SARS Home Series Race

driving across the bridge. 

The kids had a race on Saturday at the end of Feb. Ellie! 

the STARS kids... 

 

Claire! 

here they come! Both girls did awesome. Ellie really went for it and killed her first run. Her second run she was going a bit too fast and missed a gate. She was bummed, but I was happy to see her really going for it. Claire made all the gates and did well too! She was more into making the gates than going as fast as she can. 

This is all I got from Charlie's runs. I have video, but no photos. He did awesome. He skied hard and focused. He placed 7th. 

this is how Claire and Ellie spent the entire time we were watching Charlie and his race. 

waiting for the awards ceremony. love the spots the girls scored. 

Ellie and Claire getting their medals. 

Charlie getting his medal.

 I emptied out pockets of ski gear so I could wash everything. Ellie is our little pack rat and she had so much stuff packed in her pockets! 

proud of the hard work the kids have put into their skiing this year. love seeing their improvement and how quickly they can get their gear on! 

Winter in Feb

I BEAT the ice! For months we have had inches of ice on our driveway. I finally just went at it and conquered it. So happy to have it gone. 

heading up to Schweitzer - the weekend before the Schmitt family all came to town! 

Charlie being awarded for reciting Proverbs chapter 3. Listening to him say it is quite incredible. 

Claire goofing with her friend Zeta before STARS starts. 

she loves to do a backbend. 

Bill was showing off his skills. Then later in the day he did this and fell flat into his chin. ouch!

Goofy boys! Matthew Bruya, Charlie. Mitchell.

Girls with their buddy Zoe. 

all 4!  

Schmitt family arrives tonight!!!!

Charlie's first ski race

Saturday - March 26th - was the last day of the STARS/SARS racing program at Schweitzer this year (the season ends April 10th this year, but they stop the program a few weeks early).  Being the kind of out of the loop parents that we are I mentioned to Bill that I thought all the kids had a race the last morning. He shrugged it off and we skied off to the backside of the mountain with the girls. 

Around 10am - I mentioned that we should see if we can at least find the SARS coaches and ask them. Well sure enough - we skied to the bottom of their race hill and looked up and there was a race going on and CHARLIE was the one coming down! We did what any good parent would do - start quickly side stepping up the hill (with skis on) and cheering like crazy and pretending that we were there the WHOLE time. By the time he got down - Bill was there to greet him at the bottom and me and the girls were almost there. 

I then asked the most important question there was - Was that your first run? Or second?? Praying that it was his first. It WAS!!! So we thankfully didn't miss an opportunity to snap the typical "first race" photo. 

Here is the group together at the end of the run (charlie is #13 at the bottom of the photo).

not a bad view to end your race run with.

 Our racer!

We followed his team down the rest of the run and back up the lift to the start of the race. Bill is waiting with Lake Pend Oreille behind him. So gorgeous!

the scene - pretty fun

Charlie at the start - you can barely see. 

His run went pretty well, but he caught a tip on a top gate and lost a ski - thankfully I was right there and helped him put it back on. totally not within the rules, but at this level it is all about the fun!

the clan

love seeing how much the girls adore their big brother! 

Claire - Charlie - Ellie - all linked

I snapped this gem when we were enjoying the sun and views midday. 

love seeing Claire imitating

We met some friends up on the deck for a cocktail and the girls were peeking in the window of Taps (the bar) where there was live music. Groupies already!

We then headed down to Pucci's Pub to meet up with our beloved Neupert Family (our nextdoor neighbors in Spokane and Schweitzer). Alex is such a fun friend to the girls and we got the kids a "red beer" (ie: red sugary drink). 

It was our last weekend up for the season and it was bittersweet. We will be up in a week or two after we have a visitor and then a call weekend, but no more sking this year. So thankful for what a special place Schweitzer Mountain is becoming for our family! 

Schweitzer Snow Ghosts

After Christmas, Nana and G Pops headed back to Bozeman to prep for our Butz family Christmas happening on Dec 30-Jan 3rd. 

Bill was on call through Sunday so super early Monday morning we headed up to Schweitzer to get Charlie to his STARS ski camp and for us all to ski. 

We brought Charlie to ski camp on Monday at 8:30am and off he went. Bill and I skied with the girls. At this point - Ellie was still playing her game of where she thought she wasn't good and was acting "scared", etc. We worked with her, but decided it was best to put them both in Kindercamp for the following day so Bill and I could ski together. {as a side note - we would pick charlie up from camp around 11:30 and have lunch with him and then send him back to camp from 12:30-3 -- everytime we picked him up he had snow packed in around his helmet from some faceplant or crash he had, but he also had THE BIGGEST smile on his face. It was delightful to see him so self sufficient and thriving being out there and enjoying the peer pressure skiing. he also turned into a completely different skier! wow}

It was a little foggy here, but we had FUN without the kids on Tuesday! 

We were able to ski with Bill's partner - Neil and his wife Lisa. We love being with them. I am OBSESSED with the trees - they call them Snow Ghosts - which is so fitting. I wanted to bottle them up and take them home! 

This is from our last day at Schweitzer for the week - Wednesday. We were skiing with the girls and I was giddy the blue skies came out. 

Me and my girls! 

Love this photo of Claire. 

Ellie. It was fantastic skiing with the girls on Wednesday - a flip switched for Ellie and she decided to show us what she is made of. She loves finding jumps and going in trees. Just doing those things made her ski like a mad woman. You have to find JUST what motivates a kid. 

After picking Charlie up from ski camp on Wednesday at 3pm we had a packed car and headed out for our long drive to Bozeman.