Snow Bunnies

President's Day Weekend Kyle and I took Owen & Rebecca on their first ski trip. (Maggie stayed home and got to spend on-on-one time with Bee, Nana and Dahdo/Pam - and we got reports she loved the time as an only child!)

We went to Vail because there was a continuing medical education meeting for Kyle there. Bee had told us how easy it was to travel with these two when they went to Diseney - and she wasn't wrong. Four and six is not only doable but fun to travel with!

Rebecca on the plane watching a little video.

 

Mountains!

We flew into Denver and then drove to Vail. The kids actually slept most of the drive - they didn't even wake up when we stopped because an SUV a few cars ahead of us spun around a couple of times and ended up in a giant snow bank just outside the Eisenhower Tunnel!

Here is Rebecca conked out in the lobby of the hotel while we checked in.

Owen doing the same - although to this day he admits he wasn't asleep. Let me assure you - he.was.

Here she is the next morning - bright eyed and ready to go!

Let me back up and explain that since we were here "for a meeting" our schedule was a little crazy. Kyle would get up early and go to a series of lectures from 7-9, while I got up with the kids and got them dressed, fed, geared and to ski school. We had a pretty sweet deal on several accounts: 1) a friend from preschool lent us all the snow gear we would need; 2) there was a great little cafe with ready to go egg-muffin thingies, yummy coffee and green smoothies (our regular each morning), 3) the hotel had our gear rental place just down the hall from the cafe, and 4) ski school was only a short shuttle ride away. Then Kyle and I would meet back up at the hotel, get geared ourselves and jump on the lift at our hotel (true ski-in/ski-out, which neither of us had never experienced before). 

Here is Rebecca, showing us what part of the mountain she wanted to go to (on the shuttle to ski school the first day).

 

Owen hanging while I talk to his instructor.

Kyle and I on our first lift. I don't love lifts. I especially don't love that at Vail every single lift is different - slow/steady, speed-you-up-express, gondolla, 3-seater, 6-seater, magic-carpet, over-a-river-and-through-the-woods. Leaves a girl feeling like she doesn't know what to expect and what to do...and the fact that Vail is SO huge you rarely do anything more than once. #firstworldfancyskiproblems

A tale of two skiers: 1) me upside down (my head is pointed downhill), 2) Kyle's extreme-drop-off bowl area (I think I was drinking hot chocolate at this point)

Ice scream after ski school day #1

I've never been a real sentimental worrier when it comes to dropping my kids off places (and for the most part they've always done so well at church, school, play dates and parties without me) but I have to say I was super excited to pick them up and hear about their first day. And I was thrilled that there hadn't been tears or frozen anythings and that they had had a good day!

Fun in the snow - they had been looking forward to this since we got there!

At this point, Kyle had to go off to part 2 of his lecture series for the day - roughly 4-7 - so the kids and I would play and then eat and bathe and/or watch Frozen on the tv in our room (2 nights).

One night we go to take advantage of the fact that someone had pretty much built a snowman for us - his head had to be reattached and we had to add the arms and face (and creepy falic "bellybutton").

Lots of conversations about eating snow and not eating snow...

So, this little rhythm went on for our 3 days of skiing - except the 3rd day Kyle and I went up to the ski school area and took Owen out early so we could ski with him. This is him on his first big lift with us!

It was really fun to ski with him - he really go the hang of it - pizza, french fries, saying his favorite part was turning. Yep, me too buddy.    :) 

At the end of the ski school day we grabbed Rebecca and took her up for 1 run (the ski school area where Owen and the bigger kids had been was off of the main gondola - it was her first time to get to ride it).

Sillies

I helped her get into her skies the first time and let her go and she slid backwards and fell down. Ski Mom Fail. (She laughed, thank goodness.)

Owen going up one of the "magic carpets" - great little conveyor-belt-style lift for the littles.

Family photo!

Their official ski school photos - I think Rebecca wore her goggles a little crooked the entire time. :)

Snuggled up in the lobby before we headed back to Denver to catch our flight. Some of the crazy weather this spring kept us at the airport a few extra hours, but we made it home late that night.

We're thinking we'll try to make this meeting trip happen again next year. Probably one more year without Maggie and then start her at 4 - Rebecca's age just seemed about perfect even though we know there were younger kids. And I'll start with a lesson - if for no other reason then I can see the writing on the wall that its only a few years before my kids are hauling down the mountain ahead of me wondering why their lame mom is still wide-turn-wedging her way down. (At one point Kyle veered off of our path and did a little jump and landed in a bunch of powder without his poles or skies - and then gave me a hard time for not following him. He threated to tell my friend Katie that I woudn't ski with him to which I replied fine- tell her! And then a little kid zipped in front of me right after Kyle and I just could not let a 5 year old show me up. So I reluctantly followed. Its exhausting being such a bad skiier. :)