Ski School!!

The time zone change was definitely on our side. The task at hand was to have all 3 girls up and bundled waiting for the 8:00 chime that would allow us to get to our ski gear. Two sets of boots checked out of our "locker" two sets of skis and all three gals (two clomping along in their ski boots) were ready to head to the shuttle. I thought we were doing great, no way we would be even close to being late for the first day of ski school.

Then my simple question, "exactly where do we catch the shuttle?" Our new friend in the rental shop says, "Oh, just go through this door and take the steps to the left. The shuttle comes about every 15 to 20 minutes." Sounds simple right!

DO YOU SEE THE STEPS!!

Let's recap: 2 girls in ski boots, one 2 year old so bundled she can hardly walk, 2 sets of skis, and an altitude difference that makes exercise "difficult if you aren't used to these heights!" To say the least, I didn't need all the extra layers of bundling!! But we made it in time! Haleigh was checked in and off with a very quick "good bye." Then Sophie headed outside to meet her instructor. (She did ask me earlier if I would let her instructor know that she would try the spins but she would need some time before she was ready for the flips. Perhaps watching the Olympics right before our trip wasn't the best idea ;)

(Sophie is the one in the pinkish/ purple.)

After all the hustle Mackenzie and I were about done. She fell asleep on the shuttle back to the hotel and stayed that way for about on hour.

After a great power nap, the reality of a date with Daddy and Mommy set in and she hit rare form!

Of coarse what else would be do? Lunch and exploring, this time at Lion's Head Village.
Daddy shuttled us to get the girls from ski school. We found out we could leave the skis there to make the process of the next morning easier. (yeah right!)

We headed back the the room for all to rest while Daddy attended another lecture. Then it was out for dinner -- bundle bundle bundle!

We all slept well that night!!

Then came Tuesday...

We thought we had a handle on how this whole drop off thing worked. We were golden since two sets of skis were already at school waiting for the girls. We had a few additions to this morning though as Mark had encouraged me to break out of my mold and sign up for ski school myself. That would involve a drop off point for Mackenzie (at another village since we hadn't planned this when we signed the girls up) and a set of skis and poles for me. Oh, and now I too was in those clompy ski boots.

We were actually waiting for the doors to the rental shop to open so we could get ahead of the clock. We were booting up when Sophie had a boot problem. "No problem we'll just switch out boots. Where are her skis so we can adjust them to the new boot?" Yep, you know where this is going. Let's add another set of skis to the shuttle run.

Now we headed up "the steps" and caught the first shuttle to Golden Peak, where we would unload both sets of skis, one set of poles and three children. We got Mackenzie settled at her playing spot for the day. Then caught the city bus (again loading skis, poles, and two children in ski boots) back to Lion's Head where we made ski school "just in time." I sought out the adult ski school sign up spot (at this point I didn't really care what I was signing up for;)

They told me to take the gondola up the mountain and I would find the classes there. After going up for at least 20 minutes on this gondola I was more than a little fearful that someone might think I could actually ski down this mammoth.

Once I got up there it was nice to see that there were many small children up there for their own beginner lessons. It was actually something I was able to handle after about an hour remembering how these skis worked. As the lessons progressed it was a blast to see Sophie's little group learning in the same area. She really surprised me with how well she was doing. What a great day! A mental break from being "mom on duty" was refreshing and honestly no better place to have a little break. (I would need it for the pick up time!)

After having a lesson from 9:45 until 3:30 my muscles were reminding me they are completely out of shape. But no time to slow down. Mark had taken his afternoon break to get Mackenzie from her childcare spot and then came to pick us up. It just didn't happen to be right outside the ski school door. Knowing that we had limited time before he had to be back in class we had no time to walk slow in those clumpy boots. I rounded up the girls from their classes, heard the great reports on how they had progressed and we were off. Now all three of us in ski boots and 4, yes 4 sets of skis and one set of poles had to be whisked across a rather large plaza to meet Daddy and Mackenzie (who was again sound asleep). It was entertaining to see the looks of pity as people watch me juggle all 4 sets of skis while walking briskly and encouraging the same quickness out of two super tired skiers.
We all slept well that night too!!

(If you think the girls look wiped you know why there are no pics of me at this point -- I was DONE!)