutely sure that no animals would get through our fortress we plugged up any small holes between the skirt and the house with foaming insulation. Overall, we are very pleased with the project. It was straightforward, simple carpentry with very few challenges. The skirt makes the deck look clean and finished. We will give the wood a year to rest before we seal it.

The completed skirt provides a critter barrier and gives the deck a finished look

To call the finishing stage of the crown molding project all one day is a bit of a misnomer. The reality is that it took small parts of about 4 days to caulk and do the finishing touches, all adding up to about a day worth of effort. I went around the room sealing the gaps between the molding and the ceiling and the molding and the wall with DAP Alex Plus Caulk. It is a latex caulk that can be painted. I also needed to fill in each inside corner, and the outside corners so that there were no visible gaps between the pieces of wood.

Perhaps the most challenging part of the finish work were the 3 joints in the room where I had didn’t have enough molding length to span the entire wall. On those joints as well as every place I had nailed, I used DAP Fast N’ Final Spackle. I put many thin coats of spackle on the joints, then let it dry, sanded and applied it again so that it would in theory disappear. Well, after about 4 layers, I gave up trying to get them all perfectly smooth. In retrospect I wish I had made tighter joints to begin with, but we learn.

After all of the filling was complete I took out the trim paint and painted over the caulk and spackle. My last step was to take out the wall paint and touch up any spots on the wall where white caulk was too visible.

Finito
The best part of the project is that it is now done. The results are great. It looks like the crown molding has been there all along, and really provides some nice architectural detail for the room. The project wasn’t overly difficult. It just took patience and a tolerance for having the house and garage in disarray for about a week. The total bill for the project was probably about $250 which included molding, paint, screws, caulk, book, angle measuring tool, etc. It will probably be a bit before I do another room, as I want to let the memories of coping corners fade a bit, but I wouldn’t hesitate.

DIY Crown Molding Project: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4,5 | Day 6

Monday and Tuesday nights I finally made it to the actual installation of the crown molding. This was not before plenty of hand wringing over how I was actually going to cut the stuff. 7″ crown is too wide to be cut by a 10″ compound miter saw, or so I thought. I called friends and neighbors asking for ideas. One thought was to rent or buy a compound sliding miter saw. At $500 for the saw, I was going to rent for sure. Another friend said I could use a table saw. I was all set to do that until I realized there’s no way to make a cross cut with 12′ of molding hanging off one end. At last I called one more wood-working neighbor who suggested that I use my 10″ compound miter, but just complete the cuts with a hand saw. I had nothing to lose with this approach, as it cost me nothing to try it. It ended up working fine.

I also needed to figure out how to nail the molding. I could have used finishing nails pounded by hand, but that would have been a real pain. Especially since MDF molding needs pilot holes drilled before nailing through it. Instead I called up my in-laws from whom I’ve borrowed the magical pneumatic nailer before. I brought that home and loaded it up with 1.5″ nails and I was ready to go.

The first piece of molding went up without a hitch; because of course it had no angles or coping. It was great to finally see what the wall would look like finished off. Tricia and I had that momentary euphoria as if the project would take only 10 more minutes to complete. That wasn’t exactly what happened. I tried to cut my first inside corner angle at a 45 degree angle and 45 degree miter. I even coped the profile. When I put it in place it was the wrong angle. Ugh. So, I eyeballed the angle and went outside to make another cut, again coping the molding and again trying a dry fit. I had cut another wrong angle. I’m just not the sharpest tool in the shed, so it took me these 2 failures before it dawned on me to open the book that I bought and read the angle proper angle measurement. The third time was a charm. 2 hours into my installation I had the second piece installed.

My first coped corner, hooray!

What stopped me in my tracks on day 4 was the small angled wall. This wall had the only outside corners in the room. When I measure the angle of the corners they were 47 degrees. I looked up the angle in my trusty book only to find measurements that I could not do on my saw. So I tried doing half the angle. That wasn’t right. Then I sat down at the table with Tricia and did some Course III Trigonometry to try and figure out a logical angle. That wasn’t right. Finally, I went to bed defeated not knowing if I was going to ever get the proper angle, or if I would have to buy more crown so that I could continue to create useless angled triangle bits of wood.

One angle took me 2 hours to figure out

Tuesday evening I had a conversation with another friend, who in no uncertain terms, told me to eyeball the damn thing and stop calculating it. He was right. I kept nipping away at the angle until I had something close enough. The rest of the install was straight forward until I got to the very last piece. This is where I had one coped end to do, and the other was a joint that I had to get just right. This piece took me about 10 trips in and out of the house to the saw.

And with that, the cutting, coping and nailing was complete. It was just in time for me to reset the room for our small group meeting on Wednesday. The only thing left to do now is lots of tedious caulking and touch up painting. When that is done I’ll summarize the project in one final post.

DIY Crown Molding Project: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4,5 | Day 6

I’m not sure if going in and out from the garage cutting molding did it, or if my raging cold is from my kids bringing it home from school. Either way, I haven’t had the energy to keep up with my project progress until now. Day 3 was five days ago, but alas it seem like just yesterday…

I started by using a pencil to mark lines on the ceiling at a 4″ distance from the wall. I also made 5″ marks on the ceiling and the wall to mark where the outside edges of where the crown would eventually be. I made the measuring easier by cutting 4″ and 5″ blocks of wood as measuring guides.

Thank goodness it was a Saturday, because I really needed my trusty assistant for the next part of the project. We started on one side of the room with my flaky stud finder marking joists on the ceiling where we could screw the backer boards in. Then I drilled pilot holes into the wood while we held the board to the ceiling and drove 3″ screws in with a power cordless drill-screwdriver. This was a slowly choreographed maneuver where Tricia and I were juggling 2 drills, some screws, the wood, etc. on step ladders. Each piece of backer board was carefully measured, then I went out to the garage to cut it and back inside to install it.

When we made the turn onto a wall where no ceiling joists were available we got into a rhythm. We brought a big board inside and drilled all the holes on the ground. Next we drilled and screwed one end to keep the board on the ceiling. I then drilled all the ceiling holes for the rest of the board to mark where we might (or might not) need anchors. Then we took down the board, and I poked Buildex EZ Ancors into every hole. If it hit a stud, no anchor, otherwise I screwed the anchor in. No need for the stud finder.

My trusty assistant happily holds the wood

There is one angled wall in the living room that caused me fits and starts. It definitely took some extra time to figure out the angles needed to miter the corners.

Funky angled wall in the living room

Apart from the fact that I needed Tricia to head to the store for another box of anchors (now trip #3 to a store for this project), this phase was relatively painless, and the last backer board was going in before dinner.

We also painted the molding pieces so that we could get down to the fun of actually putting it up. We decided to paint inside the house so there would be an appropriate temperature for drying and a long lasting finish. We put all the pieces on saw horses to make it easier to paint the edges and prevent our backs from breaking.

The molding gets painted semi gloss Atrium White

Coming up next, I’ll review the install of the molding itself which adds hours of indecision to this ’simple’ project.

DIY Crown Molding Project: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4,5 | Day 6

Sunday was Mason’s final ski lesson for the season. The weather was heading toward perfect all week. A snow storm on Tuesday and Friday gave us 6 inches of fresh powder, while the Saturday temps in the low teens headed toward midday highs of 35 yesterday. With bright sunshine and no wind, there could not have been a better day for skiing ever. We went down as a caravan - the Rzepkowski’s and our friends the White’s as we had done earler in the year.

When we arrived at the mountain, the trails had just been groomed and Mason was psyched to try out his new skills on the real slopes. He started out his 10:15am lesson on the magic carpet, and quickly advanced to the real lift. He was now able to ski Swain completely on his own which was a huge difference from the first time this year.

While Mason took his lesson, Tricia, Anna and I went up the lift for some skiing together. Anna did very well with the help of an outstretched pole, or some between my legs skiing. Had the magic carpet not been packed with lesson kids, we should have had her ski there all day so that she could learn to stop. I can’t wait till she’s old enough for lessons next year at Powder Mills because I know that she’s going to pick this skiing thing up quick, and be racing by year’s end.

When Mason’s lesson ended, his instructor, Ron told me that he just wasn’t able to give Mason any instruction. There was another kid in his class that was over his head and needed to be carried down the hill. Ron offered to give Mason another lesson at noon. So, we went back to the lodge for a break and some lunch and convinced Mason that getting some more one on one ‘professional help’ would be great for him. In fact his second lesson was good for him as Ron told us that Mason made a lot of progress. He also said Mason’s legs were popped out by the end, and he needed a break.

Tricia kept the boys and Anna in the lodge so Andy and I could hit the perfect conditions for some real skiing. We took a couple of GREAT runs, and then somehow I let Andy convince me to do a Nastar race. I’ve never raced in all my years of skiing. All you had to do was pay 5 bucks at the top of the hill and you could ski the course for time. I was definitely nervous and my first run didn’t calm my nerves at all. I fell on the second to last turn which cost me 15 seconds to end up at 45 seconds. We went up the hill again, and on my second run I managed to finish with a turtle-slow time of 35 seconds, but at least I stayed on course. Andy’s best time of the day I think was 29 seconds which awarded him a bronze medal. Racing was really fun, and I could have done it the rest of the day, but alas we wanted to get back to skiing with the kids.

In retrospect the second lesson for Mason wasn’t the best idea because it cut our family time short. Our second run together up to Mile Sweep, Mason skied awesome at the top of the hill. But his legs and mind were so shot, that he melted down somewhere in the middle and wanted me to carry him the rest of the way down the hill. I coaxed him down the rest of the way by holding a pole next to me. That was at the end of this highlights video - a summary of a day of great family fun and great times with great friends.

I hope we might get out one more time skiing this year if our busy schedules allow it. Otherwise, I won’t be sad if this perfect day of skiing is the exclamation point on a terrific 2008 at the slopes.

Tuesday a snow storm was rolling through Rochester on one of the coldest days of the year, so it seemed the perfect time to clear out the garage and set up my molding shop. No, I don’t keep space in the basement for this sort of thing. Garage shop = displaced cars in any weather.

The book said that I’d need backer boards on the ceiling to support the molding. Apparently it is “convenient” to rip 2×4’s at an angle so that you get twice the backer board for the least money. So I got out all of my tools, focusing the majority of my attention on Ye Olde Table Saw, an early 80’s Craftsman cast-steel behemoth that my father-in-law let me have. This saw weighs 100 pounds for sure, and with no wheels is like…

Kris moving his table saw.

Setting up the saw is a treat. The rip fence has to be attached to the table then positioned by measuring the distance from the blade. Next I had to raise the blade and then set it at a 45 degree angle, using super-human strength to turn the adjustment knobs that are frozen in place. I decided to run a little test board through first and flipped the makeshift on-off switch (a power strip lashed to the leg with some zip ties). The electric motor revved and the blade spun 2 or 3 times. Next I heard the electric motor-not-working noise before I heard a pop in the power strip. Reset the power strip, try again. Pop again… Alright I must not have enough juice to run the saw from the power strip, I’ll just direct connect the saw to the wall outlet. Bink! I heard a not-so-good noise, and the motor quit.

Well, I had popped a breaker. The same breaker onto which all of the basement electricity is connected, and therefore the entire Internet network for the house. So, I spent 20 minutes getting the Internet back up, and trying to figure out where I could get enough power to run the saw. I ended up finding a 20amp breaker to the mudroom off the garage. I ran an extension cord into the bathroom and finally got the saw to turn on. I’m now an hour into the project, and I have yet to cut even one board.

I’m ripping 12′ boards. I remember the horror stories from shop class where the teacher told us of a piece of wood hurling through the abdomen of a student because their saw bound while ripping. With this image in mind I took great care to set up supports on both side of the saw to set up the rip. There’s no safety cover on this widow-maker either, so I grabbed my guide stick. The first cut made it about half way down the board before the saw started to bind. I decided then to cut that part off and start the remaining 6ft from a fresh end. The rest of the rip went fine and I had my first lengths of wood 2 hours into the project.

The first backer board rip complete

Three feet into the second rip I could see a knot on the wood, but this novice had no idea what effect that would have. I figured I could take it real slow and power right through it. Nuh uh…the blade started to smoke, and then all of the sudden I saw a pulley rolling across the floor; then a high pitched whine; then another pulley rolling across the floor. Finally I was able to reach the kill switch to find out what had just happened. Basically the pulley holding the belt to the motor, the belt itself and the pulley holding the belt to the saw blade all fell apart under the pressure. I was left with a spinning electric motor screaming at me to shut it off. After a half-hour of monkeying around, I figured out that the saw was made to fall apart like this. I was able to screw the pulleys back on and reset the belt.

The first of 3 table saw explosions before I gave up

Here’s where my brain just exhibits no common sense. I figured it must have been a fluke that the saw exploded and went right about trying to cut through the knot again - same result. I was left with a pile of pulleys and belts for another 15 minute assembly job. This time I cut out the knot. 2 inches into the clean part of the wood, and the saw exploded again. That was ahem… IT for me.

With my patience wearing thin and the four letter words on the tip of my tongue I pulled out the circular saw. I clamped the last 2 boards to the table saw and went foot by foot with a saw the cut the wood like it was butter. Here’s some footage of the triumph, shot and narrated by my trusty assistant.

In the next installment of this gripping reality series, I’ll show you how we actually got to installing the wood in the room. Lest you feel that my projects are riddled with difficulty throughout every step, you’ll find that our Saturday labor was efficient and without incident. Pinch Me

DIY Crown Molding Project: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4,5 | Day 6

Monday was the kick-off of a “small” DIY project around the House of Zip. Since we are getting a tax refund this year we thought it would be ok for us to “splurge” on gold plating the house a little bit. Heck, it’s the time of year when there’s nothing better to do than be inside anyways. So I decided to put up crown molding in our living room. I’m psyched to be able to blog about the project. As you’ll see as you go on this journey with me, DIY projects in my world always cost twice as much, take twice as long, take twice as many trips to Lowe’s as a competent handy-man would need. The joy of it for me is doing something other than sit in front of the computer, which is what I do all day long. Wait a minute; I’m sitting here in front of my computer writing about the project that’s supposed to get me away from the computer. Hmph.

So, I embarked on this project first with a little trip to Lowes.com, since that is my closest Home Center. A quick search on crown molding revealed a fine looking book with a URL on the cover, compoundmiter.com. I went to the site and learned about what scares me the most about this project - the weird angles in the room. Never fear, it seems that there is a handy little angle gauge out there that will measure them for me and tell me how to cut the molding.

Next I sketched the entire room on sheet of paper, taking measurements of the length of each wall. I know from past experience that most crown comes in 12′ lengths so I estimated that I’d need 6 lengths for the entire room. 8pm…kids are in bed; off to Lowe’s I went….

When I got there, I first searched out a book. I’ve done crown molding blindly before without a nice book to guide me. When I redid my basement in Chicago, I squinted at some grainy internet pics. This time it’s a pretty book for me. I looked at the compoundmiter.com book, but ended up with the Ultimate Guide to Crown Molding. I chose it because it has great photography and lists a lot of advanced crown projects with 2 3 and 4 pieces layered, that I was always curious about.

Next, I went off to find that magical angle gauge. No luck in the tool department. So, I went to look at the crown thinking perhaps there would be tools by the moldings. No tools there either, but there was a knowledgeable guy there who led me back to the tool department to look at the $60 digital badass that can measure an angle to the micrometer and do all the miter-math for me, or the lowly yellow plastic itty-bitty one for $5 that I would actually have to make calculations from. Normally I’d buy the expensive tool because of the ready-made excuse. Not this time. I bought the cheapy, figuring I might measure an angle 3 or 4 times in my life.

Finally, I went back to pick out the crown. I definitely wanted something even more dramatic than the standard 3-4″ crown that I’ve installed before. The ceilings in the living room are really tall, so I know that they can handle something bigger. But all I could find was the small stuff. Helpful hardware guy told me to turn around and behold the mother of all crown - the 7″ wide MDF primed. Now, that’s some molding, and relatively inexpensive compared to all the dentil plastic Greek Revival junk that was also there. I hemmed and hawed for an eternity trying to figure out whether I should back the crown or not. Should I buy screws, nails, what else. “The time is now 9:59 pm and your neighborhood Lowe’s store would like you to get the heck out of here.” I took that as my cue to hurry up and grab my six crown boards and 3 12′ 2×4 backer boards. I bought the book, the cheapy gauge too. Final tally: 1 trip to Lowe’s $216.25.

Tomorrow I’ll write about my initial battle with the backer boards. It took me all of Tuesday night to rip 3 stinking 12′ boards at an angle. My epic losing battle with the table saw. More to come…

DIY Crown Molding Project: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4,5 | Day 6

Saturday was Mason’s first ski lesson of 2008. We have him enrolled in a 4 week program at Powder Mills Park where I learned to ski when I was his age. Powder Mills is a small hill in a local park with nothing but a rope tow. The instruction there is first rate though, as the staff from Swain comes down and teaches beginners of all ages and it is VERY reasonably priced. The great news was that Mason had been skiing 2 times (week 1, week 2) at Swain already this year. When we arrived in the morning, we got Mason’s skis and boots that we have rented for all of the session. He immediately wanted me to pull him up the bottom part of the hill for some practice. Before the lesson even started, I knew he would have a great day.

Mason gets warmed up for ski lessons at Powder Mills Park

Mason skied with so much confidence on the bottom part of the hill that the instructors took our little 6 year old straight over to the rope tow. THAT was when the flashbacks really started for me. I remember shimmying over to the rope that was speeding in front of me. We were told to take our leather-palmed mittens and slowly grip the rope. As the rope zipped through trying to set my hands on fire, I can recall finally catching hold. I started to move, first from the shoulder joints where my arms were nearly pulled from the sockets, my upper body that absorbed the shock, then finally the skis from which I was removed and plunked straight on my face. It was with this fond memory as I watched Mason’s first experience. He did SO great!

Mason gets his first taste of the rope tow

After Mason made it to the top of the hill, his instructor named “Hoppy” took him on one run holding onto a stick next to him for stability. The very next run, Mason was skiing on his own for the first time, down terrain that was far steeper than before.

After the last run of the day, we went into the lodge to have hot chocolate to celebrate victory over the rope tow and look forward to next week.

Saturday, we had perfect conditions for another ski trek down to Swain. This time it was just Mason and me plus Andy and Nolan. The day started off a bit dicey as Mason must have thought he could hop right on the hill after only one week of skiing and be able to shuss right down. Well, he got a little frustrated and took off his skis at the top of the hill, refusing to put them back on. We talked about that not ever happening again in a not so patient voice from me. Andy and 5 year old Nolan kept skiing on their merry way. Luckily, they got tired, so we all went into the lodge for some much needed lunch.

Andy and the kids take a ski break by the fire.

There, I issued Mason the Ultimate Challenge which was to complete 10 runs on the magic carpet. Mason always responds well to challenges. Sure enough, he made it through 7 runs on the carpet before he got bored with it and the entire ski school that kept blocking our way. He asked me “Dad, if we go up the big lift once, does that count to complete the Ultimate Challenge?”. I said, “Of course.” and we took our first lift ride of the day. We skied down Round Top with Mason to my right holding an outstretched ski pole.

Then he was primed up. We decided to go down lower Robinson, a slightly wider hill, where the snow was just perfect. For the first time, I could tell the light bulb was turning on. Mason, tipped his legs in the snowplow in just the right way to keep his speed under control. Then he found that he could turn his head in the direction he wanted to go, and his body would follow. He’s so perceptive for a little kid. He said “Dad, look how my body follows where me head goes!”. I couldn’t have said it better myself.

We were both tired after that run, so we went inside to rest again. It was mostly for mine and Andy’s sake as we both were towing the kids around the bottom of the hill like we were Clydesdales. Then Mason asked to go to Mile Sweep. Wow! From whimpering quitter, to Braveheart in 2 short hours. So, we went up a full chairlift together to the top of the hill for the very first time. How rewarding. Mile Sweep is definitely…well…long. My back was about to break in half after skiing down it doubled over to keep Mason from going too fast. We made it to the bottom, and both celebrated with a picture.

Mason finishes his first run down Mile Sweep

It was a terrific day. The kind I was dreaming about when becoming a Dad. To see my son learn such a challenging skill really is rewarding. He and I both can’t wait to do it again. Thanks to Andy and Nolan for being patient with us, you guys are awesome.

The trails we skied at Swain 1/26/2008

Saturday was great fun as the kids and us joined Andy and Nolan White over at Swain for some skiing. It was our first time in 2008, so we worked a few kinks out to be sure. Tricia blogged our ski trip so I’ll just touch on my personal highlights.

Mason Made Huge Strides
We’ve got Mason signed up for ski lessons at Powder Mills Park in February. So, I really didn’t want that to be the first time on skis this year. Mason started out very hesitant, expecially when it came to learning the magic carpet. Apparently this was the first time Swain has had one operating, so even the staff was unfamiliar with how to tell kids to ride it. The best tip ended up being to have the kids put their hands on their knees.

Although I’ve skiied since Mason’s age, teaching someone to ski is a whole different enchilada. The magic ticket ended up being Nolan. He is 5 years old, and Andy has taken him out a few more times than Mason has been out. So, when Mason saw that Nolan can ski by himself, and wanted to ride the big lift, Mason’s competitive fire was lit. I got to share Mason’s very first chairlift ride, and it was great to see the wonder in his eyes when we floated up into the air above the ski hill. To get down the hill I either had him ski between my legs, or the better approach, ski beside me using my ski poles as a support bar.

While he won’t ski the big hill by himself yet, Mason was begging to come back for more by the end of the day. You just can’t ask for a better outcome!

Taking 2 Boys on the Lift is a 2 Person Job
Anna, our litle dare devil wanted to go onto the big hill. Andy wanted to impart some skiing wisdom on her because kids never want to learn from their dads. So her first chair ride was with Andy. I thought it would be a great idea to take the two boys up on the lift to join them. Let’s just say lifting two boys onto the seat and getting myself on was not a great idea. It was one of those moments where you realize it was a bad idea, but there was nothing to do but follow through. Luckily the lift operator slowed it down so that I could lift on Nolan, then make a quick pivot to lift on Mason. This whole time I’m flashing back to my favorite guilt trip I lay on my dad for dropping me off the lift when I was a kid. Well, I think now I might just go a little easier on that joshing.

Hmmm…Something is Missing Here…
Tricia also wanted to join us at the top of the big hill. So, after watching the hilarity of me and the 2 boys, she ended up 3 chairs behind. When she got off the lift she couldn’t stop talking about how freaked out she was being up so high in the open air. Because she’s a beginner I thought for sure she was talking about the relative freedom when you put up the safety bar near the last pole. I thought nothing of it. When we were on the way home, we started recapping our day. She kept talking about how unfomfortable she was being out in the open. Then the revelation…She said, “They should really have saftey bars on those things”. I said “They DO have safety bars, didn’t you put it down after you got on?” That’s when the lightbulb went on for both of us:)

I think we’ll all be doing a lot more skiing together this winter. I’ve uploaded some pictures of the ski trip.