Alex, Boo and KK Too!

We had a surprising blue bird day on the mountain this Sunday.   The kids were excited to ski again and dawn patrol is just part of their life.   The early departure is a bit more of a pain for me as I have to get up early to walk the dogs, make lunches and breakfast before waking up kids and heading out.   Thankfully the car was packed the night before.   With a holiday weekend I knew it would be busy so we were out the door by 6:15 and parked by 7:45.   We ended up parking next to a car we parked next to before and became friends.   The last time one of them had jokingly asked if I would help him get his boots off too after watching my routine of getting kids out of gear at the end of the day.   We talked for about half an hour about taking kids out adventuring.   They nicknamed me Adventure Mama! Alex did her first black diamond run and the boys and I got to watch her from another run that overlooked it.   KK got himself stu...

I told the kids that Saturday we would go hiking after the basketball game.  That was followed up by emotions ranging from "how long is the hike?" to "Mom, I don't really like hiking" to a complete emotional meltdown that it would hurt their legs too much. The weather also wasn't super favorable but I decided it was time to persevere and make my kids go.  Of course I'm not going to "force" them but they got to pick their lunches and snacks.  When the basketball game was cancelled I danced for joy and we headed out. Family outside & happy = super happy mom Amazingly the drive there was lot of laughter and easy conversation and once we got there everyone got their backpacks on.  The kids were expecting about 3 miles. We headed out on the Rim Trail first, which is the least exciting start, and a mile in KK was telling me this wasn't like a real hike because it was fun.  What made it fun was little things like letting them throw snowb...

Day 3 brought more powder, more wind and our first attempts at a Terrain Park.  After finishing a day of skiing in the high winds I asked the kids what it would take for us not to go skiing.  While they felt the wind (45mph winds at times) didn't make it as much fun, it wasn't something that would make them not want to go.  So the only thing we could come up with was rain.  When it rains, we won't ski.  With that, I gave them the conditions this morning.  Ten inches of powder, storm continues with gusty winds.  Didn't deter them for a second.  The place was empty as expected and the delight at the first run which was through the powder was so fun to witness.  They immediately wanted to go on the ungroomed powder run which caused crashes and tons of laughter.  Falling in soft snow is not like cascade ice.  KK, who started skiing again after two years of snowboarding, has a no fear attitude and he was keeping up with everyone no p...

I'll sum up day 2 as the day I begged the youngest child, the one with an ear infection, to make this the last run after skiing in a storm with white out conditions for hours.  Notice the white out conditions behind K.  Also imagine great gusts of winds... The day started a little slower with me getting up at 6:30, making coffee and slowly starting to quietly pack.  Emmett, my fellow early riser, was also up and by 7am I had everyone else up and getting ready while I packed the car.  We headed to breakfast and Adam joined us for the day and met us there.  We headed up to the resort and were ready to go by the time the lifts were starting. A much smoother start than the day before.  Five fresh inches of snow was exciting for everyone and Kellan quickly asked to go down a harder run with tons of bumps.  He totally rocked it and once his siblings became aware of that run they were also in.  It's hard not to smile watching your kids handle moguls...

Today we headed out on our second annual multi-day ski vacation.  We have a cabin near Meadows Ski Resort and planning to enjoy three epic days of skiing.  Our school district has an extra day off when others don't so Monday brings cheap lift tickets, low crowds and looking at the weather forecast, lots of snow! It felt so exciting this morning as I got up at 5am, walked the dogs, got lunches made, breakfast to-go (pancakes, sausages and fruit) made, car packed with three days worth of gear and clothes, and finally got the kids up, into their ski underlayers and into the car.  We were on the road just after 7 (late due to the pancakes I made) and 30 minutes into the drive I just couldn't stop smiling.  This is what I live for, a day of adventure with kids who are completely on board. I'm grateful we made it here because Kellan had a crazy painful ear the night before.  One thing I don't do well is living in the grey zone.  That will we go or not point....