Fun Trip in the Snow 

Here are some of my favorite highlights from my latest snow trip sharing a condo with another family:

Before we hit the slopes each morning, I asked my husband to bring me to this place to get coffee: https://drinkcoffeedostuff.com/.  The coffee is very enjoyable and they have fun house made syrups.

We took the kids skiing at Diamond Peak and sledding at North Tahoe Regional Park during the day.  At night we saved money by eating in and each family turns cooking meals. The kids played board games.  My boys learned to play Sorry for the first time.

I rented some snow shoes from http://villageskiloft.com/.  They have easy quick process, and accommodating store hours.  The moms went moonglight snow shoeing in Incline Village.  Our group had a safe and fun trip when we reached the top and toasted with hot chocolate and s’mores.  The trails are lit up by glow sticks, and the tour operators gave us glow sticks to attach to our jackets.   The Snowflake lodge have other food items for purchase but we were saving our appetites for a meal elsewhere. If you are interested in moonlight snowshoeing at this resort, the upcoming trips are scheduled Feb 7 and March 6th.   The views are spectacular and it’s fun to snowshoe at night.  I highly recommend this experience to all.

After snowshoeing, the moms night out continued with some drinks and yummy food in the bar area of Lone Eagle Grille.  The ambiance is welcoming, and the view is amazing if you eat here at lunch.  This restaurant smells fantastic even from the outside.  I can’t wait to come back here.While the moms were out snowshoeing and catching up at the lounge.  At the ski condo, the dads and kids relaxed and bonded.  I visited Incline Spirits and the staff here was very friendly and helpful.  I bought some unique beer for the dads to have their own beer tasting while the kids hung out and played.

Snow days with toddlers are expensive.  Here are some money saving tips that I found useful during this trip:

1) Buy used gear: I found some great stuff earlier on in the season, helmet, snow bibs, snow goggles, mittens, ski jackets for my toddler.  There were some new items I bought with Christmas giftcards from Target online when I couldn’t find snow boots that were used in the right shoe sizes.  I even bought a pair of winter boots for myself on the facebook marketplace.

2) Visit smaller resorts:

This season was the first time my oldest hit the slopes and tried downhill skiing.  We discovered that ski school prices varies a lot with the big name resorts equating to the highest price.  We got some great deals for the ski lessons at Diamond Peak.  If you tear off the stub from the ski lesson report, you get a coupon for a returning lesson.

3) visit on a weekday:

The slopes will have less people and the prices are cheaper.  The lunch lines are shorter, and the eating area is less crowded.

4) Carry extra snacks
Weather can be unpredictable so bringing extra snacks are good when toddlers get rowdy in the car.

5) don’t forget the suncreen!

6) Wear a helmet for toddler sledding:  My oldest would lose control of his sled sometimes to test his limits and bump into a rock with his head. I was thankful he was wearing a helmet.  I originally bought it for skiing but it was useful on our sledding excursion.

7) if you have young toddlers, this is an awesome sled for entertaining little ones while waiting for your turn to ski.  The four adults in our group took turns skiing and looking after the younger toddlers.  We also used this baby sled last year for a snow day when my youngest was 2 yrs old.  He still loves being towed in it!!!

8) Bring a baby/todder carrier.  Although my 3 year old think he’s a big boy now, he still needs snuggles.  We brought our carrier with us on this trip so he can take a nap on me if he needed it at the ski resort.  This also helps me keep him safe while carrying ski gear/bag/snacks to and from our car.

9) For the toddler lunches, we packed snacks for them. I made hardboiled eggs, brought crackers and cheese, yogurt pouches, leftover zuchinni, and steelcut oatmeal for their lunches.  This helped us save some money and avoid waiting in long lines to buy food from the cafe.

10) We brought some game with us for the toddlers to play.  They really enjoyed Sorry, UNO, Chutes and Ladders, and Pete the Cat cupcake game.   I also brought along my Ipad so we can do our Osmo learning games.

So this wraps up all the fun highlights on our last trip.  Bed times were very challenging for us since the kids were not used to sleeping in a new place. There was some tantrums but we had a fun time sharing space with another family.  I also want to add that UNO is also a very fun game for adults as well when you “skip” and “reverse” the same person over and over again, then make them draw 4 cards when the cards are not shuffled very well *wink*.