So,
by the time we arrived at Steamboat proper and stashed our skis and boots at
the base of the mountain, we made the final members of a party of thirteen:
eight adults, three kids, and two babies. We didn't count Emily Rae (due in
May to Jen and Joe) in the grand total, though she occasionally kicked and made
her presence known. Dinners were quite chaotic affairs, usually with at least
one child unhappy about the menu and at least one parent out of a seat. One
night, Jen (left) tossed the salad in a large stock pot because we couldn't
find a bowl big enough for salad for thirteen. Because of one of the Easter
books Robert and I bought for the kids--"The
Dumb Bunnies' Easter", in which Mama Dumb Bunny tosses the salad out
of the bowl onto the floor--this was a very amusing act, and all of the kids
commented on the tossing of the salad every single night. At right, Lauren tears
into her Easter book.
Though there were a lot of us, we had plenty of space: Judy and Bill stayed in their Rockies one-bedroom apartment; Jen, Joe, and John stayed in a studio/one-bedroom at the Steamboat Grand, right at the base of the mountain, where Judy and Bill own a quarter-share of a similar apartment; and the rest of us--the three bigger kids having sleepovers in one room; Brian, Lisa, and Lauren in another room; and Robert and I in the spacious loft with its own bathroom--shared a three-bedroom/three bath apartment at the Rockies that Judy and Bill were nice enough to rent for the week.
Below, from left to right, John feeds himself bananas;
Judy, Lisa, and Lauren pose with the remains of a chocolate fondue that no one wanted to order at the Alpine Bistro, one day for lunch, but that everyone--babies included--ended up eating;
Robert smiles with mom Judy, one night relaxing after dinner.
