-10.5 F

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Originally uploaded by Johnny Cakes.

From the dry and warm climate of New Jersey to sub zero Gunnison Basin temps. The DJ on KBUT announced -10.5 degrees F this morning at 8 am. It was far colder in Gunnison. This picture is of one of the south facing windows in our living room before the sun came over Round Mountain. Beautiful and frigid. Once the morning sun hits our windows we are golden, but it is a cold morning until that time. The woodstove and sun are working in tandem at the moment making things very cozy.

I am entitled to a full day off of work today and for that I am grateful. The kids were very cool to be around this trip. Sean's combination of sickness and touchy-feeliness was gross, and Alice could not stop bombarding me with questions, however, it really was a nice trip. The competition wasn't everything any of us hoped for, but it is another big event under their belts. James left at the crack-of-Jesus-early on Sunday with his parents - who came to check out the event. Sean, Alice and I went to NYC after breakfast and met up with my old friend Ben Lawrence in Manhatten. We parked on the lower west side and cruised through Union Square and into Soho for some strolling and shopping.

As always, NYC offered more stimulus than I could possibly take in. It was cool to be taking in the things that held my attention and then have one of the kids pointing out stuff that held their attention. Ben was the epitome of cool and mellow - always awesome. We hit a couple stores that Alice wanted to hit and then the Burton store as well. I got Katie a t-shirt that was designed by a Bronx grafitti artist and only 100 were made and offered exclusively at Burton NYC. Pretty cool. We took the subway from Soho back to our rig and made our way back to Newark in good time. The flight out east sucked, but the return trip was smooth as could be and infused with my friend Ben and some of Sean's homies as well on the flight.

Mission complete. I am grateful to be home with Katie and Cooper - who are laying in the sun on the living room floor. I think we are going to go for a skate ski a little later. Other than that, I plan to make the most out of some rest and relaxation, and some domestic duties.