A Day on the Bunny Hill

While pregnant with my children, I daydreamed about taking them skiing. It would be a blissful affair, full of laughter and sunshine. Smiles would be on everyones face and we would love the rushing wind as we delicately swished down the slope. Three weeks ago, a friend asked me if I wanted to go to the bunny hill to ski with her 18 month old, Nora. Usually a, yes to adventure person, I had to seriously contemplate whether the juice would be worth the squeeze with 3 groms vs. 2 adults. However, I had dreamt of this day for a very long time and I was ready to see what it looked like with Noah. I have a bad habit of thinking I’m invincible, so of course I said yes. We caravanned to the mountain and started getting ready with the kids. We learned the order of operations on a previous XC ski adventure gone wrong. Free range, diaper change, snacks, then layers, mittens before snowsuit. I dumped snacks in the cupholder of the car and got one kid ready while the other partied in the back. I know Toyota was thinking of me when they designed the back of the 4Runner but it’s the perfect height for kids, so thank you in your thoughtful design. Lucky for us, it was a powder day at the ski hill so we had to park in the farthest lot. At least we each had a sled to carry our gear. We got everything loaded and started walking toward the base lodge. We reached the the end of the parking lot and realized we couldn’t make it to the lodge on snow so we trudged to the shuttle. We unloaded the sled and loaded the shuttle, carrying kids and casually knocking peoples coffees and skis. The shuttle took us to the base lodge where we unloaded the shuttle and loaded the sleds. At this point I was bound and determined to have a good time.

Pulling the sleds up the minuscule incline to get to the bunny hill, Nora fell off and got snow all over her face and hands. Rosanne pulled her back into the sled and carried on. Not two seconds later, I look back and Noah had fallen off the sled face first into the snow. He handled it like a champ but it doesn’t change the fact that he was pummeled in the face by a cold, wet slap. He sat up bewildered, looking precious with snowflakes adorning his eyelashes. We have been working on him having his hands out when something is headed for his face or he is falling, no such luck yet. Our sleds looked as though we were packed for a week long camping trip piled with jackets, bags, skis, boots, backpacks, blankets, water bottles, and kids. Stuff was dragging on the ground, kids were falling out, people were picking up items that had fallen out on the way. We were not running a tight ship. We finally arrived at the top of what felt like Mount Everest. When you have kids and accoutrements, it seems like you show up and blow up. The more kids the greater the radius of the explosion of stuff. I tried to make a cozy spot on the sled for Lou to rest while I took Noah on some laps. She said, no thank you please, and let the whole bunny hill know about it. Ok, into the front pack with that one. Cool, this should be no problem, besides the fact that Noah is basically an overcooked spaghetti noodle when it comes to his muscle tone. I got skis on Noah and tried to help him get down the hill. I knew the boy was flexible but he was basically doing the splits down the hill. This was when I opened my amazon app and ordered two Edgie Wedgies (they help keep tips of skis together). He liked going fast but didn’t like the energy it took to keep his body standing tall. He kept asking me to hold him and ski down. Not happening bro, we are here for you to ski (jokes). He thought it was interesting but definitely not stoked. I was supporting most of his body weight and as previously mentioned, his lack of tone isn’t exactly helpful. He’s like trying to hold a cup of water in your hands. By the way, I was sweating so much I was down to my base layers at this point…

After our monster climb, Nora was inconsolable. Rosanne tried to put her on the snowboard and convince her to have a good time. She rejected all notions that today was a good day. The pair went into the lodge, never to be seen again. I usually rely on Rosanne for my footage, thus the lack of photographs. Noah was over it after 2 runs. I set him up a cozy spot on the sled with a blanket and some snacks. Lou got the skis on and was ready to rip. As soon as I headed down with Lou, Noah started crying. Crying hard, like ugly girl cry. I schlepped Lou back up to Noah. I tried to tell him I was going down the hill and I would be right back and I wasn’t leaving him. He did not agree with my plan. Determined to make skiing happen, I put the baby carrier on like backpack and tried to get Noah into it. I have seen moms do this with ease and confidence over and over again…I had just never done it. I confidently put the pack on, got situated with Noah and attempted to heave him over my head into the pack. He went into full taco mode. His right leg was up by his head and his left leg was sticking straight out to the side. He didn’t complain and in fact I’m convinced he would have been content like that for the rest of the day. Update: I was still sweating. Another mom on the hill saw me and asked if she could help. I was all, “no, I’m good…”. Thank God she didn’t believe me. She came over and sorted us out. Noah got snuggly in the backpack and Lou was on the skis. We took off, mach 10 down the bunny slope. At the bottom I had to pick Lou up and carry her back to the top. So there I was, Noah in the backpack, Lou being carried with skis on, sweating my a** off. The dream was alive! I was skiing with my kids and it was everything I hoped it wouldn’t be.

My friend Kim, who ski instructed in her glory days, met us for a bit. She took Lou from me and skied a few laps with her. Lou was loving it!! Kim made it fun by throwing snowballs and playing in the snow. I was relieved when she got there and realized how much I had been trying to pull off alone. We got cocky and tried to switch Noah out of the backpack and back onto the skis. Immediate melt-down from both kids. We slapped Lou’s skis back on in a desperate attempt to salvage things, but she had entered a place of no reconciliation. White flag raised, we bailed. I was carrying both kids, skis still on Lou, both crying. Kim went to the explosion of gear and loaded it all back on the sled. At that point in the day I would have just left it, first come first serve. We headed into the base lodge and there sat Rosanne and Nora, happy as clams eating grilled cheese and brownies. I was feeling good about going but disappointed that we didn’t take more laps and disheartened Noah didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought he would. Kim put it in perspective. She said, “you did it! You brought them out here, you had the experience, you set a memory, you introduced them to some new things and they SKIED!” Kim was the personal cheerleader I didn’t know I needed, keeping my morale high and reminding me of what really mattered. She made me feel like a hero even though I felt like a zero. I had to take a step back. Whoa, we did just do a pretty cool thing, a pretty amazing thing. A thing I had been dreaming about for years. Perspective is everything after having children. Was it a logistical nightmare to make happen? Absolutely. Would I do it again? Yes. Overall, solid 8/10.