Magnolia Mamas : family ski trip

Showing posts with label family ski trip. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Family Ski Trip {Breckenridge - Part 3}

If you missed part one and two of our ski trip recap you can find them here and here.

By day three of skiing my kids were getting braver and braver. Trying little jumps, going in and out of the trees, and following in their adventurous father's footsteps. That also led to a few "epic" wipe outs and Boo-Boo likes to call them.

We spent most of the day near Peak 9, which is mine and the kids' favorite at Breckenridge.

Each day we would have lunch on the mountain or just at the base of the mountain. Some people with ski in/ski out condos choose to go back to their place for lunch, but since we were staying in a hotel we ate right on the mountain.

I know for one if we had gone back it would have gotten hard to get motivated to go back out to ski more. The food on the mountain is expensive, but it helps you to get back to skiing as quickly as possible and also sort of adds to the fun experience of being on the mountain.

The morning was clear, but around lunchtime it started snowing again.

We were determined to make the most of our last day though!

The kids continued to amaze me with their skill and proved to us just how much they love skiing and how happy we are that we taught them at an early age.

.
This little guy was always the first down the mountain and he whispered his secrets to me. "Mommy, you just have to not do big turns and go straight down instead. Also, bend down low like this and then you'll be the winner." :-)

The kids each got trail maps that they had fun marking off during the week. They highlighted the runs we had completed and it was fun to see just how much of the resort we covered in three short days!

I think 3 days was the perfect amount of time to ski with the kids. I wished we had stayed an extra day or two to do some of the other things Breckenridge has to offer though. They have an amazing Recreation Center complete with pool, water slides, rock climbing, basketball courts and more. If we had been around an extra day we would have had time to visit there!

Also they have a ton of art classes and activities for kids that we just couldn't squeeze in this trip, but hope to in the future!

For dinner that night the kids had been begging to go to Downstairs at Eric's which is basically a pizza place with a ton of arcade games to play while you wait. The only problem is there is always a super long wait. Like 2-3 hours sometimes. We promised them we would stop in and see, but the wait was 1.5 hours and we were hungry! So, we let them each play a quick video game and then we grabbed a bite somewhere faster.

We got up early the next morning to head to the airport and come home. It was really such a great trip and honestly gets easier every year. There is a lot involved with a ski trip. A lot of clothing required, a lot of gear, and a lot of work, but it is so worth it to us and as at the kids get a little older it is becoming easier and easier. It is also usually the one trip we take that is just the 5 of us, so that has been a fun tradition also! Now that we got that in, we're ready for spring and warm weather!

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Family Ski Trip {Breckenridge - Part 2}

If you missed part one of my ski trip recap, you can find it here.

We woke up for our second day of skiing to beautiful, clear and blue skies. It was still cold (because, hello it is Colorado in the winter), but it was the kind of cold you expect and can deal with . And there is nothing better than feeling the sunshine, because it really felt SO much warmer than it was.

So the other big news for day 2 of skiing was that the girls got to use poles for the first time! For those of you non-skiers, typically kids are taught to ski without using poles. It is just one less thing for them to keep up with and have to worry about, so up until this point they had never used poles. They wanted them last year because 1) They think they look fun and 2) when we get to a flat area near the bottom of the mountain it is much harder to move along without poles to push you along. We had promised them last year they could get poles this year if they could prove to us they had everything under control and could start to work on their parallel turns.

They both did fantastic on day 1 of skiing, so we thought they were ready for the poles. I was thinking it might throw them a bit or we might end up with lost equipment by the end of the day, but they did great! We only had one mishap when getting on the lift with a dropped pole just as we were sitting down, but they lift attendants handed the pole to the chair behind us and they brought it up to the top for us so it all worked out.

It turned out that the poles also provided a lot of entertainment as they were waiting for us to get down the hill to them or when we were deciding which direction to go. From sword fighting to writing their names in the snow, it kept them happy!

We told our little Buddy that he could have poles next year, but he made us pinky promise that he could snowboard next year, so he won't be needing them anyway.

Since this was such a gorgeous day we made our way all over the mountain. There are multiple "peaks" at Breckenridge and we went several peaks over by taking different runs and different chairlifts. I remember doing it last year and the kids were a little more intimidated by the steeper and more difficult runs, but this year it was a total breeze for them!

We were both so happy and impressed with how well our kids were skiing and how much fun everyone was having. I've said it before, but I feel like this might be our best family vacation we take each year. It's really the only thing we do that everyone is doing the same thing, together all day long, and enjoying being outside, being active, and having fun!

After skiing as long as we possible could we did a quick trip to the hot tub and then got ready for dinner. We ate at Blue Stag Saloon and it was our favorite spot of the week!

It was a quaint little place with lots of character, tons of yummy food options and great service!

Be sure to check back for our third and final day tomorrow!

Monday, February 26, 2018

Family Ski Trip {Breckenridge - Part 1}

Last week our kids were on winter break and we decided to continue our annual tradition of taking a family ski trip. We almost didn't do this trip this year because we felt like we'd just taken a big trip over Thanksgiving, but we've invested in ski lessons for the kids each year and it is really important to us that they learn how to ski so we didn't want to skip a year. We decided to head back to Breckenridge for our third year in a row! We loaded up and took off on Monday!

Our flight was pretty uneventful and I got to read an awesome book (that I'll sure later this week during our Book Club post).

We arrived in Denver to frigid temperatures and lots of snow! We got our rental car and as we were loading up we saw two guys in a Mustang convertible (with the top down!!!) pulling out of the rental car place. I told them it was an interesting vehicle choice, but I'm sure they got a great deal on it!

That night we drove to the mountains, stopped for a quick bite of dinner and then called it night because we knew we'd be up early to ski the next morning.

We woke up to super cold temperatures and it made me wonder if we would even get to get any skiing in that day. It felt like below zero all day and after our first run we had to go in and warm up with hot chocolate. It's hard to have fun when you can't feel your fingers.

We had to just take it easy that day and take a lot of breaks to keep warming up, but the kids were troopers! This was the first year we didn't put them in ski lessons and I was a little nervous how that would go, but they picked it back up, just like riding a bike, and did awesome!

My kids are quite the adventurers and love to try to keep up with the Mr. At one point they were going through the trees (off the beaten path) and Boo-Boo got stuck in waist deep powder. I had to go rescue him, but as I was doing that I got stuck. We laughed and laughed because the Mr. came to rescue me and he got stuck and I had to pull him out with a ski pole.

Lesson learned, don't go through the trees!

We had such a fun first day skiing together as a family!

When we got back to the hotel we dropped our skis at the ski valet and made our way inside to warm up!

Day one was a success!

We all grabbed warm cookies (the best part about staying at The DoubleTree) and made our way to the hot tub and heated pool.

We had dinner that night at Empire Burger and then walked around downtown to do a little souvenir shopping.

One thing I love about Breckenridge is the town. You can walk or take the shuttle around town and there are so many fun restaurants, shops and lights everywhere!

After taking all we could take of the cold and walking around we headed back to the hotel. We let the kids play a quick game of checkers by the giant fireplace back at the hotel and then called it night so we'd be well rested for day 2!

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

7 Tips for Planning a Family Ski Vacation

At the end of last year we started reflecting on some of the amazing vacations we took and starting planning ahead for this year. We were going back and forth about a family ski trip, but ultimately decided we couldn't skip what had become an annual tradition for our family.

The Mr. LOVES to ski and the kids are following in his footsteps.

I enjoy it because it is something fun the kids are really picking up on and we can all do together. We've made wonderful memories on our past ski trips and we're really excited about this year's trip!

There is a lot of planning that goes into planning vacation like this and today we're over on Savvy Sassy Moms sharing our tips for planning and things we've learned along the way.

You can read about our previous trips:

Why We Love Private Ski Lessons

Making Memories and Why I Prefer Hotels

Breckenridge Family Trip - Part 1

Breckenridge Family Trip - Part 2

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

2018 Family Travel Ideas: From New Years in Key West to a Summer Weekend at Lake Tahoe

As another year comes to a close our family always reflects back on the fun vacations we took that year and starts looking forward to what types of travel we want to plan for the upcoming year. We always include our kids in these conversations because, especially with family travel, we want everyone to be on board and exited about the trips we take. Now, this isn't really an issue with our kids because they love going just about anywhere!

2017 Trips

2017 was a very busy year for us. In the winter we took a weekend trip to Sea Island on the Georgia coast to celebrate the New Year and then the Mr. and I went to Houston for the Super Bowl.

Then at the end of February we took our big family ski trip. Talk about an adventure! We love doing things that keep us active and moving and also trying new things like snowmobiling for the first time with the kids!

When it started warming up the Mr. and I took a road trip to Kentucky for the Kentucky Derby which was amazing and our big summer trip was on the houseboat again this year. Although, Jen kind of had me wishing I'd gone with her to the beach!

Once school started back, the Mr. and I snuck in two quick trips to a ranch in Montana and to Key West. Both were such different experiences, but oh, so amazing!

We closed our our 2017 travel with a big family trip on a cruise. It was the perfect escape from the cold weather at home and such a fun way to spend quality family time together before the craziness of the holidays began.

Planning for 2018

For next year we already have some planning in the works. I was clicking through the Travel Guides on The Scenic Route, Alamo's collection of travel stories, guides and advice and I have a serious travel wish-list going on right now! There is so much great information on this site and so many ideas for different types of vacations!

New Years Eve
Last year we were in Sea Island, GA for New Year's Eve and it was such a fun way to celebrate. I love the idea of taking a trip for this holiday and kicking off the new year with a bang! With all the cold and snow we've had recently being in a warm, fun location sounds like my kind of vacation! This year our trip to Key West was one of my very favorites because, not only are there so many fun things to do there, but the weather and water is always gorgeous.