10 things you should know about planning a ski vacation.

1. Go to Big White. I know Whistler is technically closer but there's nothing like Okanagan champagne powder plus Whistler seems to be catering to a much richer crowd these days ($148 to ski at Whistler for the day?!)  Go to Whistler if you are young, kid-free and don't have mortgage but if you are no longer a spring chicken, have Littles and on a budget like us, go to Big White instead ($68/day with the Biggie card). I think we have been spending post-Christmas to New Years here for at least a decade now and I hope this tradition never stops...

2. Let Costco do the cooking. There is a reason there is a Costco right at the bottom of the road before you turn to drive up the mountain to Big White. In the ten or more years we have been at Big White, I don't think we have ever gone out for a single meal...why would we when you can snack of a Costco-sized bag of popcorn or Ghiradelli chocolates while the Costco lasagna is baking in the oven?

3. Invest in ski training tools. We tried putting Big Sister in lessons when she was 3 but the 6"3 Aussie with his shiny reflective googles spooked the begeebies outta her and we parted sadly with our $70 for the ski lesson where she never even left the lodge with Mr. Aussie Ski Instructor.  Little Brother insisted "only mommy teach" so I ditched my snowboard and bought junkie skis, a ski harness and an 'edgie wedgie' (its in the picture -it's the little clip that goes on the front of skis to keep the tips together). This small little thing has helped SO much. Instead of me yelling, "PIZZA! Just do the PIZZA!!! PIZZA!" and having Little Brother drooling for lunch, he actually knows what I mean now.

4. Be prepared for cold weather. We are from B.C., we are total wimps when it comes to cold weather....layer up and always wear your balaclava. The kids are totally into being ninjas right now so they were totally wearing their balaclavas 24/7 and being 'the black ninja' and 'the pink ninja'.

5. Be prepared to ditch a ski day because of the cold weather. Let's just be honest, if you can't feel your face or your fingers, skiing just isn't that much fun anymore. On one particular freezing and blustery cold -18 day, we decided after a few brain-numbing runs that hot-tubbing at 10:30 in the morning was going to be more enjoyable than any run on the mountain. Good call.

6. Take your Little Ones to the carnival. Big White hosts a free carnival night at least once a week. The kids jump in the bouncy castle, stuff their faces with free cotton candy and popcorn, get their faces painted and play lame carnival games to earn points. If they earn enough points, they will exclaim it is 'the best day ever' because they will have enough points for the limited-edition, coveted, Big White fidget spinner or silly putty. Simple joys people.

 7. Ski with the Littles in the morning. Let them watch Netflix in the afternoon. I guess little legs do have their limitations because by lunch time, they were so tired, I practically had to spoon-feed them their lunch. But this worked out nicely so we could have venture out to more adventurous trails in the afternoon. We carved some insane powder and ventured to some trails that we would never take our Littles...which bring me to the next point...

8. Try to avoid 4 feet deep tree wells. I was following my dear husband but didn't make a turn fast enough and sank shockingly fast in this tree well. I was so thankful that he heard my wails of, "STUCK!!! I'm stuck. Like really, really, really stuck!!!! Like I can't get out of this on my own kind of stuck!!!' He found where I was and helped dig out my board and un-clipped me pulled me out of the hole and managed to find my board after that. I really wouldn't of been able to pull myself outta that hole on my own so always ride with at least one other person and hopefully that other person has tree-well rescues in their repertoire.

9. Pack your skates. Of all the years we have been at Big White, this was the first year we brought our skates and it was free and fun! Neither of our Littles can skate and it's good they have those support bar things. Big Sister was happy to shuffle slowly and try to chase Daddy. Little Brother was just memorized by the Zamboni and was happy to shuffle to follow the Zamboni. Skating on a real outdoor rink makes you feel really Canadian. Maybe in a few years when our kids can actually skate, we can even join the other people playing hockey, eh? For now, we just enjoyed skating as the sun set in ridiculously spectacular shades of pink and purple and then had hot chocolate by the fire. It just doesn't get more picture perfect than that!

10. Ring in the new year with family and fireworks. New Years day recap: ski, eat, hot tub, play multiple rounds of Exploding Kittens  and watch the fireworks. I love that Big White knows that most parents don't want to stay up til midnight so every year fireworks at Big White go off at 8:15 pm and everyone can be asleep before 8:45 pm. Now that's a good start to the new year!