Snow Tubing Or Shooting: New Years Dilemna

Ever play the card game UNO with 2 people?  And then play the reverse-a-turn card?  You think your going one direction.  At least that was the plan.  Only to find yourself quickly going in the opposite direction.

The events of today were much like that.  For weeks I had a plan to start a yearly tradition of New Years day snow tubing as a family.  Fun and a perfect way to spend a holiday building fantastic memories to cherish forever.  And of course it is the time of year one wishes to be in the white stuff.

Previous to today, I did consider Cypress Mountain over Manning Park.  But the snow reports were not very good.  According to a few 'reliable' sources,  Manning had 'tonnes' of snow!  And so I was pretty confident that the best choice would be to go to Manning Park Resort for a fantastic snowy experience. .

So, I packed all the gear.  And all the snacks.  And then all the kids.  Stopped for a coffee of course and off we were heading up to what was going to be a snow white destination. Last stop was to be at the snow tubing centre of  Manning Park.

We hit Hope, BC.  My first coffee was gone.  For some crazy reason I craved my second.  And I lack self-control!  So against my families wishes, I stopped.  I was the driver after all:)  As I sat in the line up, I started to rethink the whole 'tonnes of snow' report I had and decided to pull over and check the Manning Website before travelling any further.

This is what it said.  "Sliding only due to lack of snow" !!! Wait a minute.  I was going to drive all the way up to Manning.  Pay to slide and have to walk back up the hill each time? No way.  So this is what my kids heard next.

"So everyone.  We have two choices.  Drive to Manning.  Slide down the 'one' path that was open and walk back up all day.  Or.  Go to the river, build a really big fire,  ride ATV's and shoot guns".

The kids response.  "Shoot guns"!  And, so that's what we did.

Look At Me. I Can Stand!

Skates. Check.  Snow Pants. Check.  Gloves, helmets and skates. Check.  After counting down the Saturdays,  Skating Lesson Saturday had finally arrived for Peyton and Jonah.  Both kids were super excited to get on the ice and felt they were ready to become "the best skaters ever."

Well, after only a few moments after getting on the ice it was very clear that it would be awhile before either child would be proficient skaters.  Especially Peyton:(  The great news was that there were no tears although there was a lot of 'I can't' coming out of Peyton.

I have to be completely honest and admit that I was a bit flabbergasted with the fact that after a half hour lesson Peyton's biggest success was to stand up with her instructors help and stand without falling for a total of 30 seconds.  But... there wasn't any tears and she is looking forward to her next lesson.  So I clearly have to accept that while Peyton isn't going to be doing figure eights anytime soon, she may one day.

Jonah had a bit more success on his first lesson.  He actually made it across the ice in a step like fashion.  And grinning from ear to ear,  he was very proud of himself and rightfully so.