Ski Trip Part 1

For Christmas my mom and Dave gave my sisters, their significant others, Brad and I lift tickets to go skiing and they also paid for a condo practically on the slopes that we could all stay in.  A few weeks ago over Martin Luther King weekend we headed to the upper peninsula of Michigan to go skiing as a family.  We have always gone skiing up there, mostly because we have family in the area, although this year several of them weren’t in town while we were up there.

Cecilia showing Brad how to drive!

It is a 6-7 hour drive up to the U.P. for us.  Normally a trip that long would mean we would take the RV but since it was winter and we weren’t sure of the road conditions closer to the ski hill we just took our truck.  Taking 3 kids somewhere where they would be spending a lot of time inside means you need to bring a lot of things to entertain them.  Between clothes, toys, and food the back of our truck was not empty.  We are lucky the kids’ legs aren’t long because we had a lot of things to eat and entertain them on the floor in the back seat of the truck.  The trip to and from the U.P. went pretty well.  We only stopped twice each time, which is pretty good.  I was expecting Vincent to have to use the bathroom more often.

Aunt Kasi and Vincent

The cabin we stayed in was nice.  There was a loft area with 4 twin beds and a toddler bed.  Vincent slept up there and was very excited about getting to sleep up by his aunts!  The spindles in the railing in the loft were a little too far apart and the kids could easily fit through the bars.  The stairs to the loft were more of a floating style with no back on the stairs which meant Cecilia and Joel could easily crawl, slip or fall through them all the way to the basement.  The railing around the stairs on the main floor also had the spindles a little too far apart.  In the basement there were 2 bathrooms and 3 bedrooms.  Joel, Cecilia, Brad and I all shared a bedroom.  Cecilia slept in her pack ‘n play and Joel slept in a toddler air mattress Grandma Pat had given us to use.  There was little to no floor space left in the room.  We actually had to move a dresser to make the air mattress fit.

Grandma Dawn and Vincent

I had mixed feelings when I walked into the condo part of me thought “wow, this is really cute and will be fun.”  The mom in me thought “this place is a kid trap and if we don’t do something immediately my children will probably end up in the hospital in the next few hours, or I will go crazy chasing them the whole time making sure they stay safe.”  We had babysitters coming to watch the kids while we skied and without properly securing the cabin there was no way I could ski without being worried all day.  Brad was worried too but a little less frantic than I was about it.   

Vince took this picture of Papa Razzi and Brad

While Kasi, Kennidy, and Brandon helped watch the children Brad and I went about getting things safe.  One of the perks of marrying a farmer is what I like to call farmer engineering.  Brad found plywood to put in front of some of the railings.  In addition he found heavy rugs that he weaved in between the spindles to make them safe, add in a few pillows, blankets and a dining room table turned on its side to block the stairs and I would finally relax.  When it was time to eat we would flip the table back up and everyone just closely watched the kids.  It made me nervous but we couldn’t make people eat standing up. 

Dave playing cards

The farmer engineering worked and all kids stayed safe all weekend! 

Joel and all his special things