Some pictures from Renae's trip to Europe!

Nona Renae and Kaily

Renae giving Kaily kisses.

Nona holding Kaily during dinner.

Birth day of Kailynn Renae Denney.

Renae holding camo'd out Kaily.

Birth Day +1.

These are pictures of Renae and Kaily. Kaily had her doctor's appointment today she weighs 8lbs 2oz and is 22 inches long now and tomorrow she will be a month old.

Oma Julie and Kaily

Me and Kaily time on the last day of Munich.

Kaily and me getting tummy time in Munich.

Kaily lifting her head....she is really good at it and only 3 weeks old.

Oma Julie and her first holding of Kaily.

Hi...little baby girl...it's nice to meet you.

Munich Germany

Clayton, Kristen, Kaily, and me in front of the Hofbrauhaus.

Renae, me and Kaily in front of Neuschwanstein castle.

Kristen and Clayton in front of Neuschwanstein Castle.

A section of the glockenspiel in the city center of Munich.

The figurines dancing during the playing of the glockenspiel.

Renae hurrying to take a picture as we couldn't stop.

Renae and I in front of the Hard Rock Cafe in Munich.


Well I arrived in Munich after several plane changes and 8 hours across the ocean. I only was able to sleep 2 hours or so. I sat next to Heinz on the flight over, he is from St. Louis but originally hails from Switzerland. So we talked about Munich and Switzerland on the flight over, he was pretty nice. He even layed on my shoulder to sleep at one point. I was uber happy to get off the plane though. Once I got through passport control and got my one piece of luggage I was greeted by Renae.
Kristen, Clayton and Kaily were waiting in the borrowed van, while Kristen was feeding. Little Kailynn was sleeping in her car seat she is so precious. Since I hadn't eaten since not sure when we headed back to the hotel and had breakfast. Probably the best hotel breakfast I've ever had in Europe and ever probably anywhere.
After eating breakfast I got to hold Kaily for a long time and we decided to head to King Ludwig's castles Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein (or Disney's Sleeping Beauty Castle). We ate some lunch and then bought our tour tickets for Neuschwanstein and rode a horse drawn carriage to the top. The castle hadn't changed much from 10 years ago when I first saw it, lol. But still very pretty to gaze upon and even more so with the snow. When we finished the tour we walked back down to warm ourselves back up with some warm apple strudel. Kristen and Clayton have a GPS in the car which was used to find the way back to the hotel which was 60 miles away, however it seemed that it took us about 3 hours to return (may be a Slight exaggeration, but not really) of course the weather wasn't the greatest. We made it back around 9pm and I was exhausted but couldn't get to sleep until around 2am.

Renae and Kaily posing as Aunt Bea at the Hofbrauhaus.


The next day (Saturday), Renae and I just piddled around until Kristen and Clayton were ready. We decided to head into the city center of Munich. Just a 5 min drive from our hotel to the MarienPlatz. We found parking (which ended up being fairly expensive 20E) and I oriented the map and we headed to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch (used to be the Planet Hollywood). I got my Hard Rock pins. After lunch and Kaily feeding we walked to into the main square. We stopped in a couple of tourist shops and found the Glockenspiel. We were to late to see the figurines play. We decided to walk around a bit more and found the Max Krug store which caters to buying Bavarian works such as coo-coo clocks. Renae and I found a clock that we really liked, it will arrive in Colorado in 4-6 weeks. Maria, the clerk at Max Krug, recommended Augustiner's Beer Hall over Hofbrauhaus. Augustiners was right down the walk so we popped in and had loads of fun. Renae really liked the beer here. We then walked back to the Hofbrauhaus and sat up in the restaurant. My German has come in handy. The three ordered a liter of beer and I ordered now my favorite red wine Schwarzriesling, which is a red Riesling. I ordered potato soup and Renae ordered liver soup. Even after I told her what it was. When it came it was a big liver ball sitting in beef broth.

Giant catfish sculpture outside the fishing museum in Munich.

The next day Renae and I were going to go to Dachau to visit the concentration camp. We got up and ready by 8am and were going to take public transportation the 20 miles out to Dachau, but decided because of the weather just to take the bus and subway into the city center. We wanted to see the Glockenspiel play and made it just in time to do so. Since it was Mardi Gras, Carnival, or Fashion (as one Munich women called it) there were all sorts of vendor's selling alcohol, confetti, and masks all throughout the square. We looked around for a couple of hours and then headed back to the hotel to meet with Kristen and Clayton. We walked about a block or so to a Greek Restaurant and had very very good food. We then went back to the hotel and took a nap, then took the bus into the City Center. Amazingly enough the MarienPlatz was nearly empty apparently Mardi Gras had ended in the square. We went back to the Augustiner Beer hall, which was in full swing with live music. We were seated with one couple who apparently didn't want us sitting at their table so the waiter moved us to the table behind them. Which were a much more pleasant older Munich couple. Both spoke some English and with me speaking some German we had many a good conversation. They were keeping track of the number of beers they had. When we sat down they were on their 9th beer, lol. They were lots of fun to sit with and wanted to know all about Kaily and were we were from. The musician played lots of American 60's- 70's music so we all sang along. It was funny because when he didn't know the words all of us were singing the words. We left so we could make it back to the hotel in time for Kaily's feeding.

The Neuschwanstein Castle as the night falls while snowing.


The next day Kristen and Clayton and the baby were headed back to Aviano, Italy. We just piddled around and watched Kaily for about an hour. We then said goodbye to everyone and they were off. Renae and I then went part way into town to get some wine. We didn't find the type we were looking for. But got some other brands. We ate at a deli which had really good food. The next morning we got up early and packed, ate breakfast and took a taxi to the airport. Our driver was really nice and we communicated in German and English. Our flights were pretty uneventful other than long.

I boarded my first Blue today at Powderhorn....and didn't get killed!

Yesterday was my first boarding since having my cast off, I was a little nervous that the splint would protect me like the cast did. S I picked up Roby and the kids at their house and we were on our way up to Powderhorn. We talked about everything from me going to Germany, to his job, and the market. We got there around 9 am and got another sweet parking spot. We changed at the car and I took Katie to the ski school while Roby took Kaleb to get his rentals (a completely whole different story that process is). Everyone had their tickets and we each went our separate ways. I headed over to the easy rider and they headed to the quad lift. I made it off the chair lift 3 of the 4 times on my board on the easy rider lift, SCHWEET. I took a couple of runs and only fell maybe twice, then I headed back up and waited to see if I could get pictures of Katie because it was 1030 and that is when they start lessons. I waited for about 10 min while my but froze, but then she showed up and I got pictures of her getting off the lift with her instructor Lynnette. Then I headed down a couple more runs only falling once. I saw Bob, my instructor, we talked a bit he was there with his girlfriend, good people I tell you. Around 1130 I headed over to the Quad lift and got video of Roby and Kaleb coming down.




Katie with her instructor after getting off the lift.



Roby, Katie and Kaleb before heading up.


Roby was riding his new board so I took Kaleb so Roby could take a few runs. Kaleb and I went to the shop so I could buy some more socks as my boots are a little big, what a huge improvement in my turning capabilities with an extra pair of socks. Kaleb and I were then going to go get lunch from the car, but realized Roby had the keys. So we found Roby and I told him to take another run while we went and got the lunch.

Kaleb sliding down the hill on the way to the car for lunch.

So Kaleb and I sat at our lunch eating area and waited for Roby around 1210 no Roby so I started giving Kaleb his lunch, 1215 no Roby. There was an employee with a radio standing near us and her radio was talking about dispatching the patrol from the top, so panic set in what if it was Roby, then like 3 min later here comes Roby with no jacket on covered in snow from head to toe literally. Wish I had gotten a picture. He said he fell into some powder, he looked like a red bearded snowman. We ate lunch and I went with Roby and Kaleb up to the top of the mountain for my first blue run, yeah. I dumped when I got of the lift and landed somewhat on my wrist, which is a little achey today. But we got strapped in. The run we took and a few level places in areas which dumped me once and I had to unstrap twice. But other than that I think I only fell one other time. Here is the map of the run we took.

You'll have to click on the image to enlarge it. I highlighted the run we did in Pink and my huge crash in blood red dot. Kaleb did really well, he'll need to start working on parallel ski from side to side of the run. He does really well in snow plow turning and controlling his speed. He had one crash that sent him flying. After we made it past the flats, I did quite a few turns on the steeper sections, then when I felt uncomfortable I would just heel edge or toe edge "falling leaf" across the run and then do some more turns. As we were finishing the run I was feeling pretty good about myself and started doing faster turns, well at one point I didn't let my board get vertical with the mountain and caught an edge. Literally in slow motion I did a right knee plant into the snow, my board flipped up and over my head flipping me and I landed about 10-15 feet from where I knee planted. I got up laughing and Roby was like are you ok. I said yeah, I guess that helps with cockiness, lol. That's was about 1:50 when we finished the run. I told Roby and Kaleb to go up again. I went to the bar and got a drink because I was sore....was even more sore after I had to pay 6.50 for a hot chocolate and bailey's geez. So I sat outside watching people and drank my hot chocolate. Then I went over to the quad lift and got video of them coming down. I told them to go up again and I would take pictures of Katie then meet them at the lunch area.

Kaleb and Roby

So I went back over to the easy rider lift and waited to take pictures of Katie. I stood there about 20 min and no Katie. It was like 2:30 and she was to be in lessons until 3pm. So I went over to the children's learning center and they said she just came in. So we got all her stuff, her report card said she was now a level 3. She has one more lesson left and then we will be taking everyone up. We waited for Roby and Kaleb and shortly they came down. The ride back was pretty uneventful. Roby and I were wiped out and the kids seemed to be gaining energy the further away from the mountain we got.

It had snowed up on powderhorn maybe 16 inches from Thursday to Sunday. Saturday they had a terrain park competition. Saturday when I checked the base it was 52 inches. When we got there Sunday it was 50 inches. It was a gorgeous sun shiny day. When we left it was 44 degrees. This morning when I checked the website they were down to a 47 inch base. It is supposed to snow up there today through Thursday.

The Removal of my Cast

This is the video I shot this morning of my cast being removed. They put me in the "cock up" splint, still a funny name. But I can type two handed again. I go back in, in another two weeks for more x-rays. The video is just over 10 min long.

MARY JANE (WINTER PARK) DEFEATS ME!

Me and Tarra waiting for the shuttle back to the Mary Jane parking lot.

Tarra enjoying lunch!

Troy taking a crap while reading the map.

Me with my club arm.

So yesterday I got to meet Tarra, Troy, and Mandi at Winter Park for a very interesting day. I stayed at the Comfort Inn in Dillon the night previous and headed towards Winter Park around 630am. As I hadn't eaten breakfast I decided I would head into Idaho Springs and stop by the McDonalds (just a few miles beyond the Winter Park turn off). I shortly realized this may have been a mistake because of the bumper to bumper traffic headed westbound I-70, the ski traffic. Needless to say I got my breakfast and was headed to Winter Park (WP). Having never been to WP the drive was interesting with sharp curves up and down a mountain. I told Tarra I would meet them at the Mary Jane Parking area Dotsero Junction, I didn't realise how logistically difficult it would be to park there, but they had a 6 person lift that went straight to the top of the mountain. They arrived in the parking lot shortly after I did. Tarra came over and tried on the boots I had brought for her to use with her new skis.

We all got dressed and headed over to the ticket booth. All of they had bought their tickets down in Denver where they were 18 dollars cheaper, I had one of the passes we had bought before the season started. I suggested to Tarra that she take the skis and boots into the shop to have them fit the boots to the bindings, which was a good thing. When Renae and I got the skis the were probably set to a kids ski boot because they wouldn't lengthen to a size 8 1/2 boot. Tarra rented a size 8 boot which ended up being painful. But soon we were all ready and headed up on the lift. I actually stood up mostly when I exited the lift, yeah. Troy lead us over to the "Village Way run, which later we found out was WP's longest run, I would venture to guess at least two miles and lots of flatness. But the top section started pretty good. Tarra was impressed that I could make turns on my board, I connected several on the steeper section, but as the run started to flatten out I became more and more frustrated as I was falling more. Troy and Mandi headed on down as Tarra stuck with me. I fell twice and hit my head which really rung my bell and I fell another time and landed really hard on my back and tailbone. On some of the flat areas Tarra would hold out her pole and I would grab on, she would pull me along, this was much more work for her than it was for me, but I really appreciate it. Tarra started indicating that she was dizzy, from altitude, I kept telling her to go on down. At on point, probably a mile into the run, I took of my snowboard and started walking, to stretch out my repulled groin muscle. Troy and Mandi caught up with us and Mandi walked a little bit with me. I'd strap on my board for when there where longer stretches of more downhill, then I'd take it off to walk the flats. At one point Tarra said I need to get down to get some water, so I told her I'd meet them at the bottom of Village Way the everlasting freakin run. I finally made it to the bottom after 1 1/2 hours of being on the run.

I saw Tarra, Troy and Mandi so put down my board and Tarra and I headed inside to get something to eat.

This is where parking at Mary Jane made it difficult logistically. We all brought stuff for lunch, but where we came down and where our cars where were opposite sides of the mountain. We would to have gone up about midway up gone down some advanced intermediate up another lift and down Mary Jane just to get to the car or take the shuttle. So we ate and joked, poor Troy the only guy with three women. As we were about finished with lunch we watched a guy go get his snowboard which was leaning up with many other snow equipment (skis, boards, mono skis etc) well when he lifted his board it started a domino effect and our whole table watched this guy knock over like 50 boards and skis. We all erupted with laughter, I nearly pee'd my pants. Then the guy didn't even try to pick up any of the stuff he just knocked over, but went over to his buddies and pointed look what I did, jeez.

So Troy and Mandi where going to hit some longer advanced runs and Tarra and I were going to go up to discovery park. I made it off the lift again on my board. But this lift was almost going to slow for me. I strapped in and Tarra helped me up b/c of my pulled groin muscle and being one handed I had a lot of difficulty getting up. We went about half way down the run, I fell a couple times but the last fall, I really tweaked my groin, so took off my board. Tarra said "you need to ride down", I was like no I'll just walk, but she flagged a snow mobile take takes the disabled skiers up and down the mountain. He said he wasn't supposed to, but took me down anyway. So my first snowmobile ride.

It was about 145p and Tarra and I asked where to catch the shuttle back to the Mary Jane Parking lot. We started walking to the shuttle stop talking and laughing when we came to this puddle of water, Tarra decided to walk through it (mind you with her ski boots still on) while I walked around. I stopped to turn around to talk to her and just like slow mo she hit some ice, up went the poles, over went the skis, and there is Tarra laying flat on her back in a big puddle of dirty brown water (wearing Troy's white pair of snow pants). I ask if she is ok before or as I start laughing hysterically. Also this big puddle is where all the traffic comes in and out of the village. (I'm trying not to laugh as I write this) I help pick up the skis and poles, she says "some friend you are laughing at me", I said " I would have stopped the bus before it ran over you and be glad I like you." So we laugh the rest of the way to the shuttle stop as I point out all the icy spots. The shuttle driver was lots of fun we all made fun of me boarding and Tarra "choosing" to live in Kansas. We get back to the car and change clothes. We are to meet Troy and Mandi at 3pm. We have about 20-30 min to kill so we turn in Tarra's boots, I pick out a sticker for Winter Park. The were also having a sale on their logo wear buy one get one, so Tarra and I split the cost and each got a sweatshirt for 25 bucks. I looked but they didn't have any that said "Mary Jane kicked my butt"

We saw Troy and Mandi headed to their car so Tarra and I met up with them, we ate some lunch meat, laughed and told some more stories something about the smell of tuna fish and said or goodbyes.

Even though I only did the equivalent of maybe two runs I had a blast and didn't break anything. It was good seeing everyone again, good friends and good times.

I've included a trail map of our fateful three hour run on Village Way. You will have to click on the picture to enlarge it. The purple is where we parked and rode the lift up, the pink is when I was actually on my board, the red splats are where I splatted and the Green is the portion I walked (which was a lot more than I boarded).

Check out the fashionable Kailynn

That's right, I'm in Italy chillin'.



"Hey put some snuggly warm clothes on me, it's cold"

Baby Kailynn will be a week old tomorrow. She's already developing her little personality as you can see through the pictures.

Back on the Board (Snow) Again

Katie walking with her instructor Neil.

Well this past Sunday I was back up at Powderhorn getting my butt kicked by the mountain. I picked Roby and the kids up at 0830 and we headed to Powderhorn. Katie went into the Children's Learning Center for a lesson and Roby took Kaleb while I had a two hour lesson in the morning with Bob and a one hour lesson in the afternoon. So I got outside to meet Bob like 5 min till 10am. I felt bad for him because being one-handed makes some things extremely difficult. He was a good sport though and help tighten up my new boots, put my dry bag over my cast and tape it, put my helmet on, and last zip up my coat, which is somewhat difficult with two hands.
But there we were headed over to the easy rider lift. I got off while standing on my board yeah, but didn't know how to stop so up the little snow bank I went and boom right on my butt, laughing. Bob says lets go down "Bottom's Up". My stomach was instantly in my throat as that was the run I broke my wrist on, but I said ok. Lessons started a little slow because I was petrified to go from heel edge to toe edge. So I'd do this heel slide down until Bob said eventually you are going to have to turn. It was pretty nerve wracking as I was very anxious. We worked on stances and carving turns. Bob said I looked pretty good the first run. So we headed back up the EZ Rider lift to "bottom's Up" still lots of anxiety, plus it wore me quickly as it was just Bob and I. I was able to make a couple of quick turns which made me feel uber good.
Bob the suggested we go to the quad chair and head down from midway. I wish blogger would allow me to draw what exiting the lift looked like at midway, as the lift continues on up the mountain. But picture heading up the hill on a lift and here comes the exit, which initially looks quite innocent, but death awaits with her deceiving looks. As we straighten our boards in preparation to unload the picture unfolds of a 90 degree down angle for about 6 feet that then flattens for about 10 feet, then runs into the orange fencing. Approaching this I am screaming HELL no (not sure if it was in my head or not but I was screaming), I hear Bob yell unload or get off or hey stupid and then I'm laying on the ground, going what happened. Of course then the run we are now on is like a 60 degree pitch and Bob says you just need to lean into the hill a little more. Good God Bob I'm already touching the snow at the front of my board. Comically I try to snowboard down the hill, but end up doing a toe edge slide down the steepest pitch. I'm sure at several points I actually snowboarded, but what I remember best is Bob and I sitting in the middle of one of the runs eating the snow, laughing and talking (Bob is good people and I highly recommend him as an instructor). We make it down and it is lunch time. I hook up with Roby and Kaleb, who are having a good time. I send Roby up for a few runs while I watch Kaleb then hook back up with Bob at 130pm. I must have pulled a groin muscle in the am because man does it hurt on my right side. I suggest maybe we head up the EZ Rider lift again to work on carving edges.
Up we go and I stick the landing, yeah. We work on stances, but I can tell I'm tired because I'm getting sloppy. Bob suggests just for the fact of being tired and not wanting to hurt me further that we go back up the EZ Rider. We head down the EZ run. Minus the one time I sat down (on purpose) I ran the whole run without falling. Of course there were several times that I was exhausted and while on heel edge bent over my board until I could gather the muscle matter to complete 5 or so more turns. I even through in a few quick turns. What a way to end the day. Thanks Bob.
I did get to see Bob fall a couple of times while he was goofing off, good times man.