Big White - March 8-12, 2012

Spring break started just slightly early for us. We left for Big White, near Kelowna on Thursday at lunch time for a ski weekend away with just our own little family. The drive up was beautiful. Sunny, warm and clear blue skies all the way. The drive back wasn`t so nice, pretty snowy and blowy, not a fun drive for Dave.

Our room was right in the village, a one bedroom suite with a mini kitchenette. The main room had a queen bed, fireplace, Murphy queen bed, mini fridge, sink and microwave. We also had a large bedroom with another queen bed. Perfect for our family of 5. Our hotel, The Inn at Big White, also had an outdoor pool and hot tub. This was a highlight for the kids to be swimming outside in the snowy weather! Dave and I appreciated the hot tub after our days on the slopes! I had made some dinners and lunches ahead of time at home to warm up in the microwave so we only went out for dinner 1 night. It was super nice to be able to ski in and ski out right to our hotel, especially for lunch. It`s great to be able to come in for lunch, dry everything out and warm up by the fire!

We felt truly spoiled to have been given this opportunity to go on a ski trip with our kids!

It`s fun to spend time just as a family. There is lots to do in Big White. One evening we went into a gondola to the bottom of the resort to check out the attractions down there. They have an outdoor skating rink, ice wall to climb, tubing and more. On Saturday evening there were fireworks to watch too.

The kids did super well on the slopes. 2 years ago when we went to Silver Star, the kids were in lessons every morning and we skied mainly green with some blue runs in the afternoons. Nicole was timid and slow then. This year they were all off and down before we knew it! No lessons this year! We skied mainly blued runs and some green. Even did some black ones! Apparently you have to do black runs too or you have not been challenged enough! They were in and out of the trees and made me go there too! The weather was great. Sunny the first day, foggy with 10 cm new snow but then great for the afternoon the next day and then cold and windy for the last day. We skied long days but had a nice warm lunch every day! We met some trees up close and personal. Jake got tangled up in one, Matthew got some scratches on his face from another and Nicole and I found some to hug too! Dave`s the only one that didn`t meet the trees but he did his share of tumbles, after some amazing jumps I might add!

All in all we had a blast, lots of laughs and some scraps but most of all some fun family time together!

Enjoy the pictures!

Our first day. Sunny, blue skies!

Today`s slow zone, yup that`s our Nicole! Taking a break under a sign or wiped out?

On our way out the second day we saw this big loader clearing the fresh snow from the driveway of the hotel. The kids said I needed to get a picture of that! There was so much snow and the kids are always amazed at how big the piles are! We were happy to have fresh powder to ski on!

The views were beautiful!

Some of the blue runs were challenging and Nicole was sometimes intimidated a bit by them but she did it. The boys were most often down and waiting for us to catch up.

On the chair lift. We mostly skied down to the 6 person lift so that we could all go up together.


This is the village of Big White. We were in the green hotel kind of right in the middle of the village. It looks like it has 2 wings. (If you click on the picture it will be a bit bigger on your screen.)

Jake meeting his tree! His ski was stuck right in the middle of it! It took him a bit to get out of it but he did it. Mean mom to stand there and take a picture!

The last day of skiing was windy and blowy. This was at the top of the furthest lift. We had to do all of the lifts of course and we managed to do most of them.

Matthew, always trouble. See that tongue hanging out in the first picture?

Nicole and her dad skiing together!

Nicole's coming out of the trees.

The last lift of the day was always this one. It took us right past our hotel, we could see the people in the pool, and into the village where we could ski down to our hotel.

Walking through the village on Saturday evening we found this comfy chair.

Jake curled up for a sleep?

To get to the bottom of the resort we had to take this gondola. The kids were hoping we would get to go on it. They had never been in a gondola before so it was a highlight for them.

The ice rink was closed because it had been too warm the past week and the ice wasn't frozen enough for the zamboni to go on it so we just slid on it instead.

This ice wall looked like so much fun but for $20 a person we decided to watch someone else do it. The snowmobiles looked like fun too. There was a bit of wishing going on.

Matthew was very much into all the machines that were there including the groomer.

Nicole's gonna get swept away!

As I said earlier, there were fireworks on Saturday night! Not long but just enough. The booming was fun!

There's our hotel as we are coming back from our last run of the weekend!


Ah, the pool, outside, in the snow! Hand stands and splashes! So much fun! Nicole and Matthew were eager to pose for me but not Jake!

On Sunday evening we went to the bottom again because the rink was open. It was stinkin' cold out, very windy and all Dave and I really wanted to do was sit in our room, maybe play a game and just relax by the fire. But, that was not to be. We got all dressed up and headed on out with our skates! And we are glad we did because it was a blast! Dave had taken sticks and some pucks, even for Nicole and I, we had to play hockey too! They had 3 nets there but 2 of them were being used by some men so we took one of the 3, flipped a bench over, and asked some others to join us for a game of hockey. It was so much fun, the boys were in their element, Dave was having a grand time and Nicole and I fumbled our way through the game but we had a BLAST!

Here we are, ready for another day on the slopes!

Oh, to be able to do this every year!