Pushing Your Kid off a Mountain on Tiny Strips of Metal

Sometimes, just sometimes, I will have you know that one of my passing-thought-turns-into-planning-mayhem bouts of madness become reality.

This is one of those times.

Way back in February of 2012, my eldest child came upon my dearest spouse and I sitting down to read a book and take a break from the bustle of the day. Seeing my dearest leg of lamb standing there I say "Pray tell, child, what is it that you need from Mummy?" He then enquires if it is possible to go on a skiing holiday or to see snow, as he desires nothing more than to put his lovely little face in it. We joyfully laughed at our buttercup roll of honey and told him that maybe one day he too, could be pushed off a mountain on thin strips of metal, like his dear old mum and pop. My little soldier of baby fat love replied that he would quite like that and then we dined on crumpets and tea.

Okay I admit....we didn't have crumpets and tea, but otherwise that was a very accurate presentation on how it all began....with a question from Lil'Dude.

Right after the question was asked I looked at Brewerman. I paused for a half a beat and he instantly looked up and said "don't even think about". So, of course, after thinking more about it I answered "but it's possible...why not?" He replied that there was no way, and no time to plan an impromptu ski vacation in a month.


Well. If that isn't a challenge I don't know what is.

So a month later we went to Breckenridge for a ski vacation!! 5 days of blissfully falling down mountains, riding the Gondola (prounounced Gone-DOLE-a), and most importantly, eatting anything you wanted. Snow was plentiful, sun was out, and despite a few hard crashes, noone was permanently injured (but I think we are all still sore today). Basically? It was wonderful.

My man and I

The View from our cabin.
Yes. View is capitalized here. I think it deserves it, no?

On Peak 10

View from Peak 10

Our pumpkin pies learned how to ski as well. We put them each in two days of ski schools (psh, like we would teach them. That would end up with all of us pissed off and ready to kill each other). By the third day, the five year old was going down blues (or "double blues" as he called them) with us and asking to go down double blacks. Our three year old, well he got an extra day of school, and still didn't quite get it as quickly, though he was close by the time we had to leave.

Lil'Guy at lessons

I blame the pizza. And Ninja turtles.

Let me explain: as the instructor was telling Donatello (he forced them to call him that) to do the pizza, he would ask "What kind of pizza!? Cheese!?! Ninja turtles only like pepperoni!!! I can't do CHEESE PIZZA!!"

*Sigh* Besides the inaccuracy of the statement (Ninja turtles like ANY pizza, hello!), it didn't help the situation much. But there is always next year! And he had fun, so what the who anyways.

Lil'Dude was ripping and rolling out there though. He loved it, and loved going fast. He fell a few times but got right back up. He was cutting back and forth on his little skis and they never had to stop the lifts once for him (even on the big "only blues" mountain). There isn't anything like seeing your kid conquer something that he didn't think he could do. Of course I was totally freaked out and made someone ski on each side of him at all times. I spent half the time whooping and hollering for him, and the other half visualizing all the brutal ways he could accidentally die out there. But seeing his face at the end of the run and that excitement? Priceless.

Lil'Dude at lessons

Lil'Dude after going down his very first slope!

Nana, Papa, us and Lil'Dude

I was also very proud of my hubby, who went down blacks with me on day #2 all day and did the T-bar the last day (WITHOUT ME), on his birthday, with my brother (NOT ME). I stayed home with tweeter tot #1 and #2 for a day of rest so he could go skiing....without me.....on the t-bar....without me. Not that I expected to get credit or am bitter, it was his birthday no less.

Even though he DID do the T-bar without me.

Da' Boys about to head down the bowl (without me)

We went with my mom and dad, and then my brother Jakethefake and his wife Dannatello. It was a lot of fun and since my parents have my litte sister who his handicapped and so they weren't sure if they would be able to go or not, we ended up staying with my mom's cousin and his wife. They were FANTASTIC and wonderful. The boys adored them and they have a gorgeous home in a beautiful setting. It really was just perfect for all of us and we ended up doing as much laughing and making fun of the other as we did skiing.

We ended the trip with a sled run. Jakethefake and Dannatello ended up buying the kids some fabulous snow toys and sleds (and by kids I mean Brewerman and Jakethefake). On Friday when Brewerman went skiing all day and down the t-bar (without me), I stayed home with my mommy and the kiddos (or is it kiddoes?). We went shopping in the morning which would have been a ball except for a certain 5 and 3 year old ball of no-fun-at-all. It didn't help that they had on their new hats and so everyone stopped to comment how cute they were. After telling him not to, my kid is purposely and carefully stomping around in EVERY PUDDLE and turning to stare back at me mockingly, and I can't kill him because of all the witnesses making goo goo eyes at him. RUDE! Finally at noon it was either strap the children to a tree, push them out of the running car, or let them play in the snow so we don't have to be near them.

 

The No-Fun-At-Alls with their cute hats riding the Gondola

Well since there wasn't a tree big enough, and the child locks prevented us from getting the doors open, we let them romp in the snow. I got out the sleds but the snow was too deep and wasn't packed.

So I decided I was going to make a sled run. How hard could it be? Turns out, as anyone who has ever lived in an area that has had 4 feet or more of snow can tell you - really really hard. I ended up shoveling snow in a tank top, I was so hot. Thankfully my mom was there to help as well, so we were both sore and exhausted. Boy howdy though at the end, it was a pretty run. Because I can't stand things not over-the-top, I kept making it bigger....and bigger...until...well here were the results:

Momma and I showing our stuff

Working the day away

The Lil'Guy flying down the run

My littlest man
(Sorry it's turned, I'm lazy.)

Brewerman's turn

Somebody ate it!

Jakethefake, Dannatello, and Lil'Guy about to rip it up

The drive wasn't bad either, to or from. The boys are champs and didn't have to stop once other than lunch and when we needed gas. There was an instance that we won't talk about, outside of Amarillo, where we got to where our gas meter on our Explorer said we have 5 miles left of gas and we literally had it on neutral rolling into a gas station. It was all Brewerman's fault....oh...and the instance where we walked into a mexican restaurant in middle-of-nowhere, Texas...then sat down, ordered water....looked around...and walked out. Let's just say everything came with a free side of food poisoning and ketchup.

All in all, this is a vacation that we would repeat over and over, and are since on a whim we bought our own skis and boots (which are SO MUCH BETTER than renting). Kids had fun, we had fun, and we were all literally in bed by 8pm every night. Success!


P.s. I can't say enough about Breckenridge. The slopes were great of course, LOVED the variety of runs, but really what I was most impressed with is the customer service. The school was great, too. Buying lift tickets was easy, we had to make a change and they completely went above and beyond and let us, and then I had an issue at the end and they again went over and above to make it right. It is more expensive but worth it. I also loved that your card is set up with your credit card attached so you don't have to bring your wallet with you. Next year we will be there or New Mexico....still trying to decide. Thoughts?