This weekend was our last weekend skiing at Sunday River. In the coming weeks we are off to Chicago and then I am going back to work and will probably not be able to handle a weekend trip in the first few weeks - so it looks like we will not be up again this year. It is sad to say goodbye so soon to our ski place. I love it up here, but have had a bit of a love/frustration relationship with it the past few years.
It is hard to be up here with little kids. The place gets small quick when we are all couped up inside. And, as much as this is a resort area, there really is nothing else to do but ski (I know, duh! - but seriously I thought maybe one or two other activities...). Besides the fact that they are too young for tubing and ice skating - those activities only happen on the weekends at night, fireworks are now infrequent (and usually after kids are in bed), and restaurants get crowded quickly. Of course there are no playspaces, and going for a walk in the lodge is our big outing for the day. There are places to go to for rock climbing, snow mobiling, dog sledding, cross country skiing, snow shoeing, but again, not for kiddos...
All that being said, all those things will be awesome in a few years. Whenever we close up Sunday River I think about how much will happen between now and the next time we will be up - either for wife carrying in October, or more likely in January... I have already gone through the toys we have up here as some will be obsolete by next winter. Next year Joel Andrew will be old enough to go into ski classes, which should change everytihng. I am hoping he will love it.
I look at all the families in the lodges, Moms with teenage boys, and I think how awesome things will be in 5 years, in 10 years, and how in 15 years it will be almost all over. This place will be golden when the boys are 4-18. There will be so much going on we will be exhausted and craving for an afternoon where we just sit and watch a movie in the condo! I don't want to wish my time away, but I am looking forward to it a ton.
Other things we discovered this year is that the lodge food is actually not so bad - they have a great sushi place there! Also, at the Bethel Inn you can go on horse carriage rides. Our neigbors were nice enough to take us when they were up in January, it was awesome! Of course, there is also the pool that Joel Andrew loves. We took James for the first time yesterday and he had a ball. Mommy does not really know how much fun he had, however, because I try to steer clear of the pool. It icks me out. I am a bit of a germie. That's pretty much it of stuff to do if you have a baby here. They do have a great on-mountain day care that Baby James loved. I wonder though if next year when I have James in daycare all week, if I would put him in day care on the weekend too... Hmmm. Only two more years with babies here...
So, to end our note on Sunday River... Joel Andrew went skiing yesterday for the last time this year. And, boy is he glad. Since he did so well the day before with Pa on the basic lift, we thought we would push our luck and take him up the Chondola - which goes about double the height and to more advanced trails. Obviously not a good plan, but it seemed like a good plan since he would get to ride in the heated gondola. Anyway, long story short - the ski run ended almost as soon as it began with a Joel Andrew crying and screaming "Pick me up!" "Pick me up!" over and over again while simultaneously Joel Husband trying to be as patient as possible repeating "Stop crying" "Look at me" over and over again. It was a sad way to end the ski year for Joel Andrew - I was so proud of him, 2-1/2 and going on the lift, up until this point loving going down the mountain... But it was also a funny way to end it too. I looked at my son, throwing a tantrum on the mountain and I wished I had my video camera. This would have been an awesome moment to capture and play back to him later when he is begging for one more run! Plus, he looked erriely like Mommy - when I learned to ski when I was 22 I pretty much had the same episode, to the T - with Joel Husband trying to be patient with me - but sadly Joel Husband could not carry me back down the mountain then... That lesson 10 years ago taught Joel Husband and I that it is better to have someone you are not related to or friends with teach you how to ski - and so we will carry that lesson onto our children and next year, first thing, Joel Andrew will be going into ski classes. And, he will probably love it.
So, that is all Sunday River! We had fun. We are getting excited for next year already.
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