Family Week Ski Trip

For the family week, Jared took the week off too and we decided to take the kids skiing.  We headed out early Tuesday morning for Castle Mountain. There was thick fog all the way to Pincher Creek, but once we got to the hill the sun was shinning and it was lightly snowing. A beautiful day for skiing.  We got the kids in their rentals and lift tickets bought and away they all went!  I watched them get on the lift then I headed into the lodge to read my book! What I found out later though was Armin was having a tough time and Calum didn't like to turn!  But they came in with smiles on their faces and were having a great time!  The weather was just below zero so nice and warm.  We wrapped up just before 4pm and headed to Fernie for the night!

It was great splitting the trip up like this, it hardly took any time to drive to Fernie and we were there before dark.  We stopped for supper at Boston Pizza then headed to our hotel.  The kids were beyond excited about the hotel, it had a water slide!  Jared and the kids swam until around 9:30pm then we all crashed.  Everyone slept pretty good and we weren't up until 8:00am.  We got ready, had breakfast and went for another swim until it was time to check out.  Then we headed to the ski hill where we did half a day of skiing!  Fernie was much busier than Castle, lots more people!  I can't say I like one more than the other, there are good things about both.  Fernie has nice long, very easy runs that were great for Emry to practice her turns on. But the kids hill at Castle is longer and a little more challenging for Armin and Calum.

Jared decided to get the kids right into it so the 4 of them headed up the deer chair and I headed into the lodge (I like the lodge at Castle better, way less people) I hadn't heard from or seen anyone for quite some time so I finally texted Jared and asked how it was going!  His reply was "It's NOT going good at all!" It took them an hour and a half to get down one run!! I'm thinking it was a little more difficult than he remembered for the boys!  Once they got down Jared left Armin at the little conveyor belt and came into the lodge to get Emry to do a few runs with her.  I took Calum to the conveyor belt too and I stayed out and watched them.  The weather was cool but bearable in my hoodie!  Armin just kept going up the conveyor and then ski down the hill, Calum got a little bored with that so he ventured over to the little t-bar.  I wasn't sure how he would do with that all by himself but I was surprised when I saw him going up with no trouble at all.  Until he reached the top! He fell just after letting go of the tow rope and couldn't get up!  NO ONE helped him, I bet I saw him laying at the top for half an hour!  Finally I texted Jared and told him where Calum was and he and Emry skied over to him and helped him up and sent him on his way down the hill.  He made it half way down and then wiped out pretty good.  Thankfully it was 4:00 and time to return the rentals!  The boys had a blast even if they did stick close to the kid runs.  I had fun watching them and helping where I could! 

On our way home we hit some pretty nasty weather so we took it slow and steady.  Just before Claresholm we came upon a car that had just gone in the ditch.  Jared drove a little further up the road to find an approach then walked back to where they were to see if they were okay.  All was well, and they already had a tow truck lined up to come and pull them out.  We made it to Claresholm and stopped for some supper and a much needed break from the very icy roads!

It was a great two days, the kids had fun skiing and swimming and I had a great time with my family!  At Castle I was able to visit with a good friend, and our neighbor, for the afternoon!  It was great to catch up, its funny we only live a mile apart but we had to be two hours from home to have a nice long visit!!!