Aspen... where the beer flows like wine, and the women flock like the salmon of Capistrano...

(the view from the park in Snowmass Village)

What a great week. We started off by staying in Silverthorne on Sunday and Monday night. Mainly because if the outlet malls. Damon wanted to hit the Pearl Izumi store to get some more shorts for him, and we ended up buying two pairs of bike shorts for me. They have short biking shorts. I’m too vain to get a weird tan line. They have the coolest name too. The Sugar Short. Saucy… I tested them out on the Dillon Reservoir bike ride. They are awesome, as was the amazing ride. We ended up in Breckenridge, I bought a t-shirt, (3 cool mountain town t-shirts down, 2 to go), and we decided to branch out from our usual Bubba Gump Shrimp, and eat at Extreme Pizza. I highly recommend the ‘Green with envy’ pizza, they use pesto instead of marinara, and tomato, mozzarella, and feta cheese. Yum.

(Zoey and Dad in Brek)

Tuesday afternoon we made our way up to Aspen, well, actually, we stayed in Snowmass Village, in a two bedroom, ski in/ ski out condo. Its awesome. In the summer its amazing here. It has made we want to buy one of these condos and live up here. Seriously, it is that beautiful. We walked around Aspen, I made a list of all the shops I wanted to go to.

It is Wednesday, and as I type this entry, I am sitting out on the patio, watching my beautiful children play in the rain on the little lawn that is fenced in by a thicket of aspen trees, and a field of flowers that are 3 feet high. Life could not be more perfect. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. God is an Artist. I find myself relaxed, reading The Subtle Knife, the sequel to The Golden Compass, and thoroughly enjoying it. It is

(you thought I was exaggerating, didn't you? I love Zoey's pose. Reminds me of a Haute Couture pose.)

beautifully written, and makes me wonder if Phillip Pullman did any investigating into the LDS church. I feel that way when I read anything by C.S. Lewis too. For those who think it is controversial, its is nothing compared to DaVinci Code, and I didn’t really think that was bad at all. I highly recommend it. Zoey and Liam are really enjoying the outdoors. Zoey and I played outside for an hour turning each other in to various animals with the magic wand Zoey found in the forest. She made me into a caterpillar and then into a cocoon, and then said “Metamorphize!” , and turned me into a butterfly. ( Just to make you laugh, I had to act out each phase.) I am sitting here, sipping hot chocolate and thinking of all of you, and wishing you were here. We headed to a dinner/ met and greet thing for the Allergists,(this is why we went. Damon had an Allergy Conference) Zoey and Liam were crowd pleasers, and I met Damon’s colleuge who looks exactly like Sean Connery. Then I went to check out all the extravagant stores in Aspen, and feel bad that I can’t buy anything because of a looming, massive amount of dental work that will soon take place. (Feel sorry for me. I have never been in a Dior store, and here I am staring one in the face, and I don‘t dare go inside. I don‘t feel worthy. I have to keep telling myself, “I am a responsible adult. I know if I go in Dior, I will come out a heavily in debt woman who bought 3 items of clothing and some boots.”) For those who don’t know what Aspen has to offer, lemme lay it out for ya. Dior, Prada, Gucci, Fendi, Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Ralph Lauren, Bvlugari, and a half dozen designer boutiques that carry everything from high end make-up, designer denim, and Jimmy Choo’s, great art galleries, and all within a 1mile walking distance…Paradise…Not to mention tons of parks, so really kid friendly, and the most beautiful mountains around.

Thursday was the day of rest. All morning lounging about reading my book and eating pancakes while my perfect kids played together outside. Damon got home at 3 and we went for a disastrous bike ride. For those who may not know, I was hit by a car while I was running when I was 16. Many subsequent knee surgeries followed, with an endless amount of physical therapy. So we rode in Aspen, with the insane traffic there. I freaked out. I seriously had a nervous break down (OK, not that bad, but I was barely containing the tears.) So Damon found a path that was away from the Range Rover madness. I grossly underestimated how sharp a turn was, went off the path and totally wiped out. I have some seriously bad road rash on my knee. Something to work on… We went to dinner at Boogies (fried chicken and Mac and cheese are really good) , I coveted a AMAZING Dior gown, Zoey danced to a cello quartet playing Carmen (one of the cellists made a mistake watching Zoey), I bought a Aspen T-shirt ( my cool mountain town t-shirt collection is almost complete. Only missing Telluride.) Then Liam had a melt down and we went back to our little condo. Kids went to bed, we watched Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and laughed at how that show really depicts a marriage. All in All, a good day.

(See the gown in the window? AMAZING! And my color too. Only a cool $4500.)

So out kids did some really funny things on the trip. Every time Liam saw a dog he freaked out and ran over or tried to alter the direction of the stroller by leaning as hard as his little 19 pound body would let him, just to touch the dog. We need a dog. Zoey has made it abundantly clear that she is not a big girl, or a baby, she is Zoey. She is not beautiful, she is Zoey. If you say, “Zoey, you are so beautiful.” She will say, “ No, I’m Zoey.” I even tried to trick her and say, “You are Beautiful Zoey, then.” She said, “No, I’m Zoey.” If I am reading and semi-ignoring her, she will put her little hands on my cheeks, and say, “Momma, look at my eyes.” ( which is what I do when I need her attention) Then proceed to tell me what I need to do for her. Liam walked around the condo with whisks and wooden spoons, pretending they were something… not sure what. He went down the big slide by himself and is a really sturdy walker. Not to mention the cutest little boy. Liam is constantly babbling away in baby language, it is so cute I can hardly stand it.

(Sooo cute! He was so proud after going solo down the slide)

I know this is a really long post, so thanks for reading. My advice for anyone planning a trip to Aspen, Stay in Snowmass Village (a little less expensive, so you have more moola for shopping), save LOTS of money for extravagant shopping, and bring your camera. The scenery is unreal. I will let you all know how it compares to Telluride when we go next month for my birthday.