Ski Trip

When we lived in Idaho, we got really spoiled being able to ski almost every weekend during the winter.  So, needless to say, we miss those snowcapped mountains around here.  However, there are a couple of ski resorts within a few hours of us.  They aren’t up to Colorado, or even Idaho, standards, but beggars can’t be choosers.  They are perfect for the kids, and Matt and I have a blast being able to ski with them.  We try to make it out at least one time a year now.  Mikaela learned to ski when we were in Idaho and Chance learned last year here.  This winter, they were both itching as much as their Daddy to get out on the slopes!  So we loaded up our skis and took off one weekend to Massanutten Ski Resort.  We got to the resort Friday evening and decided we would take the opportunity to introduce the kids to the tubing hill.

Heading up the hill

Trinity had not one ounce of fear.  These are pictures I took our first ride down.  We had two tubes hooked together, her in one and myself in the other.  She loved it!  They are blurry but you can still see her facial expressions.

She soon decided, on her own, that she wanted to go down all by herself.  I really wasn’t sure about that, but Matt said she’d be fine.  So off she went!  And from then on, I couldn’t convince her to go with me anymore!  Her big sister, on the other hand, was not so brave.  After going down with Matt a couple times, he finally pursuaded her to try it on her own.  She was so nervous, but of course, once she did it, she loved it as well.  That silly girl is going to learn to trust us one of these days!

And while Matt and I were trying to make it so we could all go down the hill at the same time, our crazy man, Chance, was of course practically running up the hill and taking off the minute he could.  Forget waiting for the family, that boy wanted to tube!

And you can’t really see much in this video, but you can get an idea of what the hill was like.  This is Matt going down backwards with Trinity in the lane to the left of him and Mikaela next to her.

The next morning, we headed out to the ski slopes.  Trinity had been talking all week about wanting to ski, and since we already had skis and boots her size, we thought we’d let her try.  She was very excited about it right up until I put her skis on and let her slide about 6 inches.  She did not like that feeling one bit!  We didn’t want to scare her away from skiing, so we didn’t push it.  She got to spend the rest of the day hanging with Mommy while the rest went out and skied, then Daddy while I took the kids out.  The next day we put her in a childcare program at the resort, in which she had way more fun.  She ended up to be the only kid there most of the time and was treated like the princess she is by the 3 girls working there.  She didn’t even want to leave when I went to pick her up!  It was nice having that option though.  She was happy and Matt and I were both able to ski with the two older kids together.  It was a lot of fun.

Our three ski bums…before the youngest decided she wanted to be a snow angel instead.

Taking a drive

Matt and Chance

Mikaela and Candie

It was pretty warm that weekend, and as you can see, if it wasn’t for the man-made snow, there wouldn’t have been any snow on the mountains.  Thank goodness for technology!

The kids did great all weekend and even went down a couple of “blues”.  They both wanted to go to the very top of the mountain (a black), but I wouldn’t let them.  I honestly think Matt was thinking about it for awhile.  But then I made him go up there himself and ski it.  He didn’t have problems with it, but it sealed the deal that they kids would have to wait.  Maybe next year, right?

It was so nice to be able to get out of town for a few days and just have fun with the family.  With Matt in the middle of an upgrade at work, we haven’t had a lot of time to just be together.  This gave us the opportunity and, man, it was needed!  I told Matt that it amazes me how much more fun everything is now that we have kids to share these experiences with.  I have the feeling it’s just going to keep getting better!