This week, my family celebrated both of my kiddos’ birthdays. It made me think back to when my oldest was a baby and I would travel with him, often by myself. It seemed hard at the time, lugging a car seat, stroller, diaper bag, etc., but it was worth it because I loved to travel. When our second child was born, travel got a little trickier, but still worth it to be able to make memories with family and friends.
Fast forward to 2019.Gone are the car seats, the diaper bag, the bulky stroller, instead; enter one angst-filled middle schooler and a strong willed third grader. Is it still worth it to travel? My husband and I used to ski at Keystone all the time.It’s changed a lot since those days, and so have we! It’s now a full-fledged family fun resort. Could this be the answer to a weekend of sibling bickering? We would see. It was worth a try!
We headed up the night before and stayed at the Wyndham Ramada in Frisco so we could hit Keystone first thing in the morning, and this is how our time in the mountains began;
7am- Began dragging the kids out of bed to get suited up. Listen to whining and complaining for the first 30 minutes of the day but kept that vision of beautiful ski runs calling my name to make it through the malaise.
8:30am- Picked up our rentals at ski school where they made it so easy! Thank goodness!
9:00am- Ski School.For. The. Whole. Day. They had several options. The Ultimate 4 Ski Lesson is a semi-private experience, with a maximum of four students to one Ski & Ride School professional.Their group lessons were also a good option with 5-12 kids depending on the day and there's also Camp Keystone for non-lesson fun for kids. Full day lessons included lunch, just one less thing to think about!
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9:30am- Time to check in! While they weren’t quite ready for us, they were more than accommodating in guiding us to parking, ski lockers and storing our luggage until the condo was ready.Friendly, helpful, AND each child gets a super cute puppy backpack with activities to keep them busy at the condo.
We had to get my mom settled, so we took her to the Commons Lounge at Red Hawk, one of the River Run Condo buildings. It was cozy with a huge fireplace, nice tv, couches, and game tables. This would be perfect for our kids too! It included a pool table, foosball, games and puzzles. Keystone really knows what families are looking for. The condos are SO close to the mountain, you just walk across a parking lot and boom, you’re there! I can’t tell you how much easier that is when you have kids in ski boots clomping behind you. We managed to get a few awesome runs in until I received a text that our place was ready. While our kids were still in ski school, we were able to move our luggage in, get my mom settled and sneak back out to ski before pick up time! |  |
Back to the question; was it still worth it to travel? At 8am I might have said no, but getting to ski on that gorgeous mountain then stepping into that cozy condo had me thinking YES! Who would win out by the end of our trip? Check back next week for Part 2 of Keystone – Creating Magic for Your Everyday Dysfunctional Family.
Disclaimer - if your family is not "somewhat" dysfunctional, you'll still enjoy the family fun at Keystone Resort... ; )
