Raible Designs

Celebrating My Mom's Retirement

A couple of weeks ago, after attending Abbie's Talent Show, the kids and I packed up and headed to Oregon for a weekend. This weekend marked a special weekend for my parents. When we arrived, my Mom had a week left of work before she retired from the Bureau of Land Management. You might've read about my Mom in the past. And you might know that my Dad retired last year.

My Mom has always enjoyed her career and I like to think I get a lot of enthusiasm for my own career from her. She taught me to love what you do for a living. When we lived at The Cabin, she had the drive and ambition to go back to school to get her degree in Forestry. Upon graduation, she got a job with the BLM and we moved to Oregon. My parents have lived there since 1990.

The weekend we spent in Oregon was somewhat magical. My parent's house sold in March after being on the market for only two weeks. They had a week left before they packed up and moved back to The Cabin. This meant the outside was pristine (because they fixed it up for the new buyers) and the inside was mostly packed. It was a sunny 3 days that weekend (which is rare in Oregon) and we had a blast at the Oregon Garden Brewfest, enjoyed a sunny BBQ with old friends and shared many memories derived from their 20 years in Oregon.

It was a somewhat bittersweet experience, meeting with all their friends and talking about their move to Montana. Many expressed sadness that they were leaving, but that didn't stop my parents from grinning ear-to-ear. You could see the excitement of moving back home sparkle in their eyes.

They have a huge challenge ahead of them and it seems they couldn't be happier. They'll be working on The New Cabin many long days and expect it to take a year or two.

I think my Mom said it best in an email she sent my sister and I a few days ago:

It's 9:30 and we are at Quinn's Hot Springs. Your father is snoring, he didn't last long when his head hit the pillow. We got here about 3, had a glass of wine and then soaked in the pools for an hour. Had a good dinner (I had buffalo short ribs -- mmm delicious) . They have a network, so I'm using my ipod for email.

I was crying when I drove across the state line because it felt so good to be home!

We are having a very nice drive home!! We love you!!!

Congratulations on Retiring Mom! You deserve it more than anyone else I know.

Enhanced Version » My Mothers Day Card

Farewell to the 2009-2010 Ski Season

The 2009-2010 Ski Season ended for me last weekend. This was mostly due to the fact that Winter Park and Copper closed and that's where I have my ski pass at. I'm writing this post to reflect upon what a great ski season it was. I skipped writing a similar post in 2009, mostly because I was basking in the Florida sun at a helluva wedding on the last ski weekend. 2008's season was the last one I wrote about, and I managed to get 21 days in that year.

This season, I managed to get in 25 days, my most ever in a season! Not only that, but I got to watch Jack ski like a madman, enjoy a fantastic weekend with friends in Jackson Hole and perform The Trifecta. As a parent, I feel like a lot of hard work and persistence has finally paid off. Jack can now get on and off the lift by himself and Abbie hit her first jump (catching 2-3 feet of air) in the terrain park. Yes, I'm a proud papa.

Personally, I was able to complete several top-to-bottom runs (without stopping) at Mary Jane. This was a goal last year that I was never able to accomplish. This feat requires you to be in good shape and have some eloquence in your skiing style. I thank my good friend Matt Good for his tips on how to ski bumps more smoothly, exerting less energy. The one thing I failed to pull off was a helicopter, even though I tried twice. Oh well, I'll get it next year.

Thanks to all my skiing friends for the good times and to Winter Park, Mary Jane, Copper Mountain, Steamboat and Jackson Hole for the wonderful slopes. Can't wait to do it again next year.

The Trifecta: 3 Resorts in 3 Days

Last Tuesday night, I worked late in hopes of having a Powder Day on Wednesday. I went to bed at 2 a.m., woke up at 6 a.m. and found that there was only 5" of fresh powder at Winter Park. My ski rule is there has to be 9" of powder in order to justify playing hookie. Working these extra hours on Tuesday -- coupled with a late night on Wednesday -- and I hit my 40-hour-max on Thursday. Naturally, I took Friday off and headed for the hills. Below is how I started my Friday morning.

After several high-speed groomed runs, I hit Mary Jane's bumps a few times (completing Outhouse and Trestle w/o stopping) and watched the Whiteout begin around 11.

Around noon, I began searching for a location to watch DU in the NCAA Hockey Playoffs. Unable to find a bar with ESPN U, I skied until 2 and then headed to my friend's mountain home. He had the game recorded, so I got to watch it and endure its unfortunate outcome. DU played really well, but couldn't beat RIT.

On Saturday, the snow report said 6" at Steamboat and 6.5" at Winter Park. Since we hadn't been to Steamboat in a while, my friend (a.k.a. The Professor) and I decided to drive there for the day. It was an excellent decision because there was easily a foot of fresh powder in the chutes and trees. We skied from 9:30 to 4:00; easily my most difficult day of skiing this year.

On Sunday, I woke up and read the ski report: Copper had 3" of new snow. That's when it hit me that I could pull of The Trifecta. I don't know that I've ever done 3 resorts in 3 days before, but I'm happy to report I've done it now. Sunday was a beautiful day of Spring Skiing and Copper did not disappoint. They'd received 7" inches in 48 hours, making Sunday an awesome day for trees and double blacks. There was plenty of powder, great friends and lots of smiles from everyone. You can see from the pictures below what a beautiful Blue Bird Day it was.

With only 3 weeks left in ski season, I'm happy to report I have 22 days in. With any luck, I'll hit 25 days and set a personal record.

Fantastic Fun in Jackson Hole

For the last couple of years, I've done a ski trip with college buddies to an out-of-state destination. Two years ago, we went to Tahoe and had a great time. Last year, we did it again and I (amazingly) flew and rented a car without a driver's license. This year, we decided to switch things up a bit and head for Jackson Hole.

In previous years, only a couple of us went, but this year was organized by my good friend from Boston, Chris Morse. He managed to take it up a notch and invited a great group of guys, 9 of us in all. I knew about half the group, and met everyone else upon arrival.

The only unfortunate part about the trip was that no new snow fell. However, the Spring Skiing was warm and beautiful, somewhat making up for the lack of snow. The thing I enjoyed the most about this trip was how well the group jelled. Kudos to Chris for assembling such an awesome group and putting such a spectacular trip together. Can't wait for next year.

For further action of what the conditions where like, checkout the YouTube video I made. If only I'd recorded it for another 5 seconds to catch the digger that Corey takes at the end.

To see all the pictures we took on this adventure, checkout my Jackson Hole Set on Flickr.

Jack's Skiing Like A Madman!

My kids have been skiing since they were pretty little. Abbie started when she turned 3 and Jack started when he was 2. I don't know that I'd recommend starting kids that early because it's taken a long time for them to get good. Abbie was good last year and it looks like Jack is coming on strong this year.

On Saturday, I took Abbie and Jack up to Copper Mountain's Tubing Hill. It was a balmy 45°F day and we had a blast flying down the mountain. I especially liked run #3 that had a double jump in its path.

After tubing, Jack proved he's a crazy 5-year old; then we grabbed our skis and hit the slopes for a couple runs. By the 2nd run, Jack was flying past both Abbie and I and giggling while doing it. It was a special moment for me considering he's been skiing since 2 and only recently let go of me.

Today, we headed to Winter Park for a few more runs. Since Jack has become bolder, I decided to skip the lift-walk-bus-walk pain-in-the-ass section at the bottom of Winter Park and park at Mary Jane (where you can easily walk-ski to the lift). We ended up skiing at the top of the mountain most of the time. I recall a couple times where Jack would go flying past Abbie and I and I'd think "I really hope he doesn't wipe out 'cause that's gonna hurt." By the end of the day, he was skiing down blues and even tried some bumps. Great job today Jack - you've made me proud.

With Spring Skiing right around the corner, I think there's gonna be some good races in the next couple months.

My Guest Room Remodel is finished!

On December 5th, I flew home from Orlando (after The Rich Web Experience) and arrived home to the sound of waterfalls in my house. As soon as I opened the door, I knew something was wrong. Sure enough, the pipes had burst in my back guest room and water was pouring out of my ceiling. My guess is that it'd been happening for days.

The following week was quite interesting as I juggled a cleanup with lots of fans and a house without water. My water got turned on by Wednesday and I gained a whole new appreciation for indoor plumbing. Initially, I thought I could get everything fixed before my family arrived for Christmas. As their arrival approached, I became less and less hopeful and quickly scrambled to setup a couple ad hoc guest rooms.

After the Christmas holiday, I met with a local contractor (the same guy who fixed my plumbing initially) and discussed my options. The cheapest option (a.k.a. the one my homeowner's insurance would cover) was to put everything back like it was. However, it was readily apparent that if we did this, there's a good chance busted pipes would happen again. Therefore, I made the leap and decided to remodel the whole thing. Major changes made were 1) moving the bathroom to an opposite corner, 2) adding an interior window for light from the skylights and 3) adding a door to the bathroom from Jack's room.

The results are something I'm very happy with. I'd like to thank Nu Image for their great work and my parents for flying in to help finish it all up. If you're a friend of mine and looking for some powder runs this winter, I have a nice guest room for you to stay in.

For more pictures, see my Guest Room Remodeling set on Flickr.

Upside Down Man Saves the Day

Yesterday, Abbie and Jack showed you how to be a superhero. Today they're back with an action-packed video titled Upside Down Man Saves the Day. Watch it if you'd like to see how to take out a tiger, wrestle an alligator and diffuse a bomb. This short film was written, directed and filmed by Abbie, the only thing I did was add the music. Enjoy!

If you have trouble viewing it here, check it out on YouTube.

How to be a Super Hero by Abbie and Jack

For some reason, my kids are very interested in Super Heros lately. In fact, they know so much about them that they've decided to start teaching others how to become one. Checkout the videos we shot earlier today with their step-by-step instructions.

I hope Abbie and Jack's tips help you become a super hero!

My Hunting Season Adventure at The Cabin

Last year, I decided Hunting Season in Montana would be a yearly tradition for me. It all started a couple years ago when I was talking to my Dad about his yearly hunting trip. He hunted a lot when we lived in Montana (early 70s - 1990) and continued this tradition when he moved to Oregon. I figured it'd be a good opportunity for some father/son bonding and asked him if I could join him one year. We soon realized we had the perfect Hunting Oasis at The Cabin and should make it a yearly tradition.

My Dad lived in Oregon for 20 years, hunted every fall with his buddy Wayne, and retired earlier this year. Shortly after retiring, he moved to Montana to start building his "retirement cabin" (with running water and indoor plumbing). My Mom, kids and I joined him in July and made some good progress on finishing the foundation.

This weekend, shortly after working all night, missing a flight, and discovering the New Belgium Hub at DIA, I arrived in Missoula for this year's hunting season. Because I arrived at midnight, we decided to spend the night at a hotel near the airport. The next morning, we woke up and drove 2 hours to the Swan Valley. We arrived at The Cabin, started the heat stove and began unloading the truck. After being there 15 minutes and starting to settle in, my Dad started to talk about where the deer usually roamed. He pointing down by the garden and mumbled "They usually come out of there..." As he was talking, I looked out our kitchen window and say a huge buck. My heart leapt into my throat.

I shouted "GO!" and my Dad quickly responded with "NO! It's yours!" I said "It's been 20 years, YOU go!" and off he went to grab his rifle. Seconds later we were out on the porch and he was trying to find the beautiful 4-point Whitetail buck in his scope. The buck quickly disappeared behind the woodshed and outhouse and didn't appear again until he was almost on the front road.

When the target walked across the road, I whispered loudly "Go, GO - get him!!"

Shortly after a shot was fired that dropped him from our view.

My Dad scrambled off the porch, trying to reload at the same time and jamming his rifle. "Get the other gun!" he yelled (because a deer is rarely done after the first shot) and I ran into the house to grab some bullets and the other rifle. By the time I made it back out to the front yard, another shot was fired. My Dad turned to me and said, "He's gone."

I thought, "WTF?!" I thought for sure he'd got him on the first shot. Turns out, "He's gone" also means "He's dead". The picture below illustrates my Dad's impressive accomplishment.

After that, we both walked back to The Cabin to put our rifles away and got ready to haul it back.

As I was returning down the road to the deer, I spotted a good-size mountain lion on top of the hill. I didn't see its face, but saw enough of it to realize I should be carrying a rifle with me. A short sprint back to The Cabin and before I knew it, I was back by the deer, guarding it from any predators.

For the next couple hours, I learned how to gut a deer and enjoyed my Dad's overdue success. Congratulations Pappy - it seems you belong in Montana after all.

P.S. Today is my parents' 37th Anniversary. Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! You make marriage look both fun and easy. I hope you have fun cutting up all that meat!

Happy Birthday Abbie!

Today marks the 7th anniversary of Abbie's Birthday. Happy Birthday Kiddo!

To commemorate this special occasion, I pulled out some pictures from the archives. Here's one of her and I on her first weekend, as well as her first cheerleader outfit.

To see how Abbie has grown up over the years, see past Happy Birthday posts: #1, #3, #4, #5 and #6.