Spring Break – Ski Sipapu

I felt absolutely blessed to be able to take my kiddos on their very first ski trip over spring break. I did my research and found a family friendly ski resort that would be ideal for our family and our lack of skiing experience. I decided that driving through the night and letting the kids sleep in the car would be the best bet since arguing in the car has been a constant lately. As we loaded into the van to head to New Mexico the kiddos were excited to say the least, but I could also sense some anxiousness about learning how to ski. As we pulled out of the drive I glanced over at my copilot and was thankful that my significant other was getting to come on this trip too.

I have learned to love night time travel; kids are quite, roads are clear, and boring drives are eased by the moonlight. This was definitely nice for the drive to New Mexico. If you’ve ever made that drive, it is very boring until you reach the mountains, and I was thankful to have done the majority of it before daylight. The kids slept the majority of the trip and didn’t wake up until after we had entered New Mexico which was perfect. Our house we were staying at was in Las Vegas, New Mexico which was pretty hilarious to explain to the kids. The only one out of the the big kids that realized there are two cities named Las Vegas was Kyleigh who whispered to me, “isn’t Las Vegas in Nevada?”, and I laughed and told her she was a smart girl, but not to tell the others. As we pulled into Las Vegas I excitedly exclaimed “Look kids, we are in Las Vegas!” as I pointed at the city limits sign. Kenner said “wait, where is the big Vegas sign?” in a confused voice, and Grace said “What about all the lights big casinos and stuff?”. Kyleigh started dying laughing, and I told her she could tell them since she had already figured it out. It was comical to say the least.

We stopped for breakfast at a local restaurant, and the kids were immediately excited because there was “snow” in the shadowed areas of the sidewalks walking up to the restaurant. The snow was really icy mess that had probably been there a while, but to these Texas kids it was super exciting. They insisted on stopping to make some snowballs out of it and of course throw them at each other and us. It was sweet to see them so excited about this little amount of snow, and made me excited to see how they would react when they got to see real snow at the ski resort.

We had planned on spending that first day sight seeing since we couldn’t check into the house until later in the afternoon, so we gave the kids the choice of going on a hike, or going to look at the local pueblos. Of course the feedback was split, because my kiddos rarely agree on anything. Thankfully, my handy all trails hiking app provided the perfect answer; there was a mile hike viewing some pueblos at the Pecos National Historical Park. Since the kids haven’t hiked anywhere as much as me or my significant other, this trail was a great start to hiking for them. It was an easy hike with beautiful views, plenty of stopping points to read about the different Pueblo sites and ruins, and included some snow in the shaded areas of the trail. We all loved learning about the Pueblos, exploring, and of course getting to stretch our legs after being in the car so long.

After our hike we made the drive to the ski resort to pick up our ski gear so we wouldn’t have to do it the next morning. We opted for the scenic route so that the kids could see the mountains and get a better idea about the area we were in. Although the drive was beautiful, the kids were so eager to get to the ski resort that all we kept hearing was “how much longer?”. When we arrive the kids were blown away by the snow fort outside of the lodge and did not want to go in to get their ski gear, but we promised them it would make things quicker the next morning getting started skiing, or so we thought. Getting gear was more of an undertaking than I planned for mainly due to the kids needing to try on several sizes of ski boots before finally settling on ones that fit. After we got all the gear though, we let the kids play on the snow fort as promised. They quickly grabbed their ski gloves and went to playing. This fort was built with areas for climbing, walls for protection from incoming snowballs, and slides coming down from the top. My crazy crew successfully got all of the kids playing to team up for an all out snowball war against me and my significant other. While we were completely outnumbered, we had fun defending ourselves and getting in on the snowball action with the kids. Before we left the kids were able to tackle their other goal of building a snowman. It might have been small, but it sure was cute, and they were proud.

We left Sipapu and headed back to Las Vegas to get supper. We decided to eat at a local place called Prairie Hill Cafe, that was in a cute historic hotel in downtown. As we walked through the front door Kenner stopped and said “eww Mom it smells like cigarettes”. I smelled the air and didn’t smell anything or see anyone smoking. I assured Kenner that there was no smoking in the restaurant so maybe it was someone outside. We were seated at the restaurant and started looking at the menu. Kenner said he wanted a cheeseburger so I looked for it on the menu, and to my surprise according to the menu, the Byron T burger was named after a ghost that haunts the hotel, and whose presence is know when you smell his cigar smoke around you! I showed Kenner and his eyes got really big as he smiled and said “no way!”. The food was so delicious and they earned extra points from me for having my absolute favorite prickly pear margarita on the menu. After dinner we headed home to get settled in and get some sleep for our big skiing adventure.

Our next two days at Sipapu were filled with learning, falling, laughing, snowmen, snowballs, and plenty of skiing. we started the first day with some frustration because Grace’s ski boots magically no longer fit from the day before, so we had to get in line for gear despite trying to plan for it the day before. We also realized that the ski school had been booked out online for weeks, so the kids would be getting their ski school crash course from us. Despite these challenges the kids all successfully learned the basics, all could ski independently using the magic carpet lifts on the bunny slopes, all rode the big ski lift, and all made it down some bigger green runs with our help. On our last day skiing each of the kids separately asked me if we could make this ski trip a spring break tradition, which made my heart so happy.

After turning our gear in on the last day we decided to take the kids to see the Philmont Scout Ranch, which was a place that my significant other spent a large amount of his summer time at growing up. He’s an Eagle Scout and has amazing scout stories about this place. The drive to Philmont was absolutely beautiful through the Carson National Forest, and when we arrived at the Scout Ranch it did not disappoint. While we were at the ranch we saw donkeys, wild turkey, axis deer, mule deer, and the Tooth of Time which was pretty awesome. The kids and I enjoyed hearing all the cool stories from my significant other and seeing all the “tent cities” at the scout ranch. Afterwards we headed back to the house for a pizza dinner which is a vacation tradition for my kiddos. It might seem silly but this tradition started when I was a kid. We would always have pizza delivered to our hotel one night of vacation, because this seemed like such a treat to us since we grew up in Caldwell with no delivery services.

The next morning we all loaded into the van for the long drive home, and said goodbye to our spring break home. We spent part of our time on the drive home telling our favorite ski stories, part of the time listening to the podcast “Stuff You Should Know”, a new road trip tradition thanks to my significant other, and the rest of the time enjoying each other and the views. Our final surprise for the kids was when we stopped for supper in Abilene. We ate at Little Italy, which was one of my significant others favorite places to eat in college. After we finished my significant other took us to Abilene Christian University, where he graduated college from, to give us a tour. The campus was absolutely beautiful, and the kids and I loved hearing all the fun stories we were told through out the tour. My significant other as well as his parents and the majority of his siblings all went to ACU so there were some pretty epic stories.

This was the first big trip I had taken the kids on over spring break, and there were a million different things I could have been fearful or worried about with this trip. However, I chose to trust that this would be a wonderful trip, and remember that God would have us covered for safety. I could only do this because I know two things are absolute truths; God’s plans are perfect, and FEAR IS A LIAR!