We stayed at a place called Split Rock, which was a really nice place in the 80's I'm sure. Ever see Hot Tub Time Machine? What clued us in to the fact it's never been updated? Doors that lock with actual keys, enormous non-flat screen TVs, and cool gold trim. Luckily we are not high class people and we thought the kitchiness of it all was quite charming. And it did have a lot going for it as long as you didn't look too closely. There was a pool, of course. But also an arcade, bowling alley, and even a movie theater that was playing Life Of Pi. Best of all, there was an in-door water park that we hit up at the end of the week. The kids were both apprehensive at first but soon could not be torn away from splashing in the toddler section and going down the mini water slide. We finally dragged them away when we were all shivering and starving. One of the best parts of that experience was that while we were splashing in our bathing suits there was a swirling blizzard all about us. We weren't sure we would be able to drive out the next day it was so much snow! The kids weren't impressed, but the adults where.
Too bad all that snow didn't dump on the mountain in the beginning of the week when we could have enjoyed it more. The first day there was a small ice storm which made conditions not so great for skiing but it didn't deter Sto and I. While my mom hung out with the kids at the hotel (with Lincoln crying pitifully most of the time, of course)(God bless my mom!) we hit the slopes. I admit I was a little nervous that I might have forgotten how to snowboard but it only took 1 run to get the hang of it again. It was a really great day. There were only a handful of people out riding so we felt like we had it all to ourselves. The took a ton of runs in just a couple of hours and were reminded why we like it so much.
We considered taking Pippa for a lesson but thought better of it and decided to take them both sledding instead. That was an experience to remember. In a continuing effort to encourage Lincoln to enjoy the company of people other than myself (can you say supreme mama attachment?!) I was going to sled with Pippa and Lincoln with Sto. He was not terribly happy with this but managing to hold it together. I popped Pippa on the sled and start trekking up the hill, remembering all those times my dad did the same thing with me. Now I understand why he would take a break every couple of runs! We climbed up only a small part of the hill to test it out for Pippa's first time sledding and as I'm trying to relay the wisdom in this to Sto he waves me off and continues further up the hill. My worry was that it would be too fast and scary and the kids would refuse to sled any more! I could totally see that happening. But dad's know a thing or two about this sort of thing so I didn't push it. Pippa and I had a great (and short) run and she was ready to go again. Lincoln, however, did not fair quite as well. Sto got going too fast and tried to slow himself by putting his feet down, which then sprayed snow onto Lincoln's face causing him to start screaming....sledding over. There was no getting him anywhere close to a sled after that so Sto took him back to get the car while Pippa and I played for a little while longer. At least one of them had fun. I'm sure next year he'll won't be able to get enough of it.
Another memorable moment of the week happened at the arcade. We got a handful of tokens to let the kids play whatever they wanted. The concept of winning tickets and buying something with them was totally foreign, obviously, so they just gravitated toward the games that had the best flashing buttons to push. We had would get a ticket here and there and I figured we would just throw them out at the end, not even bothering to redeem them for a crappy toy. So Pippa chose a game that releases the bouncy ball and you win the amount of tickets written on whichever hole it bounced into. Not a bad choice since the least amount of tickets to be won was 10. Oddly, there was a part of me that still got excited at the thought of winning a bunch of tickets, even if I didn't want anything for them. Wouldn't you know it, our ball get stuck and can't bounce into a hole! Let down! So then Sto bangs on the machine and pop! Right into the jackpot hole! We ended up with 750 tickets! They just kept spitting out of the machine. It was crazy. That event started kicked our good luck into high gear because by weeks end we had over 1200 tickets! Sto and Pippa had fun picking out a million little toys to bring home with us (most of which are already in the trash, by the way).
It was a fun and exhausting week and we are already talking about our next mountain trip. We liked the area so much that we would love to buy a vacation home in the area some day. I've always said I'd rather have a house in the mountains than the beach. Dare to dream, right?
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