Our first family ski trip - best classified as a learning experience

The older boys have been so excited about the idea of renting a condo that you can ski in and ski out of since they first figured out such things existed.  Their enthusiasm rubbed off on us and we decided to try our first family ski trip over Presidents Day weekend.  Mr. 13 and Mr. 11 are good skiers.  Mr. 13 is cautious and takes it slow if he's a bit unsure.  Mr. 11's hockey skills serve him well and he loves to tuck his poles under his arms and go fast.  Mr. 6 is getting pretty good but still gets nervous if he feels it's getting too hard.  And Mr. 4, well he was the wild card.  He doesn't like to keep his mittens on and one of us ended up having to stay with him at his first and only lesson because he wouldn't do anything unless we were there.  So we knew it was a gamble but thought to give it a try.


We set out after work on Friday.  I had picked up our skis earlier at a local shop (much cheaper to rent in Boston and with 6 of us it adds up quick) so as soon as David got home we headed out.  Well, an hour later than expected.  And then we needed dinner.  So we arrived rather late at the condo but managed to find it without too much trouble.  We left all the ski gear in the car and just took what we needed in with us.  The condo had an upstairs loft area with 4 single beds and a murphy bed downstairs in the living room so it was perfect for us.  Despite our late arrival, everyone was up bright and early.  I had brought groceries with us so we had a full weekend breakfast with pancakes and scrambled eggs and so by the time we actually got everyone in their snow gear to go get the skis it was getting close to 10.  We went down to the car to get our skis and realized we had no idea how this worked.  The parking lot was on the far side of the condos from the slopes and trying to get the kids to carry everything was impossible (and did I mention Mr. 4 wanted nothing to do with this and kept running away).  It was really cold and Mr. 13's boots had frozen in the car and he couldn't get his foot in.  Even the two of us together couldn't get his boot on and mine weren't that much better.  There was a lot of unhappiness and tears.  After almost an hour we managed to warm up the boots and get them on and transport everyone and all the gear to the other side of condos.  Okay, now close to 11, we were on our way.

We skied down to the lodge to get our tickets.  We had bought 2 day lift passes for Sunday and Monday  but thought we'd just try the beginner area on Saturday.  When I went to buy the passes for Saturday, I brought Mr. 11 who desperately wanted to ski the whole mountain.  The half day price started at 12:00 so I decided it wasn't that much more and we'd just do that.  So we had to wait another 30 minutes before we could get on the lift.  Snack and a bathroom run filled up that time pretty quick and we were ready to ski.  We thought to try a nice easy green and David would ski with Mr. 4 between his legs.  Only it turns out the green was a little harder than we anticipated and Mr. 6 fell and refused to go any farther.  And I mean refused.  After coaxing and cheering and lecturing, I finally just put him between my legs and we skied down.  And everyone was done.  David fell with Mr. 4 multiple times (it was icy and he was not cooperative) and everyone was cold.  Fine, we went back to the condo to warm up.  Ski in and ski out to the rescue.

Around 2:30 I finally got Mr. 11 excited about going out again.  He skied down to the lodge with me and we got in line to take the Chondola to the top.  And right in front of us they closed it.  The winds were too high.  That was all Mr. 11 had in him.  There were lots and lots of tears.  I finally convinced him to take the other lift up and we had fun skiing down a few times but he was definitely still disappointed.  Back to the condo for dinner and The Sound of Music.

Sunday was cold.  Very cold with wind chill well below zero (we were told it was -40 at the top of the mountain).  David went and exchanged our lift tickets for vouchers and we stayed at the condo for movies and games.  We finally headed out around 11 for the main lodge where they had set up a bounce house and games for kids.  We got a little energy out and then it was back to the condo for the afternoon.  Unfortunately we were beginning to run low on our kindles by that point and the only internet was in the rec room.  So we got the kids in the pool and I took my phone and all the kindles and bought books and slowly transferred books by tethering off my phone.  Tedious but glad to easily be able to fill everyone back up with books.  Swimming, reading, movies, games filled up the rest of our day.  We cooked a big dinner and made ate lots of popcorn.  It was actually a great day although not necessarily what we were intending for our "ski" vacation.

Monday morning dawned cold but so much better than Sunday.  The high was in the 20s which was felt brisk comparable to Sunday.  We were determined to get some skiing in so I signed Mr. 6 up for ski school for the morning and Mr. 4 up for daycare for the day.  The plan - drop off Mr. 4 at daycare, come back to the condo, get everyone down to the lodge, drop off Mr. 6 at ski school, ski with Mr. 11 and Mr. 13 for a few hours, pick up Mr. 6 and add him to the mix, then get Mr. 4 and head home.  All was going well until we dropped off Mr. 6 and discovered that both the lifts there were down.  The cold from the day before had frozen parts and nothing was going to be running until 11am.  And the chondola was down for the day.  Options - hike up the mountain to the next lift (in our ski boots, carrying our skis) or take the shuttle over to the other lodge to pick up a lift there.  The shuttle line looked impossibly long so we chose hiking up with 2 very disappointed kids.  I carried one kids skis and David carried the other.  I trudged on ahead, having used up most of my good will in the pep talk I tried to give them to get us moving, and David stayed back and cajoled them up the mountain.  By the time we got up to the lift (about a 30-45 minute hike), both were in full mutiny and ready to just go home.  But somehow we got them on the lift and the rest of the morning was great.  It was a perfect day for skiing.  We stopped for hot chocolate at the upper lodge at one point and just enjoyed being together.  And when we went down to get Mr. 6, we had actually skied on our ski vacation.

We grabbed Mr. 6 who had loved his lessons and quickly got some lunch.  I went to the customer service desk while the boys finished eating and explained exactly how disappointing the morning had been with the lifts down and the man gave us vouchers for the day and told me that he would appreciate it if I would bring everyone back for another day of skiing sometime in the next year and give it one more try.   He was incredibly nice and made a rough day so much better.

Mr. 6 was eager to show off his skills so we spent the rest of the time on the lower slopes together except for a few quick runs that Mr. 11 and I took on our own.  Mr. 4 had a good day (although he had wet his pants in the afternoon and I hadn't brought any back-up clothes so he was in the snow pants and barefoot but happy) and we even managed to get everyone changed and into the car before it was too late.

So now we have 2 full days of lift tickets.  Are we brave enough to try again next winter?  I don't think anyone would doubt that we are that brave (or that crazy) so we'll see you on the slopes next year!