Homeschool ski trip #4! Another great year-I could have taken a repeat of last year's weather instead of the snowy 20 degrees we had but it was still fun! Last year only 6 of us went (KG and V stayed at Grandma's). This year we had all 8 of us plus a friend! (I was going to rewrite that as a fun list of comparing numbers but I'm tired from our trip so imagine it's written in a fun way :)
We brought a friend home from Eday with us. She was wonderful with the kids while K got some practice driving and C and T had soccer practice. Then Thursday am we got off right on time (530) , had apples, pancake dogs, and cereal in the car, and made it to Appalachian Mountain right at 9.
It had just started snowing when w got on the snow at 10- enough time to ski a little before 1115 lessons. The youngest three took lessons and the rest skied all over. Then T did intermediate lesson. We went up for lunch. We thought about buying lunch since it was so cold but once we saw prices we decided our picnic lunch was good! The kids enjoyed hanging out together and then went back on the slopes. We skied until 4 and then headed out.
we checked into our Meadowbrook Inn rooms and then relaxed until dinner at Mellow Mushroom. A friend called to say we had 19 going to dinner. They said no problem. We ordered 2 kids' meals, 3 large pizzas, and lots of water and it was almost all gone! Then back to the hotel for some swimming. Grownups relaxed in the (imaginary) hot tub while kids played in the pool. Then off to bed.
Friday morning kids slept in- I was wide awake at 630 but enjoyed the quiet and looking outside at the trees with pretty white lights. I took kids to breakfast a little before 9- they were excited to eat with friends and feed the ducks. Then back to the room for Uno and Catch Phrase before we packed up and drove home from our good trip! We were happy to have a chill day today after a full day yesterday. we did talk about next year maybe doing something the next day- like Grandfather Mountain or hiking or tubing. we'll see!
K rode with friends to CEF TCE. James waited for them and brought them home tonight.
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| Breakfast with friends |
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| V's first ski lesson |
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| Catch-Phrase Fun |
Lessons learned
1. ask to check out all skis at the same desk (instead of getting kid skis from one line and parent skis from another.)
2. there's a room behind the cafeteria where you can picnic (this was our first year picnicking indoors.) refill water bottles there with the water fountains
3. always pack lunch- the food there is expensive ($4.50 for fries, $15 for burger, fries, drink.) the fries were good.
4. The hour skiing before 1115 lessons is probably enough to say you're not a true beginner.
5. Pick (and tell everyone) a time for lunch and leaving. Even if you end up changing the time, better to have a plan. That way you know you can find everyone.
6. Point out the clocks on the ski lifts to the kids. Tell everyone they have to have a buddy.
7. Packing snacky things is good- we took sausage sticks, cuties, nutella/ PB, tortillas, granola bars.
