It was crossover week. This meant we could take our kids over to Blackcomb, and their kids would come over to Whistler. I was so excited, because my four year-olds were actually good enough to ski to Blackcomb. It was an adventure we could embark on as a team and I was happy that all five were present.
It started as any other day, sliding down expressway to the gondola. Once we were back up the mountain, we immediately took the peak2peak gondola, which took us all the way across to Blackcomb. Luckily I had teamed up with a colleague, because this was somewhat unfamiliar territory for us. While we were looking for a strategic place to put our skis, one of my kids got a big case of grumpy and stopped walking. He dropped his skis and looked at me with an angry face. “Pick up your skis, we’re going for lunch.” “Don’t tell me what to do!” Ok, this was going to take a while.
The rest of my kids walked off to lunch with the other instructor, while I spent 15 minutes waiting for this kid to pick up his skis. He kept making noises that were more like cow noises than anything human. “If you use your words you can ask for help. If you ask for help, I will help you.” More cow noises came out. Fine. I won’t help then, but just wait. It seemed like an endless battle in which I repeated that we really had to put our skis away for lunch and if he wanted help, he had to just ask. The cow noises changed into screaming, sobbing and crying and I had gathered an audience. One girl actually saw the whole thing and just gave me the thumbs up in support. Eventually we managed to put our skis away and made it to the lunch room.
After lunch the big journey down began. Due to all the excitement my kids kept dropping like flies. As soon as I had one up, another one fell. But it got better. Apart from grumpy, who had a few more attacks of grumpiness. After a visit to the playground castle we made our way down to the gondola via the long green run. This is the point where I needed my bribing materials; carrots, cucumbers, candy and cookies. Anything to keep us going.
By the time we arrived at excalibur gondola, my team was out of energy. Walking from the bottom of the gondola to the Whislter gondola was a test of my patience and their endurance. Then, from the top of Whistler we made our way back to Creekside. It was like a long car ride ‘Are we there yet?’. At the end of the day I gladly handed my team back to their parents. I could finally let my guard down and put my feet up. It had been a big day for my little explorers and thus also for me. Another special day on the mountain!
What patience. I applaud you for it. Darling pictures. They have on so many clothes it doesn’t look like they could move!