Canadian Spring Break

We headed to the condo the first week of April looking forward to some spring skiing. You know when the sun is shining and you don't have to wear lots of layers. What we got instead was snow. . .lots and lots of snow. It snowed over two feet in the five days we were there !

We took our friends the Youngs whose 11 year old twins discovered skiing this year. Their other three kids had never tried it so we spent the first day on the magic carpet where the experienced kids "taught" the new skiers.

Not surprisingly, their kids caught on like pros! They were ready for the real chair lift in no time!

Sunday we tried to do some "churchy" things in the condo then we did some snowshoeing in the afternoon. The Easter bunny hopped by early at our house and brought Carter and Sydney some new snowshoes. I also borrowed a few pairs from a friend so we had almost enough for everyone (Garth gladly stayed in the condo with the two littlest).

Snowshoeing with kids involves lots of flopping in the snow and snowball fights.

Sydney was really in her element here. She loves hiking all around the trees and through the thick stuff. She lasted longer than the other kids and had a great time! It was fun to see her really enjoy something (skiing is not exactly her passion.)



The kids were gassed by the end and as you can see, I ended up carrying their shoes.
Monday and Tuesday were spent on the big hills.
I got to spend one afternoon with Cami and her older twins. We ended up spending quite a bit of time at the Telus terrain park. It seems like every time I go to Big White I get to do something new. This was a new one for me. I am not a dare devil and I like to keep my skis on the soft snow but we played around in the halfpipe and raced each other several times on the snow cross course. It was super fun and it was nice to do it with kids so if I wanted to throw in a snowplow or two to slow myself down, it just looked like I was sticking with my kids.

Carter was a lot more brave than usual. I think because Maci and Cooper (also twins) weren't afraid at all. They tackled a bunch of blue runs and went at moguls like they were no big deal. Carter stuck with them and surprised himself that he could do some runs he didn't know he could do.

Sydney had a hard time keeping up. She is super cautious and she snowplows so big she is almost in the middle splits. She would complain of her legs hurting after one run and she watched the backs of everyone skiing away from her the whole time. One day, we took a super long run across the mountain to another lift and it was full of tears and drama. When we got to the other lift, all the kids (including her best bud Preslie) headed for a blue run. Syd was devastated that nobody wanted to do the green with her and wanted to quit. I took her alone and started making our way back to the condo. When we were on the lift alone, I asked her why she was so upset when we were skiing with the group she said "Mom, I have lots of talents. . . but every time I share them with a friend, they are better than me at it." It seriously broke my heart for her.

We were quite the show with all of these kids. One lady asked my if we were some sort of ski school. Nope, just two families (minus two kids).The condo was bursting at the seams with all of us. It sleeps 10 people in rooms, 12 people if you use the futon by the living room. We had 13 people but Olivia is in a crib so everyone got a bed!
We were also a little short on seats at the table so Olivia sat in a booster seat on the floor for every meal.

Nothing beats a post-ski soak in the hot tub. . .
and a good movie.

The kids did great together. They played lots of wii, lots of games, and had a wonderful time together. I am afraid Garth and I created a monster for the Youngs. Their kids LOVED skiing and could not get enough. Mark might need a second job to pay for their new expensive hobby!