Andrew Commander

Christmas eve was one of the coldest ski days I have ever had at Breckenridge.

Despite the cold temperatures, My Dad and I braved the wind chill of negative twenty five and had powder soft runs all day.

The first run was half groomed, half untouched soft. Starting the day on peak seven’s rolling terrain was a nice warm-up on my G3 Rapid Transit telemark skis.

It wasn’t the nice foot of powder I would have liked; but it was drifting in some places close to 8 inches. This drifting also ment that some places had nothing but rock hard ice. “Variable conditions” would describe the day better than “powder” yet I was still able to find face shots.

The top of the T-Bar was so brutally cold that I could only take three trips up, with breaks in-between.

Being on Christmas eve, I managed to even find Santa on a lift. This was a great way to spend the day before Christmas for me.

Santa at Breckenridge

School is now the priority until finals are over. I need to focus my attention now that I had a relaxing vacation on the islands of Kauai and Oahu, Hawaii.

My Dad’s cousin had three Dogues de Bordeaux. They were fun to play with and hang around.

I also got to ride in my great Uncles old Stingray convertible

While throwing the frisbee in the street, I saw the most unusual tree. I had to take a picture with my newly acquired camera. It was either trimmed up in a weird way, or its just plain weird.

My new camera died on Oahu and so I didn’t get to take any pictures of Kauai.

While there I surfed, snorkeled, zip-lined, attended a Lu-au, and pretended I was a seal on the beach laying out to catch some rays.

Hillside on Oahu

This was my second time in Hawaii but I was only 4 the first time. I had so much fun this time.

The only bad thing was the return flight to Denver, not just because I was leaving Hawaii. It was a 7 hour red eye flight that left me jet-lagged like none other. 35 hours straight without sleeping left me tired for a week. School was difficult the first week back. Now is the time that I have to focus on my finals.

My ancestry goes all the way back into Ireland and Italy, among many other European countries. I pride myself most with being Italian.

The best thing I would say about being Italian is the great cooking. It seems like my mom could be a chef at a great italian restaurant with the great homemade spaghetti sauce she makes.

My favorite dish of her’s is the Lasagna. She weighed out one of her pans of lasagna to 16 pounds once!

Another cool thing about being Italian is the huge family. My mom created a family wide cookbook with all 50+ of her cousins and aunts and uncles. Every family now has a copy of the compilation of the best Italian family recipes from all over the country!

Our huge Italian family could become its very own catering company with how much tasty food we can make at once. I love attending family reunions not only to see all of the family members, but to eat all of the food that was made with Italian love.

These same recipes are in my house today and I love eating pasta especially before a game of the ultimate sport; Ultimate Frisbee.

Some of the Italian recipes we have today, made it across the Atlantic and arrived in Ellis Island.

Ellis Island