Apparently, it’s SKI WEEK here on my blog, so in keeping with the theme we’ve already established including posts on OUR TRIP TO PARK CITY and WHAT TO PACK FOR YOUR NEXT SKI VACTION, today, I’m sharing my TOP FIVE, BOTTOM FIVE: SKIING WITH YOUR FAMILY.
Of course, I am a firm believer that anytime you can get away with your family for a few days, it is a blessing and there is nothing BAD about it. I love family time and vacations and there really is no “negative”, buuuuuuuuuut as a professional in the travel industry and a mom to four kids, I would be lying if I didn’t also say that ski vacations are not for the weak and often, they’ll test you to your core. If you ever want a “vacation boot camp”, it’s a family ski vacation.
Take this all with a grain of salt. I love spending time with my family. I just happened to notice that we have a few more “quirks” on this type of vacation 😉 .
Don’t forget to also check out these other TOP FIVE, BOTTOM FIVE blog posts:
TOP FIVE, BOTTOM FIVE: CHRISTMAS MOVIES
TOP FIVE, BOTTOM FIVE: HALLOWEEN CANDY
TOP FIVE, BOTTOM FIVE: CEREALS
TOP FIVE, BOTTOM FIVE: HOUSEHOLD CHORES
TOP FIVE, BOTTOM FIVE: CHRISTMAS SONGS
TOP FIVE, BOTTOM FIVE: THANKSGIVING FOODS
Here we go, in my little ole opinion, here are the TOP FIVE BEST THINGS ABOUT A FAMILY SKI VACATION…
#5: IT’S JUST SO LAIDBACK.
Oh yes it is! Everything in a ski town is laidback. It’s very similar to going to a beach town. People are walking around in basically their pajamas, getting dressed and doing your hair and makeup is just not a priority as everyone is covered in hats/sunglasses/goggles/scarves. It’s just chill, happy, easy packing and oh so relaxed. Truly, the vibe is very “beach town chill meets cold weather”. I love this about a family ski vacation. Easy to pack, easy to get ready.
#4: THE FOOD IS JUST SO MUCH BETTER.
There is just no better time to enjoy a meal than on a cold day. Whether we’re eating chili on the mountain or at a restaurant in town, walking into a cozy spot with hearty food after you’ve been trudging through the snow is simply the best! My kids’ always have the best appetites on these vacations and food is just tastier.
#3: SNOW, SNOW, SNOW!
Snow is not always ideal. I lived in Michigan for a year and know that snow can be a big ole pain in the butt some days. Snow on a ski vacation though is MAGICAL! That is where you’re supposed to have snow. Everything on a family ski vacation is better with snow (and we know, we’ve gone on a few when we didn’t have ‘good’ snow). Snow on a ski vacation is like sunshine on a beach vacation…you just really want it/need it/love it when you’re there.
#2: IT’S AN ACTIVE VACATION.
My peeps are never more active than when they’re on this type of trip. We’re outside, we’re skiing/boarding/skating/hiking…we’re doing all of the fun, active things that leave us happy and tired when we hit the pillow at night. I personally love vacations when you come back tired from all the fun and this always proves to be one of them.
#1: ALL OF THAT COZY FAMILY TIME.
It’s cold, we’re warm inside, there is a fire, hot drinks and a card game. These are my favorite memories about ski vacations with my family. I love those moments when we’re hunkered down inside all together.
So, those are my TOP FIVE, buuuuut to balance things out and keep it real, here are the BOTTOM FIVE THINGS ABOUT A FAMILY SKI VACATION…
#5: LEARNING NEW THINGS ISN’T ALWAYS FUN
Whether it’s a language or an instrument, a new recipe, sport or any other life skill. Learning new things is not always fun. It’s often hard. It’s difficult. It’s embarrassing or maybe even a bit painful. It’s so hard when they’re sad to be dropped off at ski school or when they’re nervous or intimidated. As an adult that learned to ski later in life, it sucks to be out there amongst the other adults falling all the time…it’s HARD. When I look at that sweet pic of Smith though on his very first day of snowboarding lessons and know now on this side of it that boarding is his VERY FAVORITE THING TO DO, I am so, so, so, so happy that we pushed past the hard stuff. On our last night in Park City this year, we all went around the dinner table and said our favorite part and Kensington said her favorite part was skiing with Ashby. You guys…it made me tear up! Those two seem to have the least in common when the kids divide up. Ashby and Smith have a lot in common and Ashby and Madeley have a lot in common and Kensington and Smith are besties and Kensington loves to cuddle with Mades…so they’re sisters and love each other, but they don’t always “do things” together, but now, they can ski together AND ENJOY IT. My mama heart was so full.
#4: LOSING EVERYTHING
For the love, why do my kids always lose one glove. Always. They should really sell ski gloves in sets of three. I can take my kids all over the world and they return with every single item. I take them skiing and by the end of day one we’re missing a gaiter, three gloves, two lift passes and a sock. It’s maddening. Maddening.
#3: BABY, IT’S COLD OUTSIDE.
Awwwww! We love the snow! We love the snow! I do not love the constant, constant, CONSTANT chatter of “it’s so cold, I’m cold, it’s cold”. Yes. It is cold. If it weren’t cold, we couldn’t be skiing on snow right now. It’s not because we don’t have them properly dressed…they’re properly dressed and they all have hand warmers, foot warmers, for the love, they even make electric mittens now. It’s just COLD OUTSIDE. That’s skiing. It’s cold. You will be cold. We’re all cold. Sigh.
#2: THE SKI LIFT
My family hops on and off of the ski lift with zero issues. Even Madeley (who is small in stature) gets on and off without a-n-y help whatsoever. They talk and talk on the lift. They point out things they see. They laugh. They have so much fun. I get on and immediately think we’re all going to fall to our death. Every single time.
#1: GETTING EVERYONE DRESSED FOR THE MOUNTAIN.
Nothing. Nothing. NOTHING makes me a more angry human than getting my family ready to leave for skiing. Every year, I pray for patience and tell myself that I will not be “that person” and without fail, every year I am. It’s early. It’s chaotic. We’re getting a million layers on them. They start to get hot. Andrew is super hot, so he’s opened a window, so now, it’s snowing inside our condo. The boots hurt. They can’t find their gloves. He’s wearing my goggles. My helmet is too small. It’s hot. My skis are too heavy to carry. I can’t walk in these boots. I need to go to the bathroom even though you just strategically put 4 layers on me. You guys, I can’t. I mean, I do. I have to, but the worst version of myself is that moment right then and there as I get my family ready to go skiing.
AND OF COURSE, I ASKED MY HUBBY HIS THOUGHTS ON SKIING WITH OUR FAMILY TOO. Please note, he wrote this himself, so i apologize for the blunt delivery in advance. Hahaha!
ANDREW’S TOP FIVE:
5: Being outside in the fresh air. The views are beautiful!
4: The exercise and physical aspect of snowboarding. A lot of times in the gym, I train year round just to make sure I am up for the challenge. I don’t play golf or do any other extracurricular activities, so for me, this is such an adrenaline rush.
3: Après ski. Live music, Jameson and maybe some nachos is heaven for me.
2: Family time. I love spending time with everyone on the mountain and at dinners at night.
1: Flying down the mountain as fast as possible on a steep groomer. I always have a huge grin. I feel like I’m 8 on a sled in Missouri, and it takes me back to being a kid.
ANDREW’S BOTTOM FIVE:
5: Getting kids dressed to ski.
4: Packing all of that crap up.
3: Long lift lines.
2: Erratic skiers. Nothing is worse than being on a cat trail when someone is taking up the whole lane or makes erratic side to side movements. Or people standing in the middle. Stand to the side, people!
1: Having to leave. I have never left, EVER, and was ready to go. Even when I’ve left injured, I’ve always wanted to stay.
And those are our thoughts on skiing with our family 🙂 .
One more time, don’t forget to check out these other TOP FIVE, BOTTOM FIVE blog posts:
TOP FIVE, BOTTOM FIVE: CHRISTMAS MOVIES
TOP FIVE, BOTTOM FIVE: HALLOWEEN CANDY
TOP FIVE, BOTTOM FIVE: CEREALS
TOP FIVE, BOTTOM FIVE: HOUSEHOLD CHORES
TOP FIVE, BOTTOM FIVE: CHRISTMAS SONGS
TOP FIVE, BOTTOM FIVE: THANKSGIVING FOODS
Have the best Thursday, friends! I’ll see you back here tomorrow! xx
Alison says
A lot of these made me giggle out loud. Especially the one about getting kids ready and dressed for skiing. Oh, it’s not fun. Not at all. Thanks for always keeping it real.
Elspeth says
Love these kinds of posts! I agree, the getting dressed and out the door is the worst part.
http://www.elspethsdaybyday.com
Andrea says
It’s a catwalk, not a cat tail. Sorry Andrew!
Mix and Match Mama says
That was my typo. Andrew typed “cat trail” on his shared note. I’m going to fix it!
Sheaffer says
Man, I wish I loved skiing. The end.
Mix and Match Mama says
Me too.
Paula says
I love Andrews #1. Feeling like he’s 8. That’s awesome. I think that is how my husband feels playing in the ocean and riding in waves. It just makes me smile.
Lesley McFarland says
I feel every single one of these and agree 100000%. I am both you and Andrew! We are a skiing family. This is what we do every year. Instead of the beach we head to the mountains.
I’m not sure why people do not come home with all of their stuff and lugging all the things is just plain exhausting. But once you are completely exhausted and about to cry you are on the mountain have the absolute best time with your fam!!!
Young families hang in there….your kids will eventually be able to carry all the things…still come up missing all the things at the end of the day….but so worth it!!!
Mix and Match Mama says
YES!!! I couldn’t agree more!
SS says
Shay,
I never been on that big of hills. We went for gym class (yes . Tell your kiddos that). We have a couple places around us, but I have I only been downhill skiing that one time(I have cross country skis, downhill ..nope). I am right there with you on the ski lift I HATE it. When you are on and see all the skis, poles, hats or wait is that where your missing glove is? Lol. When we went for gym…I went through the nice slow trail through the woods. I do not like the steep hills.
Your layering and kids having to go to the bathroom…made me laugh. Reminds me of a Christmas story.
I drive my kiddos nuts when we get snow…I sing/talk everything to Do you want to build a snowman? Lol. You need to put your snow pants on… lol.
Kay says
NAILED IT! Especially being the worst version of yourself while getting kids ready. I feel like the parking lot at any given ski mountain is also bottom five category. Why are they always on bumpy, ditchy gravel? And there’s the tiniest “acceptable” drop off designation where only two cars can fit at a time?
Mix and Match Mama says
YES AND AMEN!!!!!!!
Robyn says
The past two days your posts have been on fire! Great start to 2024!
Mix and Match Mama says
Well gosh, you’re SO SWEET! Thank YOU!
Sarah DeWald says
Newbie skiier and the ski lift is terrifying!! I don’t want to look at the people skiing or the mountain views. I am holding on for dear life and trying not to fall off or drop anything.
Erika Slaughter says
A vacation with your people…those top #5’s outweigh the bottom any and everyday!
Kara says
We are heading to Boyne Mtn this weekend for a ski trip/my daughters 5th birthday and I couldn’t agree more with all of these! I love a cozy ski vacation but man, the amount of stuff… it is special haha. I do not ski much..give me my uggs and a coffee and I’m happy, but my husband is just like Andrew, it is his happy place! Thanks for a fun post! 🙂
Beth says
This is my second comment, ever. Shay, you wrote me a sweet, thoughtful personal response to my first comment, and still I’ve spent months gearing up for my second. But since reading this blog truly is a part of my mindfulness and self-care practices because of the kindness, community, and quality content I find here, participating is one of my goals for the year.
We are a New England ski family. In 2020, my husband and I, who both grew up in New England but didn’t come from skiing families, decided to enroll our then-4 and 6-year-olds in lessons at a local hill and then ended the season with a family ski weekend in VT. Well, here we are 4 years later schlepping to ski mountains on all of our school vacations and long weekends through the winter (heading out tomorrow for MLK weekend!). I am the weak link as my confident husband and rubber band-jointed 8-and 10-year-olds zoom down the mountain, but I feel like I’m living a lifelong dream giving the gift of skiing to my kids like I always wanted when I was a kid.
With all of that background, your ski posts are so, so great. Every piece of advice, every observation, every gripe, and every celebration resonate so deeply with me! We are thinking of an out-west ski trip at some point, and while I’m a little scared of going to a “big” mountain, watching your family navigate it gives me some courage. As for the gloves, you know if they came in sets of 3, the kids would just lose the other hand, right? 🙂
Mix and Match Mama says
Thank you, thank you, thank YOU for commenting again! I am so blessed to have you a more active part of this community. You have blessed me today with your comment…except your right, darn it, I need them to sell me four gloves at a time 😉 . Have a great day!! xx
Becky G says
We are a ski family, we take a small ski vacation every year. For the last several, I had a reluctant skier and that was tough. Set expectations (low). Last year it just clicked for him and it made my heart so happy! Get dressed outside (or at least next to an open door)! It’s one of our go too things! I always give us at least 30 minutes to get dressed before ski school (and we have a ski in/out that all we do is ski down the hill). If you have the right gear – you generally don’t need nearly as many layers as you think (unless your me who is always cold!). My kids wear 1-2 layers. And HAND WARMERS. I have $300 gloves and still need handwarmers. And my kids and I love the lift!
Erin H says
I’ve never been skiing, but I feel the frustration of getting ready in my soul. We are supposed to get snow this weekend and I’m DREADING it because I know my 5 year old will want to go out and play and I’m sweating just thinking about getting her all bundled up.
Natalie says
Although I’ve never been skiing, I love this post so much. Andrew cracks me up … “Packing all that crap up”. Y’all made me LOL! And I couldn’t have picked a better morning when I needed the laugh. Y’all are great!!
Meg says
I know you love to share only positivity on your blog, which is lovely, but thank you for also sharing some of the challenging/negative stuff. It makes me feel more “normal” and that I’m not the only one who finds some parenting stuff just HARD. Xoxo.
Debbra Weber says
I seriously busted out laughing when I read your #2 on the fear of falling off the ski lift. I started skiing at an early age and never had that fear but my son just went with a group of college buddies for the first time a couple of weeks ago and I had that fear of him falling off the lift. He sent me selfies from the lift and I replied with “no selfies on the lift–hang on!” Ha!! I felt your fear!!
Mix and Match Mama says
I have never, ever, ever one time in my life been on a ski lift and not imagined my death.
Faith says
Lolol love the brutal honesty. Although your ski trips always look like so much fun, it’s cold and just getting mine dressed when they were little to go outside in the little bit of snow we sometimes got was exhausting. I can’t imagine all that times 4!!
Alison says
Packing all that crap up. 😂 Yes! I put that above getting kids dressed because more times than not it’s me packing it up because I refuse to purchase new (expensive) equipment because a kid was just mindlessly tossing stuff together. I can never call it a ski vacation. It’s a trip. Always a trip. LOL
K.K. says
Winter stuff… Oh so cozy and fun and I love it… Copy and paste of my post earlier this week. 🙂
Skimama says
Haha this is the best. We just got back from a Copper Mountain trip last night. We laughed and laughed at a mom losing her sh*t on her kiddo trying to get geared up in the locker room. That has been me more times than I care to admit.
The missing glove: so true! We now bring at least 2 extra pairs of gloves even though we haven’t lost a glove in several years. Where do the missing gloves go?!
Ski trips are the best trips and the most exhausting at the same time.
sandi says
Gosh that was fun! How can you have a top five or bottom five without mentioning bra trees? Or is that just an east coast thing. It used to be funny but as a mom of a 21 year old young man, it is weird to be on a chair lift with him (or a stranger) and see a tree covered in bright colored bras. Well, it is weird with my daughters also but as pricey as underthings are these days we are not tossing any bras onto any tree.
My husband is not a skier or a cold weather person and I grew up on ski vacations with my family. When our kids were younger it was easier to manage them one on one. We would purchase 1/2 day tickets for them and a full day ticket for me and I would ski with them individually for a few hours at a time. I think snowshoeing would be a fun thing also.
Ellen says
Here in the northeast, praying for snow! I LOVE skiing, and so do my husband and kids. Just hoping we get a couple of good days! Darn global warming.
Kerry says
This is cracking me up. I live in a ski town with a 5 and 7 year old, so we have to do winter clothes every.single.morning before the school bus. We lose stuff all the time – I’ve been known to stop the bus and get on to find a snow boot (how do you lose your snow boot!?) or glove -ha! The lost and found at our school is massive and overflowing with all the gloves and hats and fleeces and snowpants (also, how do you lose your snowpants when temps are subszero and there’s feet of snow outside??). My husband is outside snow-blowing as I type and he would agree with your dislike of the cold.
Barb says
I remember years ago when my Father was a boyscout leader and he let me go with his group and we had to do the buddy system. I got this boy who hardly ever skied and everytime we went up the mountain he lost something(a wallet, a ski pole off the lift, a ski. We hardly got any skiing, because we were always looking for something. My Dad asked me if I had a good time. I said I would never go with them again. I always went on Saturdays.
Lisa says
The chair lift–Ughhhh. I didn’t learn to ski until my early 30’s. I have never, NEVER, gotten comfortable on the chair lift. It always seems a little icier, I just know I’m going to fall as I get off and they’ll have to stop the lift as I try AND FAIL to right myself. That’s a lot of pressure!!! (along with the don’t’ fall and get hurt pressure on my way down the mountain)
I finally decided in my early 50’s that I was done with skiing. I will go to the beautiful mountain towns, I will buy the cute après ski clothes, I will après ski with you, I just won’t do the ski part.
Kelly Kirkland says
Love, love, love top 5/bottom 5 posts! I skied once. Thought I was going to die the entire time…on the lift, at ski school, on the actual hill. Never again. I’m still dressing teenagers to go out and play in the snow in northeast Missouri, and it is exhausting. 🙂 So thankful you are back to blogging after your much deserved time off. Your posts are the perfect way to start my days!
Andrea says
Love Andrew’s top five bottom five. You can tell he’s the skier/snowboarder 😀
Brooke Richardson says
Shay, our first family ski experience was so bad we have yet to go back as a family. lol!
I really want to love it though. 🙂
Mix and Match Mama says
I just about spit my coffee out, friend. You and I should stick to the beach, cruises and cities.
Kacy M says
I’ve never been skiing nor have the interest to but can appreciate the sport. 1) ski lifts look terrifying and 2) how is falling down a mountain fun?! Snow is beautiful and also not at the same time. But agree, if you’re with people you love and have quality time together, doesn’t matter the activity (maybe). Haha.
Meredith says
You are so right on ll of these things!
The BEST thing is when they go on ski trips with their friends in college and they are confident, independent, experienced skiers! We’ve never been so proud of our girls (ages 18 and 21) who did just that this year! They knew exactly what to do and had a blast with their friends. In a weird way, we felt like we accomplished something by sending them off prepared to ski on their own!