Skiing: Awesome and Painful

I've been meaning to write this post for days. Matt and I had our first ski trip this weekend. It was so much fun and I can't wait to go again. Yes, it was painful but let me explain. We got up way early for a Saturday (5:30 am), got dressed and left the puppies in their respective places. We met up with Dave and Mary at 6:45 and headed to Breck. The drive wasn't bad, not too much traffic. But when we got there, it took us 45 minutes to park!
We got to the top of the mountain just in time to start our day of lessons. We started with the very basics: sliding around on one ski, going up a magic carpet (mini lift that you stand on) and stopping using "pizza." (pointing your skis together) Before lunch, we were already up the lift to the bunny hill. At first, I wasn't really concentrating on turning myself to control my speed, rather, I used the "pizza" all the way down. That got really exhausting and my teacher made me follow him to see how I should be doing it.
I didn't mind his hints at all, but he seemed to feel the need to babysit Matt and ski with him all the time, giving constant tips. Matt and this other girl (who was REALLY struggling) were lumped together in the same group, and I thought Matt was doing a lot better than to deserve that.
One funny story is that right after we got off the ski lift the first time, we had to ski around a curve to get to the learning slope. Well I got going too fast around the curve and couldn't stop so I flung myself into a snowdrift. At least it was a soft landing! I seemed to do fine during the lessons, but when it came time to go down the actual full bunny slope, everything left my mind. I would get going too fast because it was a lot steeper than the learning area and so I would just fall. This probably happened 6-7 times! I was really frustrated but I know i'll get it. Needless to say, I was the last one down the mountain.
Now for the pain part: falling didn't cause it. My calves were so sore yesterday that I didn't even want to walk! Even today at work, I was drawing funny looks. I have never had that sore of muscles, not even in track! I am feeling much better this evening. I think part of it was that I was dehydrated.
Matt and I were so tired after that trip. I especially felt bad for Matt, who worked Thurs. night, got up early Friday to work the day shift so he could go to my Christmas party Friday night. We got up early Saturday to ski and really put our bodies through a lot. I spent Sunday cleaning the house and doing laundry while Matt hung Christmas lights. Then we went out for dinner and did some shopping and bought a real live Christmas tree. The tree is really tall and beautiful and we got a great price on it because they had discounted it for a "bare spot" that you can hardly notice. This is the first year I have had my own real tree! We have never really had the room or money before. It smells so good too. We still need to decorate it and the house, but I'm just happy it's up and the house is clean.
Right now as I type this, I have two sleeping dogs beside me. They are tired from their trip to the vet, where each of them got a handful of vaccinations and ear swabs. Perdi has gotten rid of her ear mites but now she has yeast in her ears. We have to wash out both of their ears with a perscription solution to make sure that everything gets taken care of. Not fun. Here's a tip for all of you Coloradans: if you get homesick and want to talk to someone from Kansas, go to a vet. I think they are all K-State grads, since it has such a good vet school, and they are all Kansas natives as well. It makes me feel a little closer to Kansas when I go to the vet with the dogs.
Now it is snowing like mad outside. I hope Matt gets home safely. We will have at LEAST 4 inches of snow by morning, but that's the conservative forecast. Like I said, it is really coming down.
We are negotiating with a Toyota dealer on a Highlander this week. I'll keep you posted...