The Ski Trip That Almost Wasn't

Didn't I mention that crazy/strange things seem to happen to us?

Well, this past weekend we were so excited to take out first ski trip of the season. The girls love skiing, and I had found the perfect little cabin in the woods to spend the holiday weekend.

I spent hours packing all the ski gear, clothes, food, games, and everything else we would need. I even had the bright idea to rent our skis in Vegas at Sport Chalet, so we wouldn't have to waste time on the mountain renting gear during a holiday weekend.

I put everything in the garage and by the door so it was easy to load. Matt loaded the car and I went back into the house to make sure I got everything. Yep, all is good.

We head to Sport Chalet and find a small line at the rental desk. That's when the trouble began. There were two men working, but neither was very competent. The line wasn't moving. An hour had passed, and I was still in the same spot in line. Not good. Kids are getting anxious. Other employees keep coming up and asking if the other workers need help, but they are turned away because they don't know how to do rentals. Finally it's our turn, but it takes FOREVER. I think the employee that helped us doesn't even know what skiing is. He is unsure what size skis to give the girls, and I swear my boots feel wrong. More time passes. Now it is dark outside, and we are not even on the road. The wheels are falling off the bus. We push the cart up to the check-out, where we find another line. I see the manager, and tell him we just waited two hours for skis and could he please help us. He leads us over to a counter where the line suddenly clears, and says something like: ''Here you go, no waiting! No line!'' He is being a jerk. He apologizes and says they are so busy because of the holiday weekend. That is when my husband loses it, and says: ''Look around your store! It is empty! Do not blame it on the holiday weekend. You have employees back there who don't know what they are doing, and other employees who want to help but don't know how to rent skis!'' There were some other choice words said.

All I know is we got all those rentals for free. Probably more than $100 in rentals.

Finally we are on the road, thinking certainly we have had our glitch for this trip. Then here comes a Highway Patrol car. Yep, a ticket. I was certain we weren't speeding because the speed limit was 75, but we had just come out of the Gorge, so apparently it wasn't 75 yet. I don't even care about the ticket.

We get to our cabin, which is absolutely adorable! It's tucked back into the woods and has a Little House on the Prairie fireplace and bunk beds for the kids.

The next morning, we are ready to hit the slopes. I get the kids dressed, then ask Matt if he brought in the ski coats. ''There weren't any coats in there.'' What? Surely we brought them inside? Nope. Those ski coats are sitting on the back of a chair in Henderson, NV. And I am the one who forgot to put them in the car. Panic!

We pile into the car again, but now we are stuck in the snow. The cabin owner instructed us to back in, so we could get out better. Clearly this was the wrong decision because our tires are stuck in a low part of the driveway. Curse words. Lots of curse words. And some new ones were invented I am sure. The girls had a 9:30 a.m. lesson, and we are not going to make it. And they don't have jackets.

Somehow, Matt is able to get the car out without calling a tow truck. We check in for the lesson, and buy Addie a coat. The ski school actually had a jacket Aubrey could borrow, so we were in luck. I ended up borrowing a jacket from a ski store down the street, and Matt got a new one. But when he goes to use his credit card, it's declined. We call the bank, and they just wanted to make sure we were in Utah!

At this point, Matt discovers that he's been walking around the entire day with his ski pants unzipped.

I'm sure there was something else that seemed to go wrong, I just can't remember. It was a comedy of errors.

Strangely though, despite the forgotten ski jackets and getting stuck in the snow, we had one of the best trips we ever had. It was wonderful. The girls got to experience their first Jiffy Pop popcorn on the fireplace, we skiied all over the mountain and we just had a great time overall.