They say that a joy shared is a joy doubled so if there are 4 families going on a joint-ski trip together, is that a joy quadrupled?
I think it certainly is.
This is the second year we all went up to Manning Park, 4 families (8 adults, 9 kids altogether). We booked 2 chalets this year and it was perfect for 2 families share one chalet. We had our separate bedroom and bathrooms and shared the kitchen. The joy was in doing everything together.
It snowed 16 cm of new snow the day we arrived (incredible for the first weekend of March!) The only thing better than powder turns is powder turns with friends. It was so fun for me to be back on my snowboard and ride with an entourage of 9 kids ripping it up on skis.
Manning is small enough of a mountain that the kids could split up and we could easily find each other again. Nallie and her friend were old enough to take the chairlift by themselves and they enjoyed the great privilege of being able to go skiing on their own. There was also enough powder on the blue chair for us to make some incredible first tracks and Simon to clear and land this jump...
When you're on vacation you don't want to cook so it was so nice to coordinate our meals. One of our particularly organized friends had a google doc to designate us to all bring parts of the meal. I didn't look at the list before we left and forgot all the lettuce (oops) and someone else forgot to bring pizza. But the great thing with group projects is that it always seems to work out with the effort other people put in. It was great to cook and eat all the meals together. Sometimes we had all the adults in one chalet and all the kids in the other chalet (putting the oldest Grade 5 boys 'in charge'). The kids enjoyed 'vacation food' which included Reese Puffs and Pop Tarts - nothing like a good sugar rush to start the day. We also had the first annual Menno-Men bake-off....both Menno men called their mothers for trade-secret favourite dessert recipes. Both desserts were delicious and enjoyed by all of us. Next year, we'll have to get the other men baking something too!
We enjoyed the pool and hot tub together. (Although later we regretted this as many of us got sick when we got back and we blamed the murky waters of the hot tub.)
The kids enjoyed sleepovers and swapping bunk beds. There was much planning on logistics of who sleeps in whose room in which bunk but it eventually all got sorted and everyone slept well. It was so fun for Nallie to wake up and play dolls with friend and Noah to wake up and play ball and race RC cars with a bunch of boys.
Last year we enjoyed a game of ice hockey on the frozen rink but by March, it was too warm so we couldn't do that. The dads and kids were still able to play a game of road hockey though. My ultra-competitive 6-year-old was driving me crazy with all the tears over not winning or not getting the puck but I think everyone else had a good time.
Notice it? The bawling sad face boy on the far left in the group picture? Ahaha.
At least the sadness didn't last long when we transitioned to some sledding fun.
It really is a blessing to have joined Christ City church 3 years ago and have made good friends that enjoy the snow as much as we do and added bonus that our kids are all similar in age and all like each other. Til next year...
