Snow Day

It does not snow where we live and we've been feeling bad that the kids have been asking to visit the snow all winter. So we took a trip to the snow in April. Better late than never, right? We spent the night at Jason's brother's house the night before, which put us an hour closer to the snow. We got up early that morning and headed out.

Jason had already signed up the girls for an all day ski class that was scheduled to begin at 9:00 am. When I heard this (via an email from my husband), I knew that there would be trouble. Since my kids only see snow about once a year, I knew that they would get there and probably just want to play. Their idea of fun in the snow is making  snowmen, snow angels, and snowballs! Also, let's face it, skiing is hard and tiring and I'll be the first to admit that my kids may not be the toughest kids around. They probably get this from me. I don't like the snow. It's cold and wet and I don't like having to get all bundled up. That's why I live in California, where a light jacket is the most you will ever need.

We arrived and checked them in to class. Ella and her cousin, Abby, went with the instructor, but Payton freaked out and decided she didn't want to go. We took a little walk, and eventually, she agreed to give it a try. When we returned, she wanted me to walk her down to the play area so she could decide whether she wanted to stay, but they wouldn't let me go down with her. I found this completely ridiculous. I mean, what parent is going to drop their child off somewhere that they are not allowed to see. Finally, I had to agree to wait by the door while Payon and one of the instructors walked down to the play area, then she would come back to the door to tell me if was staying. Thankfully, she decided to stay and I was able to go over to the outdoor area where I could watch the kids ski.

This part was seriously comical. Ella spent the majority of the time sitting on the ground eating snow. She probably went down the tiny hill twice and then went back inside. She obviously did not have too much interest in learning to ski.

Since Payton took one ski lesson last year they put her in a green vest. This turned out to be a serious problem. The instructors didn't evaluate the skills of the kids at all. Since Payton was in a green vest she had to go up to the higher hill, which was obviously too hard for her. She started to go down twice and fell. Instead of putting her with the other beginners, they just took her back inside and called me to come get her.

Within about 10 minutes of picking up Payton, I got another call that Ella no longer wanted to ski and I needed to come pick her up as well. I guess this turned out to be the most fun part of the day for the kids. I was able to find an area for them to play in the parking lot.

We had fun for all of 20 minutes until Payton's feet got soaked because she was no longer in the ski boots. At this point, Jason was off snowboarding, so I ended up stuck sitting in the car with two crying kids who were getting hungry for lunch. The employee that was there when I picked up the girls from ski class had told me that we could come back at lunch time since their class was supposed to include lunch. I think he felt bad for me, so he also said that Payton could try skiing again after lunch and we could get her put in the correct level. Long story short, we went back and this employee was no longer there. They said their policy was not to allow kids to come back to class once they've been picked up. Payton started crying all over again when they would not let her come back and to top it off, the conversation between Jason and the guy working there was getting pretty heated. I had to take the kids outside, and after all this, our snow day was pretty much over.

I was done at this point. There was nothing left for the kids to do if they were not going to be allowed back in the ski class. We were all wet and cold, so we drove home. It was definitely not our best family trip by a long shot.