Ice Climbing

So you know those weeks where you are just dreaming of going out and doing something adventurous? I have been in that state since the new year, luckily I have people around here that think of me when they want to go do something crazy cool like ice climbing. That is really all Byrd had to say and I was in. The poor med students wives we are entail that we didn't just spend hundreds of dollars on clinics or gear of our own, we went to this ice climbing demo day put on by the climbing gear companies like Petzel and Black Diamond, it only cost us a day to drive up to Green Bay and $10 to get in. (They don't really have mountains in Green Bay just a gravel quarry which they put the ice routes down the sheer cliff walls) The downside of this event was that they didn't expect many people to show up to this little event (who really from Wisconsin is into ice climbing) but there were over 100 people there and half of them trying out the demo gear. So we were sitting around waiting, watching people climb, and just chatting, a couple hours seriously went by and we were thinking we would have to leave without even getting a try. But randomly this guy that saw we were waiting asked if we wanted to try his shoes and crampons so that we could climb. They were a little big, but what the hay anything to get us on the ice. As we proceeded to switch around boots he informed us on the techniques to ice climbing. It was easier then I thought it was going to be, but really wore me out quick too (guess I gotta work out my forearms more). We each only got 1/3 of the way up the entire ice face, but we didn't start out on an easy route so that makes it a little better. And we got some sweet pics out of it! Really I think I want to get into this more someday.

Byrd, Marcy and I showing off our stuff outside of the Ice Pit.

Here you can see the different routes they have to climb, they had smaller ones over the the right of this too.

Here we are just watching in amazement

Up close to the wall

Here I am climbing

And some more climbing

Here we are after climbing

(I swear my helmet was a kids size and makes my head look big)

Matchy Matchy Green Squared

This really was not on purpose. I got this new green sweater for $5 at the outlets and so I wanted to wear it on Sunday. I was in the bathroom when Brad walked in wearing his green tie (he has more then one green tie and he happen to choose the one that almost perfectly matched) and it made me think back to college when we used to quote "matchy matchy green squared" all the time.

Fufilling our Snowboarding Need

So we have been anxious to go snowboarding since we didn't go at all last year. We looked into going while we were in Colorado for the holiday break, but the extra expense of either paying to fly our boards or renting them there made it just a little too much to fit into our budget. On our return to Wisconsin we were met by a big snow storm. The timing was perfect, Brad only had been back at school for 1 week so his load hasn't fully returned quite yet so this would be the best day to take off for snowboarding. Now we were quite warned by several people that Wisconsin ski resorts were nothing compared to our west. I found a resort with a 500 foot vertical drop (not much but there are even smaller to choose from). We woke up early and drove west, only it felt different because we never increased in elevation, in fact there was a time we thought we were lost because we were driving on a little country road passing farm after farm. When finally we got there we were surprised that the size wasn't as bad as we thought. Though Brad could probably get down a run in 2 or 3 minutes, it took me a little longer especially when I fell. Though the terrain was perfect for me to practice my carving, in fact I was snowboarding the best I ever have before. I almost felt like I was pretty good as there were actually other people there that were learning and falling more than I was (as compared to in Colorado where you are always past up by these 10 year old snowboarding masters.) We had a lot of fun and hopefully it filled us up enough for another long drought.

We took our camera but it ran out of batteries so these are from our cell phones

Christmas

Like everyone else I feel like I still wanted to post about the Christmas break even though that was so last year. We had a wonderful time in Colorado and were grateful to see both our families. I have to thank mother nature for the wonderful weather we enjoyed, I didn't even put my coat on until I returned to Wisconsin. For the most part we just enjoyed being with family by playing a lot of games (thanks for making some up for us Bro-dog). It was a good break for Brad, I think I only caught him studying one or two times (now it is nose to the grindstone as we countdown to boards). We did also get a chance to go the the Aquarium in Denver (by my parents promise since we took them to the Sears Tower). If you know Brad you know how long we spent in there. His favorite part was hand feeding the stingrays, and my favorite part was still the flash flood that comes at you and is stopped by a glass wall (I watched it twice). Our goal was to get our Christmas cards out at least by new years (since Christmas was out of the question), but we even failed at that, so if you were thinking we forgot you sorry, we really just forgot everyone. Thanks to those that sent us cars they are on our fridge (I can say that because I know you read our blog). We are thinking maybe valentine cards or easter...

Here are a couple pics that we got of the random activities that we did.


Brad showing us how to feed the stingray


The stingray coming up to the side because he can smell his food

Brad and I infront of one of the huge tanks.

My fam after $1 bowling, Brock killed us again.

Here we are showing off our iron on creations that we made together.

Now we didn't take any pictures of Christmas in Colorado but we did take pics of our own little christmas we had together.

We do have a bigger tree I just ran out of time to put it up so we pulled out our very first tree we had together (not all those presents are for us half of the got packed)

Brad got me these picture frames he saw me dreaming about at the store

I got Brad a nose hair trimmer! (okay I also really got him an aquarium fish book)