Hey y’all, Jasha here! Man, I had a hard time deciding what trip I should start with… So, I’m going to share our first trip of 2019 and will try to do “flashback” stories of some of our other trips during our down time between travels.

My goal with this blog is to share our amazing adventures and provide tips along the way. With that being said, I am sharing it all – the good, the great, the bad, the ugly and everything in between! And well, for my family, this trip started out REALLY ugly…

For the past ten years or so, my family has taken a snowboarding trip every holiday season. Crested Butte, Colorado has become one of our favorites over the years. It’s known as “the last great Colorado ski town,” and for good reason. We decided we would ring in the New Year in CB, so we booked our condo for December 31-January 6th. On December 29th my boys and I ended up getting a horrible stomach virus, the second one for us in December!! I was supposed to be packing our family up and getting snacks and groceries for the drive, but instead we were all sleeping on the bathroom floor. It was awful. This is real life people! Sometimes we get sick when we have plans. We prayed, my husband (who was at work the day the boys and I were sick) did all of our grocery shopping, and we went to bed hopeful we could leave the next morning. Of course, Jereme (that’s my husband) ends up catching the virus and is so sick that next morning. We were supposed to leave by 8:00 am, but that wasn’t happening.

Luckily, it was a short-lived virus, so the boys and I really felt fine on our departure day. I packed us up, Jereme slept until around noon, and he pulled it together so we could leave. We had plans to stop in Trinidad, CO for the night, just to break up the drive. We live in North Texas, so it’s about a 13 hour drive to Crested Butte for us. Right before we left, we learned that a major winter storm was coming in with lots of snow expected and travel delays. I couldn’t believe it. We had been going to the mountain every year and never had this bad of luck before. I ended up driving us the entire 9 hour drive to Trinidad while Jereme slept in the back. We made it to our hotel for the night and luckily for us all, the virus had ran it’s course!

So, we got up early the next day, it was New Year’s Eve. And that’s when the winter storm hit! The 4.5 hour drive to our condo ended up taking about 6 hours, but we made it. My nerves were shot ha! We had never seen snow like this so far from the mountain. I think our top speed for several hours was about 25 mph.

We got to Crested Butte in time for the torch light parade and firework show to ring in 2019! Most ski resorts and mountain towns have special events like this during the holiday season. They begin between 5-5:30, it’s already super dark at that time!

We ended up having a really great trip, even though it didn’t start out that way. We spent time with our friends, we did some things on our own as a family, we rested, we relaxed, we snowboarded until everything hurt, we played in the snow, and ultimately made tons of memories!

Here are some tips from personal experience:

1. If you plan to go skiing/snowboarding over Winter Break, try going on/after New Year’s Eve. It seems pretty crowded between Christmas and NYE, but everyone starts going home after New Year’s Day.
2. Book your hotel or condo early. We usually book in August. We prefer to stay in a condo so that we can cook and have more room with our two crazy boys and all of the gear we have.
3. Get waterproof everything, but especially gloves! I cannot stress this enough! Your day WILL be ruined if you have kids and their hands get wet and cold.
4. Amazon has great deals on ski gear and apparel. You really don’t have to spend too much to be warm or cute!
5. Prepare your kids early about building snowmen. I thought we would be able to make the best ones ever in Colorado, however, the snow is soft and dry and doesn’t really roll into balls. Ours looks more like a snow blob (picture below), but we still had fun creating it.
6. Take at least a day off from skiing/boarding to explore the town. CB is so colorful, the locals are so nice, and the food is great!
7. Germs are gross. Quarantine your family a few days before any trip ha!
8. Be aware of winter weather and make sure you have food, water & blankets in your car in case of an emergency.
9. Put your kids in ski school and enjoy a day with your husband or friends. The kids will have a blast and actually learn how to ski. You can have a nice lunch, adult drinks, or even some time at the spa!
10. Finally, take lots of pictures and make some lasting memories!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from this trip! Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions.