Putting Family First: Christmas turned ski trip

It was interesting for me that as soon as the Christmas festivities were over I was ready for Christmas to be done. I wanted the house cleaned up and the decorations put away. We had a trip right around the corner and I was ready and excited to go. We decided to get the boys a ski trip for their Christmas gift this year. For a couple different reason. They really love snow and ask every year when it's going to snow (Ha! We live in Texas). They didn't need any new toys and it felt silly buying them anything. And finally, a co-worker of Jaren's had mentioned to him how it's a good family vacation. He talked about how the chair lift was a good time to sit and talk to your kids and how it was something active that you could all do together. With that, Jaren was sold and the planning began! We decided on Keystone in Colorado because it kept coming up as the most family friendly resort. We loved it and we hope to go again this year.

The resort has three different villages, River Run, Mountain House, and Lakeside. The little condo that we stayed in for the week was located in River Run. The location was perfect. Like couldn't have been better! You walked out the door and across the parking lot and you were at the gondola or chair lift to take you to the top of the mountain. We were there for a total of six days. We had 4 ski days and 2 non-ski days. Our first day to ski was a Monday and the plan was to have the whole family in a different ski school for the whole day. It started out great but around noon I got a call saying that Austin had altitude sickness. I was worried that Austin was faking it because he didn't like the skiing but when I saw him I knew he wasn't feeling well. He couldn't walk straight and told me he had a head ache and was feeling sick. Soon after that he threw up and down to the base of the mountain we headed. Once we got to the base his color came back and he started to feel better very quickly.

That was the low part of the trip. After that everything seemed to go better and better and the boys loved every minute of it. They never once complained about it being cold (and it was cold, very very cold!) or said they didn't like it, they just wanted to keep going!

Tuesday was our second ski day. Due to the altitude sickness we decided to stay pretty low for the most part of the day. We caught a shuttle and headed over to the learning are at Mountain House. We spent the morning there. It was the perfect place to take new skiers! The chair lift was slow and small and the hill was just the right amount of steep. Jaren and I had a fun time teaching our boys and re-enforcing the things they learned in ski school. By the time the morning was over Caleb was exhausted and we headed for the condo for lunch and a nap.

They had these wagons to carry your gear and tired children. They were great!

It was -13 when we started skiing on Tuesday. The high for the day was 3.

When naps were over we decided to head up to the top of the mountain and try the "Schoolmarm" run. We would only be up there long enough to get off the gondola and then ski back down so we weren't too worried about Austin. The Schoolmarm run is a 3.5 mile long family run. It has some steep spots with long flat area's that follow and some fun "off the trail" things for kids to do.

At the top getting ready to do Schoolmarm for the first time!

That night for dinner we had pizza that Jaren and Caleb went and got. They had to walk it home but it was -10 degrees when they walked home so I gave them my coat to wrap around the pizza so it would still be warm when they got back.

Wednesday was our first non-ski day. We did not have a problem finding things to do to entertain ourselves. Today was the first day that it felt warm, the sun was out and it was a pretty day. We started off the day with snow tubing and playing at the snow fort.

The boys watching the safety video before we head out to go tubing.

Grab your tube ...

Pick a lane ...

Head on down by yourself...

Or with family members ...

And then ride the magic carpet up to the top to do it again!

Jaren and Caleb at the base of the snow tubing hill. It was beautiful!

So the snow fort was fun! It had tunnels and slides in it and the boys were entertained for about two just playing here.

After the boys were done at the snow fort we had lunch and then headed over to Mountain house for some Kidtopia activities. The first activity was the obstacle course.

The second was tee shirt and ice cream with Riperoo, the resort's mascot!

The third and final activity for the night was to head to Kidtopia headquarters for some painting fun.

Austin's work of art!

Caleb's finished product!

Thursday was our third ski day. Since Austin and I missed half a day of our ski lessons due to altitude sickness the boys got a semi-private for half the day, so it was just the two of them with their teacher. So we took the boys to meet Ms. Joan and Jaren and I headed up to ski. Ms. Joan by the way, was fabulous! And I really hope she's there again next year. At noon we went back to get the boys, grabbed some lunch and spent the rest of the day skiing.

Friday was our second non ski day. We did more tubing in the morning and then went to the Kidtopia snow fort building activity. Growing up in Minnesota I built my fair share of snow forts I was super excited about this activity. It turned out not to be what I thought it was going to be and I was a little disappointed.We all had fun though, and that's what matters.

Feeling rather nostalgic!

He won these glasses at the obstacle race!

King of the Mountain!

Later that afternoon we decided to go check out the last of the three villages that we hadn't seen yet, Lakeside. They ice skating here and the boys were really excited about trying it.

Caleb really liked it!

Austin really did not!

Dad and Caleb having a good time!

Dad trying to talk Austin into trying again.

At the hotel at Lakeside they had a chocolate display. It was amazing!!! The kids could not believe that everything we were seeing was made out of chocolate. They had a little I-Spy game for the kids to play. In the chocolate village they had some hidden things to try and pick out.

Saturday was our last day to ski and by far the most fun day we had! We spent the whole day on the mountain! And although it was FREEZING with a true snow blizzard swirling about us it was fun and beautiful! We would do two or three runs and then stop for a snack and hot cocoa, three or four runs and then we had lunch and on and on like that for the whole day.

More on Schoolmarm, the family ski area (also known as the schoolyard).

They had a couple little "off the trail" sections that kids could go and ski through. The boys really liked these.

These men were stationed every now and then to revoke the lift tickets of anyone who thought they might go cruising through the family ski area. It was not tolerated!

It was well marked. You didn't have to worry about accidentally taking a wrong turn and ending up on a black diamond.

Every night we would return to our condo and usually sit in the hot tub. One night we opted out of the hot tub and just relaxed while watching a movie.