Thursday
We arrived in Denver at a decent time on Thursday morning thanks to time change that worked in our favor. Everyone in our group of 10 landed in Colorado within a few hours of each other and we rented three cars to transport all of us from Denver to Breckenridge. The two-hour drive passed quickly but the slushy roads and consistent snowfall kept our southern crew on our toes!
Once we arrived in Breckenridge, a small group of us checked in to see if we could pick up our ski rentals for the weekend but were told we were a little too early so we made our way to a nearby brewery for drinks and lunch.
(Jacket: Steve Madden / Jeans: Old Navy / Boots: Sam Edelman / Top: Old Navy / Beanie: Aerie)
We then figured we should get everything in order for the next few days and grabbed some food and drinks to adequately stock our two condos for the next three days. My friend Leah found us two ski-in/ski-out condos located side-by-side which was perfect because we could easily pop between the two condos and all be together most of the trip. (We stayed at SkiWatch overlooking Peak 8 for anyone interested.)
After a long day of traveling and getting situated, once we were all back at the condo, we opted to order pizza in and enjoy our drinks by the fire.
Friday
The next two days of our vacation centered around skiing and snowboarding!
Ryan has been dying to plan a ski vacation for us for years but I was always hesitant for just the two of us to go together because his skill level is quite a bit higher than mine and I figured we wouldn’t spend a ton of time on the slopes together. A group ski vacation was the perfect answer to this dilemma since our group had varying levels of ability. Within our group, we had two who had never skied before, a few who had skied handful of times (myself included) and a handful who were confident enough to ski/snowboard blacks (Ryan included).
Five of us signed up for lessons on Friday morning and this was a great decision. My friend Merri is an awesome skier and thoroughly encouraged the less-experienced members of our group to take lessons and I’m so glad she steered us in this direction. Laurel and her husband John had never skied before so they went into the beginner group while Leah, Ashley and I took a level three lesson. (There are nine levels and we were told we were “advanced beginners.”) We worked on hockey stops, weaving down the mountain and increasing our confidence on the slopes.
Once we were done, the three of us did a few greens on our own before making our way back to the condos to meet up with the rest of our group for lunch. I prepped a double batch of my crockpot cheesy chicken chili which worked well to easily feed a large group of people.
We were all anxious to get back out on the slopes and Leah and I felt confident enough to attempt a blue before the slopes closed for the day. The one problem: Apparently the blue we tried was one of the hardest on the mountain. When we got off the lift, Leah and I had a bit of a freak out moment because the beginning of the run was so steep! Somehow we made it down the mountain by slowly weaving our way through the steep areas but that was enough for us for the day. Phew!
After our ski adventures, we headed out for a few drinks at the base of the mountain before making our way back to the condos to change and get ready for dinner at Blue River Bistro in town.
(Jacket: Steve Madden / Leggings: Lululemon / Boots: Sam Edelman / Socks: Bombas / Beanie: American Eagle)
Since our group was so large, we couldn’t get a reservation for all of us at one table and opted to split up the guys and girls and had fun sending shots to our respective tables.
We headed back to the condos after dinner and hung out together for a few hours before calling it a night.
Saturday
Saturday we were up early thanks to the time difference and headed out to ski soon after the lifts opened.
(Ski Apparel Details: Top: Lululemon but old / Pants: Roxy / Wool Socks: Amazon/ Balaclava Fleece Ski Mask: Amazon / Columbia — this one is similar)
I spent most of the morning skiing greens with Leah and Ashely and we had a blast!
I actually rode the lifts leading up to the greens with some of the little kids from ski school a few times (they ask for adults to volunteer to ride with little ones from time to time) and they were so stinking cute. The kids all looked like little marshmallows walking around and I couldn’t get over how good some of them were on the mountain. Most of the kids I talked to were from Colorado and seemed to be avid skiers and it certainly showed!
Eventually Ashley and Leah were ready to head in but I was still in the mood to ski for a bit and linked up with Ryan who was confident he found some blues I would enjoy. He skied them earlier in the day and assured me they didn’t have any of the big drop offs like the one we did the day before so I put my faith in his judgment and we headed off!
Ryan opted to snowboard on this trip and our afternoon of skiing and snowboarding together was one of the highlights of our vacation! We did several runs together and the blues I did on Saturday were incredibly fun and much more manageable than my first attempt on Friday. I felt comfortable and confident on the slopes and loved following Ryan down the mountain. Also, after spending so much time on the greens earlier in the day, it was awesome to be able to go down much longer runs and explore different parts of the mountain. It was seriously so cool and cemented my desire to ski more often!
Ryan and I were the last two on the slopes from our group and once we were done for the day, we linked back up with our friends at the base of the mountain for lunch and drinks!
The rest of our time in Colorado passed by in a blur of hot tub fun, drinks at the condo and Mexican food for dinner. We all said we could’ve used another day of skiing and more time to explore Breckenridge but we definitely made the most of the days we had together and are already talking about planning another ski trip next year!
Our time away was so amazing for so many reasons and we are so grateful to my mom and my Aunt Laurie for teaming up to watch our boys for us while we were away. They juggled various school drop offs, nap times, activities and more and seemed to genuinely enjoy doing it. They’re the best!
Sunday
Ryan and I arrived home from Colorado in the early evening on Sunday and could not wait to wrap our boys up in the biggest hugs. We brought home geodes and little local leather animal keychains for the boys and they loved their little souvenirs!
Now that we’re all caught up, it’s time to get this Monday rockin’! I hope you all have a fantastic week!
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So fun! Question: how do you get photos of you and Ryan or your whole family when you aren’t around others you know? Do you just ask strangers or do you set up a self timer?
Both!! I’ll often ask strangers or we also have a collapsible tripod that I’ll bring on family trips so we can easily snap a quick family pic!
Hi Julie! Longtime blog reader here! So happy y’all enjoyed your vacation to Breckenridge! Saturday was a gorgeous day to be skiing! I was down the road skiing at Keystone Resort! Wishing you a great week as you get back into the swing of things. 🙂
What did you think of Keystone? We are hoping to plan another ski trip next year and that is on our radar! Also, yes! The weather was incredible! Everybody told us we were majorly lucky with such gorgeous, warm, sunny January weather!
My husband and I both LOVE Keystone! The mountain isn’t as crazy busy as Breckenridge can be. It has a small ski village at the base of the mountain which is fun. Compared to Breckenridge there isn’t as much to do aside from activities at the ski resort, so that would be a downside. Renting a car and being able to drive over to Breck or into Frisco/Dillon would be key!
So much fun!! My husbands been begging me for a night away but I’m still nursing. Do you have a post on traveling while away from baby and nursing?
I TOTALLY get this and exclusively breastfeeding all of our boys for over a year has definitely played into us not traveling without the kids for a long time. None of our boys have taken a bottle well and so I’ve waited until they were eating solid food and didn’t need a lot of breastmilk to leave them overnight. I am still nursing in the morning & evening and left some frozen breastmilk for my mom and aunt but Rhett didn’t want or need it. I just pumped while we were gone to try to keep my supply up (but I’ve admittedly already noticed a dip) and thankfully Rhett nursed last night and this morning which I’m hoping will help my supply regulate again. I’m also at the point where I am okay with weaning. It’s hard to navigate and so personal to each mom and I just wish I had more advice!! One thing I will say is that I relate to feeling a little envious of other moms who can easily leave their babies overnight because that wasn’t the case for us for a very long time because of breastfeeding. I wouldn’t change it at all because I feel so fortunate to have been able to nurse for so long but I totally get how you and your husband may be feeling. <3
Thank you, Julie. I just feel like a night away is more work because I’ll have to pump but maybe I’m just looking for an excuse to not go 😉🤣 I appreciate your reply. I do get anxious to leave my 12 month old!!
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it! Breck is definitely a great mountain with a great town to explore! Check out Copper Mountain next time! It’s 10 minutes further off of 70. Not much of a ski town like Breck – but has a few restaurants and what not. But I absolutely love the mountain. It’s naturally groomed so all the greens are on one side and the blacks are on the other. I love it because it is smaller and doesn’t typically get the crowds of The Vail Group mountains. If you do go to Copper and you get an Adult’s Season pass, it does come with a free kid’s season pass too. So if you do go and want to start to take the kids, that’s definitely an economical option.
Looks like an amazing trip!! I like the group idea so you have different levels of skiers. I have only skied a couple times and not really a fan, but I have only skied in Wisconsin and New York. My dad loves the west coast so maybe I should try again in the west coast. My husband was part of the ski club in college and I’m sure would love to ski again.
I’m sorry I made you go down the blue. I’m a jerk
Still over here having nightmares 😅😆
So glad you had fun! I started skiing in Colorado every year in college and after grad school I moved out here to keep on skiing! I love the mountains but now with a 3 yr old and 8 month old, we don’t go out nearly as much! We just buy 4 packs and ski during the week days while the kiddos are in daycare. Although we’ve taken our 3 yr old up the mountain twice last year and plan to take her on 2 weeks! We plan to move back to St Louis where we are both from to be close to family, but I will definitely miss being able to easily go up to the mountains! Some other good beginner mountains are Copper, Winter Park, and Keystone.
We have yet to have a night away from our kiddos. Being away from family makes that a lot harder. I’ve also have only been away from my toddler twice lasting about 1.5 weeks total and one of the times I had to pump while away. Both to help my brother recover from his surgery in Vail, so not even that far and 0 times with the baby. Breastfeeding definitely adds another complex layer. But it’s good to have some nights away with your spouse and enjoy being yourselves.
What were your top three restaurants you ate at? Going there at the end of March so I’ll make some reservations now if I’m able.
Thanks for this post! I haven’t skiied in 10 or 15 years and have been scared to get back on the slopes. My kids are starting to ski now, and I want to be able to ski with them! So this is giving me the confidence to go out and get a lesson and get back to it!
You definitely should! It’s been YEARS since I’ve skied and I was shocked at how quickly I felt comfortable after a 2 hour lesson. We are actually taking the boys next weekend (just 6 hrs away) and I am so so excited to see what they think!
How would you say the traction is for the Sam Edelman boots? Having an outdoor winter wedding ceremony in March so am looking for some snow boots for the ceremony! Also, would highly recommend Vail or Beaver Creek for another ski trip!
Good! The condo where we stayed was ski in/ski out so I wore those up and down the mountain to get to the bottom of the mountain when we went out for food/drinks and had no issues!
Awesome, thank you!
So fun!!! I was hoping to see you on the slopes to have a quick fangirl moment but I am so happy that you guys had a great time!! I loveee breck. Weren’t the views from the blues beautiful?!
This makes me so excited for our upcoming trip to Breckinridge! We are taking our three kids. We’re there any restaurants there you would recommend?
Hello from Denver area! Glad you had a wonderful time! I have not skied since having kids and we plan to go up this month with the kids in tow (ages 5 and 7). Covid delayed things but the kids have taken indoor ski lessons (they learn on carpet) and are ready for the real deal now. Can’t wait to get back on the slopes!