January 2-4, 2018
We went to Ruidoso for a few days and it was so beautiful. It was also really fun to have a mini vacation with just our little fam. We usually do our big family trips with extended Vore and Gwilliam families, and we usually don't take little family trips. I am so glad we did. Even though there were times we were impatient with each other or things didn't work out as planned, overall it was nice to be making these memories together. Here are a few of our adventures...
We bought snow chains on the way up because we needed them to get up to the ski resort. Sadly they did not work. Bri and the kids left at 7:30 am to rent equipment and get up the the resort by 10:00. (I chose to stay at the condo. I read and took a couple of walks up the mountain road. I skied once in college...not a fan.) Park and Brian worked forever to get them on the tires in the freezing weather. I guess maybe they were the wrong size? I am not sure because later when I asked Brian about it he grumbled "I don't want to talk about it." That is so un-Brian like-to be grumpy- I chose not to ask again.
From what I gather, once they got them on the extra length on the chains kept hitting the outside of the van so they tried to creep up the mountain going 5 miles an hour. They tried different solutions to make them fit correctly, including using Parker's shoelaces at one point. About 10:30 the resort gave the okay to drive up without chains...and then they couldn't get the chains off the tires! So stressful.
Once at the resort Tanner was so weak from being sick he was exhausted just standing to get the lift tickets. Aubrey's boot latch broke before she ever got on the snow. She stood in line for two hours to get it fixed and they said "sorry, we don't have time to fix that." At the very end of the day Aubrey decided to risk the broken boot and went down the bunny hill a couple of times. Bri texted and said "pretty much everything that could have gone wrong today did." I was feeling pretty guilty for having a quiet, relaxing day at the condo.
Bryn had skied once a few years ago with the Vores and she was a huge help in teaching everyone to ski. I felt badly that she didn't just get to let loose and just ski...but she was a lifesaver. Bri said he underestimated how hard it would be for him to help them all get started. (Again...me feeling guilty at the condo. I did apologize and told him I felt badly for not coming. He said there wasn't really anything I could have done to help. Phew.)
Eventually Tanner felt well enough to give it a try. One funny thing...he said he didn't really pay attention to the videos Bri showed them because it looked so easy. He and Parker both were talking smack before going about how awesome they would be but Brinley quietly told me they had a super humbling day on the slopes. It was tougher to catch on to than these athletic boys expected.
Tanner couldn't figure out how to snake in and out and only went STRAIGHT down full speed ahead every time. Kind of terrifying for him and everyone else in his path. Parker had the typical falls and crashes too of day one on the slopes. I think if we could have skied one more day all of the hiccups could have been ironed out...but no working chains.... Brian said although the day started rough the fun everyone had by the end definitely seemed to worth effort. Sadly no pictures from skiing.
Another funny thing about this trip is we had meal fails the WHOLE time! We tried to eat at new places and had no luck. The first night Bri, Aub and I went out and couldn't find the Mexican restaurant I had found from Trip Advisor...we ended up at Schlotzskys. (Which was fine, just boring.) The next day the kids went skiing and just had snacks for lunch so they could get on the slopes (kettle corn, protein bars etc...)
After skiing they drove all the way back to the condo to get me and then we drove 25 minutes to a restaurant Adam Bird had recommended. It was a 1.5 hour wait. So we drove 25 minutes back in to town and went to KFC. They were out of cooked chicken and it was going to be a 30 minute wait! So....we went to McDonalds. Big Macs, kids meals, sodas, fries, 6 strawberry banana smoothies and a dozen chocolate chip cookies later....we were heading back to the condo to eat, shower and call it a night.
Friday morning we decided to go to Cornerstone Baker & Cafe Co. for breakfast. We had a little more luck here and it was nice to be at sit down restaurant together. We ordered a variety of yummy food: pancakes, bacon and eggs, crepes, eclairs and freshly squeezed orange juice.
We then packed up. While we were waiting in the van for Bri to gather the last of his stuff, we played Psych on our phones. It is a fun app that poses questions about everyone who is playing. Then everyone votes for their favorite answers. One question I remember was "If Tanner was an ice cream, what flavor would he be?" Two of the answers, that really describe his personality so well: grumpy vanilla and sweet and sour delight. We loaded up with snacks and more Redbox movies and headed home. It was a brief three day trip with two of the days being partial travel days but it was nice to get out of the Big O and go on an adventure together.
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| The view out off of our balcony. We stayed in Tiara Del Sol condominiums. |
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| On the day Brian took the kids skiing, I took two walks up the road |
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We played Crowns one night. Sadly Tanner wasn't feeling good
the whole trip so he didn't join in. |
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| Tanner |
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| Parker and Aubrey got in a snow fight...guess who won? |
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Aub had no chance! He put snow up her shirt, in her face and carried
her and set her on the other side of the mountain barrier. (On the other side
of the green rails it was a pretty steep downward slope.) |
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| Brinley and Tanner had some snow fun. I think they were more equally matched. |
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Tan and Parker were able to try out their new BYU jackets that
Gram and Gramp gave them for Christmas. |
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| Waiting to order our breakfast at the bakery. |
