Family Adventure: Snow!
Alien Daddy and I love adventure. With 2019 being the year of the slashed budget, we’ve found ourselves getting more creative in our outings as a family, finding fun things to do together that are inexpensive and sometimes (other than gas) free.
We are fortunate in Seattle to be an hour away from two great Ski Resorts, Crystal Mountain and Snoqualmie Pass. AD and I both went skiing when we were younger and I’ve been snowboarding, but truth is, it’s not really our thing, neither of us ever mastered getting off the ski lift. But sledding, playing in the snow, we’re all on board!
Young Master V is always ready for the snow. I usually look during the summer months to find him ski pants. We don’t often get snow in the Seattle area, but we do get a fair amount of rain. With puddle splashing being pretty high up on the list of fun things for a three year old, snow pants, rain boots, rain coat and a hat make for a fun gray day, The day before we went out, I hit up the thrift stores in the area for grown up snow pants. Four stores and $20 later we were set to go.
We really didn’t know where we were going. We had loaded up the car with snow stuff, snacks, a sled and headed out to Snoqualmie Pass. We stopped at North Bend for a quick potty break and headed up to the mountain. YMV kept asking “Where is the snow? Too much rain!” We kept telling him “Up on the mountain, just wait…” About 5 minutes later, the rain that was following us from Seattle as if magic turned to snow. The sheer wonder and joy in my son’s voice as he kept shouting “Mommy, Daddy, SNOW! Look at THAT” just made both of us smile so big.
We got out of the car, changed into our snow clothes and decided to check out the ski resort. As we were walking along, we found a plowed road where no one else was at. Let me tell you, that was fun! Snowball fights, climbing up snow banks, rolling in the snow (yeah, I did it too) was so much fun! Then we took a ‘shortcut’ and waded through snow over to the resort. We looked around for a while and realized with all the people around with skiis, snowboards and just not looking where they were going, we had more fun in our snow bank, so we walked back and played some more.
What a wonderful adventure. It didn’t take a lot of money, and the memories and pictures are such fun. We’re going to do it again. Next time we’re not going up to the lodge, we’re going to bring a couple of friends, go one one of the old foresty roads, find a fun hill and try out the sled I still have from my childhood! I can’t wait!
