We booked a return trip to Sun Valley last year and just the week before I was worried a little bit about doing the same trip because it was so successful last year would it hold up to expectations this year. Everyone was sad to come home last night so I count it as a win.
The weather was not as nice this year, but there was more snow. It also looked like we would be driving into a storm in Sun Valley on Thursday evening and driving back into a storm in Layton on Monday evening which made me a bit nervous. We made sure the van chains were accessible and the van had a full tank of gas. I had just had the tires checked and rotated during which they had found a nail and repaired it so I'm grateful for that little bit of inspiration to take the van in for that. I was also grateful that I was inspired to send Steve who was sick (after skiing last Friday, Jan 11 with my family he said he got cold at the end of the day -- which he never does and when we got home he was running a fever so he has been really sick this week and dealing with some church sport drama). Needless to say it had been a long week and I was ready to checkout for a while, but was worried about Steve and on Wednesday asked him to go see a doctor who gave him a cough medicine prescription to help him sleep and an antibiotic if it moved to his head. He filled the cough syrup and then that night his eyes got all goopy and his nose was feeling pressure so I filled his antibiotic that morning to get him started on it hoping it would help him feel better quicker. Here's a few pictures from the ski trip on Jan 11 with Stan, Kirk, Quincy, Ellie, Lila, Venessa & Andrew for partial day while I watched Marcus, Enzo and Arianna (the boys were so cute together and I loved my time with the baby -- if only she'd taken the bottle everything would have been perfect).
Andrew was super excited he got to ride the Gondola up and have lunch with everyone. Then he and Grandpa rode it back down to ride Little Cat for a few runs.
The kids were excited to be heading back to Sun Valley and Andrew wore his little activity backpack almost all day Thursday (they are little backpacks I found on clearance on year for $1 and I keep them loaded with things to do in the car and they think they are great because they only get to use them on road trips). So they played with their stuff out of their for the first two hours and we managed to not hit any too crazy of weather -- lots of rain and wind a little snow at the top of Sweetzer pass. Then Mimi & Grandpa got us dinner at Burgers etc - this year we opted to eat in the car so we could try and stay ahead of the weather. It was fun to see the Christmas lights again as we drove into town and the kids all claimed their same rooms from last year and surprisingly went to bed pretty well.
Friday we got up and went to Dollar Mountain with all the kids even Marcus. Mimi brought her skis too. Andrew strapped on his skis and headed straight for the magic carpet and made several runs over there while we were getting our passes. The girls went on a couple of runs with Steve while I worked with Marcus on the magic carpet then Steve traded me -- he really is a good ski teacher because he allows them to fall and experience things that I'm too afraid to do. ;) Marcus was begging to go up on the big lift, but he still refused to make triangles to stop or show any sign of control -- he knows what we're asking because he'll do it at home, but just not while skiing. Steve told him he had to show him some triangles and slow down before he'd take him on the lift, he still refused. Mimi strapped her skis on and made a few runs on the magic carpet before we called it good and headed back to the house for lunch.
Then Steve, Ellie, Lila, Grandpa and I went over to Baldly to ski for a little. They had gotten enough snow the night before and with all the skiers it was pretty skied out and choppy by the time we got there so it was hard skiing. We made a couple of runs and called it good. The girls went outside and played in the mounds of snow for hours and thought it was great -- they got their ski clothes wet without telling me so when I noticed later that night I had to do a quick load of laundry and told them to let me know next time because if they had tried to go skiing in those wet clothes the next day they would have froze!
Uncle Kirk and Quincy were just ending their afternoon of skiing the same time we were so they came back to the house with us and we cooked up pizza and ate and ate and drank flavored milks and sang Happy Birthday to Stan over Smore pizza. Rita was just coming into town with Jolee and Joe and they came over and had a couple of slices with us and we enjoyed visiting with them.
Saturday we had debated going to Baldy first to avoid the choppy skied out conditions but it showed a storm coming in the afternoon and knew that Andrew would not like to ski in that so we went ahead and did Dollar in the morning. Stan was having a rough morning and opted to stay behind with the kids. The girls also chose not to ski the afternoon so just Steve and I headed over to Baldy to meet up with Rita, Jolee, Joe, Kirk, and Quincy. As the storm started to roll in the lighting got a little bad and there was one run that was quite steep and icy and I was grateful when Steve said, "let's stick to the greens and blues we know because this lighting is horrible" so we did a couple of more runs and it was a workout -- I was sweating but it was fun.
When we got home we promised the kids we'd take them swimming because we had been told there was a pool in the community we could use. So everyone changed into swim clothes and we headed that way, but when we got there we realized the pool was outdoor and closed and there really was just a large hot tub so we decided to go home and sit in our private hot tub while the snow came down -- the kids thought it was great.
Just as we were getting the kids out of the hot tub, Kirk & Quincy and Rita, Jolee & Joe showed up and they all got in the hot tub and then showered at our place and then enjoyed dinner of pulled pork with us and an evening of chatting. It was fun to just hangout and visit.
We were all grateful for Sunday to be a day of rest and relaxation. The kids slept in or didn't come out of their rooms for a while because they were reading or playing on the Nintendo gaming system in Andrew's room. Then Kirk, Rita, Jolee, & Joe came over and played Bohnanza (the bean game) with us and boy there was some tough negotiating going on during that game. Then they all headed back to their cabin. We watched movies, took naps, and relaxed all day. I planned my lesson for next week and we did our Come Follow Me lesson and then sent the kids to bed. For some reason the boys did not want to go to bed that night -- Andrew knew it was our last night and was sad. I tried to explain to him that if he didn't get sleep he wouldn't be able to ski and he would be even more sad, but that didn't seem to help so he was super tired the next day.
Monday we decided to head to Baldy first with Steve, Britney, Ellie, Lila and Stan. It was blue skies and looked great but as soon as we got to the top we were caught in a wind storm that was moving so much snow it was crazy. I've never been in such crazy skiing conditions so we quickly headed down to more sheltered territory and ended up riding the oldest lift "Cold Springs" for several times because the runs there were protected from the wind and it was a little secluded. We had to do a little poling each time so my triceps got a workout -- I guess that could be a bonus. ;)
We went back to the house for lunch and got Andrew all suited up to go ski Dollar. We let everyone ski until their hearts were content which was almost 4pm when the lifts closed. One of my favorite memories is watching Lila on the flatter cat walk sections who just got poles this season would tuck her poles up under arms and lean over to get more speed -- it was so cute (previous years she would just tuck and put her hands on her knees).
Then we went back and loaded the van and hit the road. I had made a sack dinner to eat in the car and I told the kids we could watch movie after movie on the way home so we did. We hit a little weather heading home, but were truly grateful for how good the conditions were and that we could make it home safely. Andrew finally zonked out at 8:30 about 30 minutes before home.
Now it's back to reality and everyone's just a bit tired. . .hopefully the weekend will come soon. :)
