Escape to the snow (and sunburns)

Last year, we didn't make it to the snow. This year, I was determined that we would go. So I put it on the calendar for the weekend of March 16, a couple months before... Brian found a hotel for us and chose the slopes with the best kids program. Then, the date snuck up on us and we checked the weather report- sunny and 60+ degrees each day. WHAT???

That sounds lovely, but slushy. Tahoe has not had a very snowy year, so we knew we would be dealing with a lot of man made white stuff. And the overnight temps were still below freezing, so I was not only worried about slushy slopes- but icy ones too. (Those blog readers who remember skiing with me in Austia- okay, honestly it's only 1 of you... SARA! Well, she knows I do not do well on icy slopes. I tend to sit down on my big butt and slide gracefully down the hill.)

Long story short- Brian and I considered canceling this ski weekend because of the warm temps, but boy am I glad we didn't!

We drove out of our driveway at 6:15am, with two kids wide awake and psyched for the chance to ski and play in the snow for 2 days. We arrived at Boreal Ski Mountain 2 hours later. We checked Macy into "kids club" at 9am, smiling from ear to ear that they were going to get her all geared up with ski equipment, teach her to ski, feed her lunch, ski some more and then we'd pick her up at 3pm. Sweet! Lucky us.

We dropped off Tate at 10am, however we had to suffer through the process of getting his rental equipment ourselves, since he is over age 6. Whatever. 

He was a trooper and couldn't wait to get out there- 

Tate totally remembers the awesome day he and Nick spent in ski school in Austria together. (The day Sara and I left our babies with pretty much a stranger at the inn, so we could have an adult day on the slopes! Oh well, they survived and we had a great day! Minus that ice I mentioned before...)

While we were dropping off Tate, who walks out with her ski school class? Our brave little Macy-

With the bright pink gloves, of course!

She too was so excited to be going off on her own for the day, just relishing in the excitement of having the opportunity to learn how to ski. Love her and her courage.

But, she wasn't nearly as excited as these two kids-

We ditched Tate and Macy so fast and wanted to get on the slopes, that we forgot to put on our own sunscreen... More on that later, but you know where it is going.

Who knew that spring skiing in California could be so amazing? Check out this guy-

No jacket or gloves! Just a GoPro camera on his head and an awful mustache. (Yup, it's 'mustache March' in our house. All for Air Force moral. I suppose)

We had a great day skiing together- and decided to take a break before grabbing the kids at 3pm. These were well deserved and ohhhh sooooo tasty-

We grabbed the kids and all headed out together for another hour and a half!

Macy and I stayed together on the bunny hill (with chair lift), which she rocked every single time! She was begging to go up over and over and over, but I had to stop her eventually when she was holding herself so bad, I just knew she'd have an accident rather than stop skiing!

Brian took Tate up on some actual runs, which he too nailed-

Needless to say, we were exhausted! We left the ski area close to 5pm and headed to our hotel The Kingvale Lodge-

 Sweet, simple and kid friendly. They even had sleds and mounds of snow for us- 

Remember how we forgot to put on our own sunscreen? Well, you can't really tell in this picture but my face is bright red and my neck almost purple. I was not happy. 

See that big Bud Light that my husband was so sweet to buy for me at the gas station? (Romantic, I know.) Well, I didn't really feel like drinking it. I just wanted to rub the icy cold can against my screaming skin like this- 

Sunday morning we headed out to find some good sledding. Again, we were racing against the heat, because it was another day close to 65 degrees. But, we found the Kingvale Snow Park. Great idea- pay $20 to park your car, $5 per person to sled. They have a magic carpet/people mover/ escalator to take you up the big huge hill, but due to the lack of snow, it was shut down. 

Oh well, time to teach our kids how to sled the old fashion way! 

They loved it, never complained about the hike up the hill and would have stayed all day!

What a great trip! It is so fun to be able to drive to the snow, and not have to live in it! Snow makes everything harder, and messier. But, our kids love it. We made it home early enough to unpack and all settle down by 5pm. SCORE!