Uncle Ryan's Skiing Visit

Back in mid-March, Jason's brother came to visit us. (Has it really been 2 months already?!) He came to ski and hang out with us. We were so excited. Our kids were so excited. The day we picked him up from the airport, the kids must have asked me a hundred times, "Is it time to get Uncle Ryan?" We picked him up at noon after going to Bible study, Whole Foods, and the Steal Network (to pick up Allison's Potty Time DVD). Jackson was so worried that we'd be late. We weren't. We got there when his plane landed :-))

DAY 1:

I wanted to treat him to a healthy lunch, but my children had their eyes on something different. Cheeseburgers! There wasn't a decent burger place near us, so we settled for In-N-Out Burger. I've been there once before. It's greasy, but they do make it fun for the kids. My kids like the hats and the sticker puzzle. Of course, they liked having their Uncle Ryan there the best.

These two crack me up. They kind of look alike. They make some of the same faces and Jackson loves a lot of the same things that his daddy and uncle loved when they were boys. It's so much fun!

I love this girl. She knows how to enjoy life better than anyone I know.

And this baby girl is an angel. Seriously, an angel.

After we greased our bellies, we made a surprise visit to Jason at his office. I was so happy to see those two together. Jason really misses being around his brother.

Jackson recently became interested in the old Voltron cartoons. As it turns out, Ryan has them all and he brought them with him! There is no telling how many episodes they watched that night. Jackson was in heaven!

DAY 2:

Jason had Thursday through Tuesday off from work. It was wonderful! He and Ryan got all of our ski stuff taken care of on Thursday. They took Jackson and Allison to get skis, boots and poles while Elizabeth and I took care of other things. It was an adventure for them, no doubt. If you can only imagine: Jason doesn't usually have to take both of them to pick things out that are sized, Jackson requires a lot of time to make decisions when he has a lot of choices (like ski colors), Allison is fascinated with using public bathrooms, and they left not too long before lunchtime. I love having Ryan around us. Rather than getting annoyed with my kids for being kids, he laughs...and he turns the situations into hilarious stories. He has so many fun stories of their childhood. I hope I remember my kids' early days as well as he remembers his!

Once they were done with ski preparations, they had fun on the four-wheeler! Jackson and Allison love riding together. It is so fun watching them enjoy each others company.

Big brother and little sister are great, but Uncle Ryan...well, he's better!

DAY 3:

Friday was our first day of skiing since living in Utah. We were so excited. Jason and I haven't skied since March 2006 in Vail when I was a few weeks pregnant with Jackson. This was Jackson's and Allison's first time to ski. They were excited! We had everything laid out the night before so that we could get an early start. We skied at Snowbasin. It's less than thirty minutes from our house. We were all excited to leave the house and get there!

We put Jackson in ski school. Allison was too young for ski school, but we got her some skis to play around with and to use on the bunny slope with Jason. The ski school at Snowbasin is great. We loved the instructors. They were so helpful with our kids and did everything they could to make the experience a positive one. Here is the crew waiting for lessons to start:

They took the kids to the Magic Carpet first. It has a very small, snow-covered decline and then a conveyor belt that you stand on to go back to the top. Jackson was in a class of two. It was almost like having a private lesson. He got his skis on and they talked about making french fries with their skis to go down and making pizzas with their skis to stop. He got the hang of it really quickly.

Since it wasn't really crowded, they told us to take Allison down the Magic Carpet. I was pretty excited for her. We didn't know what her reaction would be.

Since we were only hoping for her to learn to feel comfortable on skis, Ryan and Jason were going to pull her along with their polls. Ryan started.

Everything seemed to be going well.

All of a sudden, she started crying for Jason. I think she probably felt unstable on her skis and it scared her a bit, so Jason came over and held her in between his legs while they skied down. She seemed to enjoy it, but since Jackson and the other boy in his class quickly figured out how to stop, she had to leave the Magic Carpet and head over to Little Cat, the bunny slope. (No one can be on the Magic Carpet without an instructor present.)

We were so excited for Jackson to experience skiing. Little Cat is a long, but slowly declining, bunny slope. It's really more of a short ski run than a bunny slope. Here he is getting ready for his first experience on a chair lift.

It's amazing the things that excite you when you become a parent. Although skiing is my favorite thing to do, and I wasn't able to do it because of the girls, I could not have been happier doing anything other than watching my boy come down the mountain and playing with my girls in the snow. Elizabeth was her usual self - accommodating, agreeable, happy, content - and so was Allison - snacking and keeping me entertained.

While Jackson and his class worked on their first run, which took a LONG time and I never thought they'd make it down...

Ryan and Jason headed off for their first runs. I was so excited for them!

Just before lunch, Jason took Allison down her first run on Little Cat.

She enjoyed it. She didn't love it, but she had fun. I think all of the gear on her head was driving her crazy. She might have liked it better without the goggles and the helmet, but there was no way we were taking them off of her. Jason's a major safety guy. (And I'm glad he is. On the second day of skiing, he and Ryan came up on a girl who was hit in the head by a snowboarder and her scalp was sliced in half!)

Jason and Allison passed Jackson on the run and he came in right behind them.

I was so surprised at how well Jackson was doing. He got better with each run. They started him off with a band that held the front of his skis together. By lunchtime, his instructor said that he didn't need the band, but he wasn't ready to let it go. He's my cautious one.

We enjoyed lunch together and then all of the guys hit the slopes again while the girls and I enjoyed the view and watched skiers and snowboarders come down the mountain.

The second half of the day, Jackson worked on keeping his arms in front. He was twisting his body whenever he made turns, so they worked on driving a car...something he can definitely relate to.

I was really proud of how he skied right around these people.

Back at the lodge, Allison put her helmet and goggles on and off, on and off.

While Elizabeth slept in the stroller, I put Alli on her skis and pulled her around snow with a ski poll. I wanted her to get used to balancing on her skis. She liked it for a little while, but what she really enjoyed was taking her boots and socks off and sitting in the chair. A sweet boy wanted to talk to her but she was uncharacteristically not Miss Friendly...as you can see in this picture.

At the end of the day, Jason and Ryan took the kids on Little Cat. They are on the first chair you see going up.

Alli had fun but Jason's back was taking a beating. Next year, we'll bring a pool noodle or hula hoop to put around Alli for Jason to hold on to.

By the end of the day, this guy was tired. I was so proud of him. He tried hard, obeyed and respected his instructor, and had fun.

DAY 4:

Jason and Ryan encouraged me to ski on Sunday and Monday, but I needed new ski pants. My ski pants from 1999 were a bit snug :-)) and I wanted to get Jason a waterproof jacket. So, on Saturday, the guys headed to Snowbasin and the girls went to Park City to take advantage of sales at the Columbia outlet. I had hoped to make it to Snowbasin for Jackson's lunch break, but I couldn't get there in time. He lucked out and ended up with a private lesson the entire day because no one else at his level registered for ski school that day. What a blessing for us! At the end of the day, Ryan and Jason took Jackson down his first green! I was so sad that I missed it. These are the only two shots of the day.

Once they got home, we all headed to The Oakes for dinner in Ogden Canyon. It's a great little restaurant with a nice atmosphere. The food is great and they have tons of flavors of Farr ice cream. Jackson and Allison got Play-Doh flavor - it's a rainbow of colors and looks really kid-pretty.

After The Oakes, I took the kids home and put their tired bodies in bed, and Jason and Ryan went to the cinema to see the Sherlock Holmes movie. I was so happy for Jason. He never gets to go to the cinema and it's something he really enjoys, especially with his brother.

DAY 5:

Sunday was day three of skiing for the guys and day one of skiing for me. I haven't skied since I was 4 weeks pregnant with Jackson. I was so excited! Jackson's ski class was a lot bigger on day three. I think he was excited to have some friends to ski with. Aren't they cute?!

We found a cozy spot in the lodge and set up camp for the day.

After one run, Jason came back to watch the girls and let me take my first run of the day with Ryan. I had a blast with Ryan! It had snowed the night before and was still snowing, so there was a ton of fresh powder. Ryan warned me. He sunk in the snow a couple of times on his run with Jason. I still had several wipe-outs. On the first one, I lost my ski. We thought it was buried in the snow but then we saw that it had fallen down the side of the run. We were cracking up as I crawled through the snow to go and get it. Fun times!

At lunch, we decided to take the kids up the gondola to eat at the restaurant on top of the mountain. I love being on the mountain. I love walking into the lodge with a fire burning, watching people come in from the cold and sipping on warm beverages, and looking out the huge windows while the snow falls on the mountain below me. It just gives me that peaceful vacation feel.

Jackson really didn't want to do ski school the second half of the day. Although he liked it, he really wanted to ski with us. Since we ate lunch on top of the mountain, we couldn't make it back in time for his class, so he stayed with us. On the first run after lunch, Ryan watched the girls so that Jason, Jackson and I could take our first ever run together. Thank you, Ryan! It was so much fun! I videoed the two of them skiing most of the way down. It made me so happy to watch them. Skiing is my favorite thing to do. It's my ideal vacation. I feel so blessed to live less than thirty minutes from a great ski resort!

Jackson was pretty excited. He finally got to use polls. I didn't want him to because he was doing so well without them, but he had been waiting for it.

I ended the day in the warm lodge with my girls and Jason and Ryan took Jackson on greens and a blue. When we got home, dinner was waiting for us in the crock pot. It was lovely!

DAY 6:

Our fourth and final day of skiing was great. The snow was super thick. Jackson skied with us the entire day. We didn't put him in ski school because he was so excited to be with his uncle Ryan. The guys took the first run. While they were out, I met a wonderful woman at the lodge. Her husband is an ENT, so we talked quite a bit about Lizzie's hearing loss and she gave her husband's opinion of the surgeon we are using for Lizzie's implant surgery. (He said that if it was his child, there are only three surgeons in the country that he'd want implanting his child and our doctor happens to be one of them. Smile!) She also homeschools her children, so we talked most of the day about homeschooling. It was a huge blessing! I met almost all of her kids too and they were wonderful.

Before lunch, Ryan, Jackson and I made a couple of runs. I was amazed at some of the situations Jackson got through. He got stuck a couple of times in the beginning because the snow was so thick, but he was incredible. I can't wait for next year!

Once we got back, I was finished for the day. I was so happy to talk to my new friend and play with my girls so that Jason could ski with his brother. I could tell Jackson was wearing out but he really wanted to ski with his daddy. He skied almost the entire afternoon. Ryan and Jason made the last couple of runs solo and the kids played in the lodge with the kids of my new homeschooling friend. The lodge was so inviting and homey. They kids played in their ski bibs or thermals and ran around in their socks. It was just like home!

DAY 7:

We toured Park City on Ryan's last day. We didn't want him to leave Utah without seeing it, and we decided that we'll definitely take a day or two and ski there next year. We made a stop at the Columbia outlet and then ate lunch at The Wasatch Brew Pub. It was great. And can I just say how much I love to be with Ryan! He is so patient and loving with our kids. He understands that they are kids. He isn't judgmental (of them or of us as parents) and he's really good at laughing at situations that could be very frustrating. I think that's one reason why my kids love him so much. He loves them, and they know it. He goes out of his way to spend time with them, and they love it!

Jackson loves to take pictures with our phone. If I remember hearing Jason correctly, he took 500 on Jason's phone! I think he likes to hear the sound of the "shutter."

I'm glad he took all of those photos. I love them! I like to take lots of pictures too. We walked up and down Main Street window shopping and taking pictures. The weather was gorgeous and cool. It was a perfect day.

After Park City, it was time to drop Ryan off at the airport. It was a sad goodbye. We love seeing him and we miss him so much! Ryan, thank you for coming to visit us. It was unforgettable!