The Britt Family: Killington Ski Trip

We had such a wonderful, fun ski trip this past week in Killington, VT. I was ready to come home to my bed, bathroom, and house, but I wasn't ready for the trip to end! After approx. a 10 year hiatus from skiing, my family and I decided to head back to Killington to hit the slopes. I am so glad we did!! I was extremely nervous to get back on skiis, but it was just like riding a bike -- like I never stopped.

Ryan, Connor, and I drove to VT last Sunday at midnight! We decided to drive overnight to minimize any disruptions in Connor's sleep schedule. Everyone knows that he doesn't sleep well, so we didn't want to mess things up any more!! We made the trip in about 6 1/2 hours and Connor did great!! We had minimal crying and only needed one stop to feed him and change his diaper.

We arrived at the condo on Sunday and were later met by the rest of the group: my mom & dad; my uncle Dennis who came along to cook and babysit for us; and my 3 nieces, Mariah, Kaitlin, & Olivia. The girls had very little experience on skiis, but by the end of the week they were all pros! Olivia, the youngest of the girls, surprised us all by asking to attend ski school all day, every day and by not wanting to leave the slopes at the end of the day. She did great!! She says that she wants to try snowboarding next! Mariah & Kaitlin did great too -- they were able to spend a good chunk of their time with the rest of us on the slopes after their lessons in the morning. Mariah & Kaitlin are two totally different skiers. Mariah is daring & likes to go fast, while Kaitlin is cautious. We had fun with the girls in the terrain park where we all hit some jumps, while probably only getting about a foot off the ground when it really felt like we were flying! ha ha. We also went tree skiing, which was quite challenging, even on the easy slopes.

Ryan & I spent a lot of time skiing with my dad while my mom stuck with the girls for most of the time. The girls were more comfortable on the easy/medium difficultly level slopes (green circles/blue squares is how they rate them). Ryan, my dad, and I wanted a little more challenge since we had a lot more experience on skiis than the girls. The first two days we played it easy -- just blue & green slopes. By the third day, we were feeling up for a challenge, so we tested our skills out on a single black diamond (the next level of difficulty).

In order to get to access the other mountains, we had to take a lift up Bear Mountain each day. Bear Mountain lives up to it's name -- all single blacks & double back diamond slopes with the exception of one blue square slope. As you ride up the lift on Bear Mountain, you get a front row seat and view of Outer Limits -- a double black slope that boasts the title of the steepest mogel slope in New England. By the way, mogels are big "bumps" on the slope. Each day I would say "Do you really think it looks that hard?? Do you think I could do it?" My dad, who was only looking out for my safetly, I suppose :), told me that it was beyond my skill level. Well, that was it -- by the fourth day, I was ready to try it. Ryan and I went down Outer Limits and the conditions couldn't have been better. We had just had a significant amount of snow which meant little to no ice on the slope. I hate skiing with ice, especially on difficult slopes. We decided that my mom and dad would meet us at the bottom and take pictures. That's right -- my dad chickened out!!! ha ha. We took the slope slow & steady and made it to the bottom in about 15 minutes. It was incredibly exhausting, but neither of us fell and I was proud of Ryan and I for taking on the challenge. Now I can say that I skied on the steepest mogel slope in New England on my 26th birthday -- guess I'm not so old and boring as I thought!:) Too bad Connor isn't old enough to see how cool his parents are. Ha ha.

While we were in VT we got about 2 feet of snow!! We had two absolutely perfect days of skiing -- sunny and beautiful. We had two days of snow, but if you bundled up, it wasn't so bad. The last day was all rain, which again, if you bundled up it wasn't so bad. We wore ponchos.

Connor stayed back with his great uncle, Dennis, each day to help cook meals for us!! Dennis was a great babysitter and he and Connor had a blast. Connor was able to get out on his sled in the parking lot one day when it was sunny outside. Dennis pulled him around until he fell asleep in the sled! ha ha. Ryan and I also took him to the recreation center to swim. He LOVES the water. I am really excited for his upcoming swim lessons at the end of the month. Anyhow, he splashed & splashed and since he was loving it so much, I thought I would test the waters (no pun intended..ha ha) by putting his head under. He did great!! He was a little surprised by it, but no tears or crying! We have a little fish on our hands

Overall, the trip was very exhausting yet fun! Between skiing all day and being up with Connor at night, we were pooped. I think we were in bed between 8-9 each night, but up between 4:30-6:30 each morning. I cannot wait until next year to get back out on the slopes. Hopefully Connor is sleeping through the night by then!! I can't imagine another year of no sleep.

On a different note, Connor is doing a few new things...

- He is getting closer and closer to crawling. He scoots around on his tummy in every direction now, however he really struggles and gets frustrated going forward. He can only move a few inches forward at a time. It won't be long until he is scooting without troubles. He gets up on his hands and knees, but doesn't know what to do from there.
- We can see another tooth coming through, which may explain the fever he had a week ago and his lack of sleeping at night!! *sigh* Will we ever get to the point where he sleeps all night?
- He reaches for us now! And, he clings to us if he doesn't want to go to someone or doesn't want to be put down. We also think he is going through a stage of separation anxiety! The past 2 times that he's gone to the nursery in church, he hasn't made it more than 20-30 minutes until we were called back to get him because he was so upset.
- His menu continues to grow!! We've started yogurt, mangoes, apricots, and next is corn! We are making a pear, carrot, & squash recipe and a corn & sweet potatoe recipes for him this week to try.

Well, that's about it for now. St. Patrick's Day pics will be up later this week! Ryan and I are going to try to get back on the bandwagon for our 30 day post challenge. We've been slacking!!! I'll leave with a few pictures from our trip.