Big Sky Ski Trip!

We kicked February off with a great week of skiing in Big Sky (outside of Bozeman, MT).  Clint and Rachel's crew as well as Eric and Amber Green's crew all flew up here for a fun week of skiing together.  Our family grew up skiing with Eric's family (our parents were friends when they were just out of college) so we try to keep the next generation going with the family ski trips.  It was a week with a few complications (as is the case when you bring children along) but it was  a GREAT WEEK!!!! 

Here is our whole crew:

Grown ups: Amber and Eric Green, Us, Rachel and Clint 

Kids: Ayelan Green, Auburn Green, Roselyn, Kanyon, Nolan (looking really attractive.  He did this in every single picture. haha) Quinn, and Easton Green.  As you see, Jaylie June did not make the trip.  She got to spend a few days with her Gram and Chief! Clint and Rach's youngest, Marion, stayed in Paris with my parents too.  

Our schedule was sort of crazy and scattered.  Me and Quinn left on a Tuesday afternoon and drove to Bozeman to go to the grocery store and pick up the first crew at the airport.  We got the Greens loaded up and the kids (Quinn and Easton) were laughing and playing in no time.  

All loaded up in the car headed to our cabin! 

It was a pretty drive but it did start snowing once it got dark and we were on unfamiliar mountain roads so it took us a while to get to our house.  Once we got to the area we were supposed to be staying we could NOT find the house! We could see all the right streets but not the right house number. It was SNOWING and DARK and LATE.  We were tired and sort of laughing/frustrated at the whole thing.  We eventually found the right house and immediately gave Clint and Rachel, who would be coming later that night, better directions! The house was great!  We eventually got the excited kids to bed and waited up on Clint and Rachel to arrive later by shuttle.  They got there late but we were so excited!! Ready for a fun week!

Quinn and Easton found the fooseball table and didn't leave it! 

We spent Wednesday getting everyone's rentals, the rest of the groceries, ski school, lift tickets, etc.  We were all pumped up for skiing the next day! Quinn has been looking forward to skiing since last year and couldn't wait to get to ski school the next day.  I hadn't skied in YEARS and was beside myself to get to ski again! And then it hit....Q started feeling bad and running a high fever.  I put him to bed at 7:30 which NEVER happens and was hoping he was just exhausted and it was going to be nothing. He was restless and feverish all night long and still the next morning.  

Seriously? Was this really happening? So we stayed in that morning hoping by afternoon he would perk up.  Then he didn't.  Me, Rachel, and Amber had signed up for lessons that afternoon, so we were scrambling to try to figure out what we were going to do with this sick kid! Then I got a text from Amber around 10:30 that ski school had called her because Auburn threw up.  Oh dear.  Eric was a champ and stayed in the afternoon with Auburn (who was just altitude sick) and Quinn who was just miserably laying on the couch so that us girls could do our lesson.  

This was a picture of them skiing away from the house the first morning.  I was sad.  Q was sad. He was crying because he was missing ski school, but he could barely pick his head up off the pillow. It was a sad morning.  

This was just us gals during our Thursday afternoon of skiing.  I sure do love these girls and had a blast skiing with them! 

We picked the kids up from ski school and had fun skiing home with them.  

Thursday evening, Kory and Kanyon arrived for the fun!  Ro and Kanyon were busy playing in no time.  These 2 have a pretty special relationship.  Kan LOVED the hockey game in the game room.  

We hadn't been able to figure out how to turn the arcade game on, but KLP figured it out in no time and was one happy camper when he discovered it had Mega Man on it! We all had fun reliving the old days with these games. 

Here is Kanyon, Friday morning, ready for his first day of skiing!!!

Eagle Mount is a program that does adaptive skiing (as well as other sports) in different areas of Montana. Their program at Big Sky was GREAT! Here he is getting all settled in to his bi-ski.  

I skied with them the first day to make sure all was well. I knew Kanyon would have fun but wanted to make sure they could communicated with him if he had trouble.  These 2 were GREAT instructors.  We got up the lift and ready to go. Right as we were about to take off, the guy looked back and said, "Does he have any aversions to speed???!!!" I shook my head no and THERE THEY WENT! They flew down that mountain and Kan was loving every second! They have tethers/reigns on the back of the ski so they can hold the reins and let him practice initiating turns and stuff or there is a handle on the back of the seat that the guy can hold on to and push. Either way it takes a tremendous amount of strength from the instructor! The other instructor skis alongside.  I skied behind them smiling from ear to ear the whole time! There are things in life that you really want for your kids. Those things that in the grand scheme of things you know don't REALLY matter, but you really want your kid to experience them/join others in experiences.  Skiing is one of those things for our family.  With Kan's love for speed and all things wild, fast, and loud, this kid was made for skiing! Getting to watch this happen was a highlight of my Mom Life.  The excitement and fun is followed by a powerful wave of appreciation for people who devote their lives to making sure this sort of thing can happen for kids and adults like Kanyon.  Someone invented this bi-ski, someone developed and raised money for this program, and volunteers spend their time, energy (WHEW! This is quite a work out for the instructors), and days off so that my kid could fly down the mountain.   Without them Kanyon would've missed out on everything but the hockey game at the house (which was a close second to his skiing experience).  So It was a GREAT day to say the least! 

Here is a chair lift swing at the base of the mountain where he could swing after his day of skiing. His first day he ended up only getting to do half a day. He had a seizure right before his afternoon started and was soooo tired.  They made one run and he was almost falling asleep.  But he did just fine the next 2 days and would've done more if he didn't have to go home!  

Meanwhile Quinn spikes a REALLY high fever, we take him to a medical clinic, negative flu, negative strep.....then he started having tummy troubles.  So this is what he looked like all week.  This was the day he thought he wanted to try ski school but that lasted only about 15 min.  Poor guy was spending his long awaited ski trip on the couch! He was soooo pitiful.  

Here's creepy, scary, ski bum Clint serving up cherry coke on snow! Mmmmm it was our favorite after kids are in bed and we can all relax treat.  

The next 2 days were a blur of Kory and I switching out staying in with Quinn, bringing lunch, picking up ski school kids, dropping off Kanyon at his place...it was pretty hectic.  We kept thinking every day that he would turn the corner but he never did.  His fever stopped but he wad NO strength and slept all day.  But all the craziness was MORE than worth it! 

I can't remember how this happened, but me and Rachel scored a whole morning skiing by ourselves.  I think the boys were off skiing crazy extreme stuff and the kids were in ski school.  

One afternoon after ski school we skied with the kids a little.  This was my ski lift partner Auburn! Such a sweet girl.  

We had a small window of time where all the kids could "ski with Kanyon" so we made one run up with him and his instructors so they could see him ski. 

Here are all the kids (including poor Q who came to drop off/pick up with Kory that day)

Easton, Quinn, Nolan, Kanyon, Ro, Ayelan, Auburn! Is there anything cuter than little tiny ski kids???!!!! I could just eat them up!

Here they are all ready to take off!!!  

Nothing feels better to a bunch of ski bums than a hot tub.

A litte more time at the arcade.

Poor Quinn had almost no energy but still had to leave the house when me or Kory had to bring lunch or switch skiers.  By this time in the week we were pretty sure he had some sort of bacteria in his gut. He was a sad sight. 

The gang one afternoon on the way home.  (Kory was home this afternoon with Q and K after his lesson). The scenery at Big Sky was absolutely INCREDIBLE! And we all love to look at how Eric is grabbing Easton's coat to keep him still.  Ha!

Pit stop for lunch one day.  Quinn was at least there to be a part of things like that.  Poor kid.  

I was getting klp ready for skiing and set his helmet down and next time I walked in it was on and his goggles were over his eyes.  He was READY! 

Ski lift selfie with Rach

The last day, Amber didn't ski so she stayed with Q.  WHAT A GREAT FRIEND!!!  So Kory and I both got to ski. We ended up spending the majority of the day together. It was so much fun! 

The last day came to a screeching halt when Ro and Easton had a major collision.  It was a bad crash and it ended with Ro and Clint headed to the hospital in Bozeman to get an MRI.  She definitely had a concussion, but recovered quickly.  We were very thankful.  It was the ultimate advertisement for  wearing helmets.  She and Easton would've been a lot worse off without a helmet. 

Here is Q and Nolan playing one last game before Q left.  The saddest part of the week was when Kory went to load Q up to leave and Q said, "But Mommy, what about skiing?" I had to tell him he missed it. The trip was over.  I don't think he realized all week that it was passing him by and he wouldn't get to do it when he felt better. I was so sad.  

The last night was kind of crazy because Clint and Ro had gone by ambulance to Bozeman not knowing how long they would be there. They were supposed to fly out eary the next morning but Rachel and Nolan were still with us.  Kory was leaving with Kanyon and Quinn that night too.  It worked out pretty good because Ro and Clint got discharged pretty quickly. So Kory picked them up from the hospital and took them to eat supper in the mean time Eric took my car from our ski house and met up with them to bring Clint and Ro back to the house.  They ate supper at Wendy's and that totally made Kanyon's week. He loves Wendy's...borderline obsessed.  And to get to eat there with Ro was even better! As you can see, she was feeling much better and they were laughing as usual. When we got back from skiing and everyone was asking Kanyon how the trip was he would say "I got to eat at WENDY'S with Daddy, Quinn, Uncle Clint and RO RO!" So much for the skiing. Ha! 

Sweet Q had an appetite but it his tummy rejected everything he ate. It was a long, interesting drive home for poor Kory that night. There's not a ton of towns between Bozeman and Lewistown (read: almost none)and the ones that are there are....tiny.  A 24 hour Laundromat did the trick once I know.  Poor Quinn. POOR DADDY! 

I stayed the next day and got The Greens to the airport then headed home.  I was happy to see my Juney girl and thankful Kory had gotten Q to the Dr. and got a few things figured out.  We LOVE The Greens and Spencer crew SO MUCH and had a total blast living together, skiing together, wrangling children together, cooking, eating, visiting, laughing, and dealing with the fun/stress of family ski trips! It was AWESOME!