On the way home from East Georgia, we stopped off at Snow Mountain to surprise the children with an answer to their recent prayers for 'weal snow' they could play in. If I had to characterize our outing in a phrase it could be this: a very expensive lesson.
It is a long story I am too tired to relive, but here are the high (low?) lights:
I completely misread our two hour window and thought we were to be there from 2-4pm, when it was actually 12-2. Thankfully, we arrived an hour early as recommended, but thinking we had plenty of cushion, took our time getting dressed and getting in the park. By the time we realized my mistake we had 35 minutes left of our session time.
All attempts at sympathy and requests for reissuance at the later time were rudely scoffed at and rejected by the most apathetic group of seasonal employees I have ever encountered. I am not being a spoiled sport, I understand the reason for rules, but the way it was handled was bad, bad, bad.
When we finally realized we were stuck with this small window (which was really only enforced on the snow tubing attraction) we made a run for the line, hoping to get one ride in before our window expired. Both boys decided they did not want to try it, so Daddy & K went alone. She was so excited about it! Once they arrived (with 10 minutes to spare) they were turned away because K is 41.5 inches and the height requirement was 42. Both of my boys qualified--they are 43 and 44 inches tall--but had no desire.
We made our way over to the snow play area to make snow angels and snowmen. My children were thrilled.
(I love the contrast of these two...joy and giggles vs. serious concentration)
We also enjoyed the 'little kids' play area with a very small Snoboggan run.
It was about 31 degrees, so within a half hour everyone was shivering and starting to get cold and grumpy. Because I am totally inexperienced with kids and snow, I mistakenly thought rain boots would be a good choice. I failed to consider that their wide openings at the top would allow for snow to get in, melt and make for very wet socks.
When K, who is normally my trooper, started crying in discomfort we went to warm up by the fire pit. As we were trudging over through her tears and my assurances that comfort was only moments away, she got smacked in the face by an errant snowball--thrown by a teen aged girl.
We reached the fire pit to discover that the widely touted S'mores experience would cost $5. Desperate for warmth and smiles, I caved in an purchased a little pack of supplies. Just as the boys joined us a worker walked up to the fire pit and, without warning, threw more coal on the fire. Soot, sparks, ash and fragments flew everywhere--including right into P's eyes.
Everyone was cold, uncomfortable and emotionally fragile. I honestly cannot even remember what set R off--but suddenly all three were crying and it was only 2:45. Daddy and I agreed it was time to cut our losses. We peeled wet socks off of K's bright pink little toes and replaced them with my ski gloves. Then, Daddy carried her on his shoulders, a crying R on his right hip and I put a whiny P on my back for the 5 minute trek back to our car.
It felt like an epic failure. We spent over $100 for 1 hour...only 50% of which was fun.
My husband and I agreed that not every adventure turns out the way you planned and debated the lessons we could learn--other than the obvious ones about planning better and appropriate cold weather gear...
We also discussed the merits of 'creating experiences' versus just letting them happen. I think there is a time for both, but was struck by the irony that our forecast for later this week includes two days with a 40-50% chance of snow. Would it have been more fun for the children to eagerly anticipate 'the real stuff' surprising us one day? I don't know.
I also couldn't help but laugh that once we were back in the warm car and changed into dry comfortable clothes the children changed their tune dramatically. "That was soo fun!" " I loved it!" My husband and I just laughed.
And finally, tonight as I downloaded the pictures I couldn't help but notice that if you just saw the pictures you would think our day had been fantastic. If you just heard my account, you would think it horrible. Only by putting the two together do you get a glimpse of the reality...it was both fun and difficult, joyful and trying.
This is the essence of life...nothing is perfect. We must learn to take the good with the bad.
Updated to Add: I got a very kind and apologetic e-mail from the folks at Snow Mountain today. It was a classy move. Thank you.
8 comments:
We've had some of those kinds of experiences too- one of our biggest debacles (well from an adult perspective) is the kids very favorite memory and it happened four years ago- listening to them talk about all the things that went wrong and AC crying and the cold and so on is their favorite things to laugh about. Even those memories are precious as they get older.
Oh no....I would've been miserable & whiney too. Poor kiddos! I agree, sometimes letting memories occur is easier than forcing it. But kudos for trying!!!
You are welcome in BearCountry anytime! We have our own snow 'mountains' from the park plow trucks and I'll dip the adult marshmallows in Irish Cream - for FREE :)
It's a good sign that you were laughing about the whole experience by the time you got back to the car. Some misadventures take a LOT longer to recover from.
We're going to Vail on Saturday and plan to ski, snowmobile and go tubing. This is a good reminder to keep our expectations realistic. This is our 2nd year (1st time snowmobiling, though), so I feel like we do have some experience under our belts.
I'm so glad that your children will remember it as a fun experience!
It is 19 degrees here, a snow advisory and I cheated and drove my K- the mile to school. We would usually walk, but with the windchill, it was 7 degrees.
I tell you this not to rub it in, but 31 degrees to us up north is pretty warm. I did laugh at the rain boots though. You tried and used what you had.
Our Christmas was much like your Snow Mountain adventure. So much work and preparation was put into it, then at the stroke of midnight, my K- came down with the stomach flu. It was the 24 hour variety that fully encompassed all 24 hours of Christmas. She had bouts of illness in between opening her 3 gifts from Santa. We missed family, holiday meals and opening gifts altogether. When the holiday was rescheduled, it was the same. Obviously, our focus of Christmas is Christ, but I couldn't help but feel a little cheated of the whole big experience. K- didn't feel that way, though. She was good with everything and fine with Christmas as it was (minus the illness.) I guess it gave me a bit more of a glimpse into the quiet day of Christ's birth, rather than the hustle and bustle of so many people.
Okay, I'm tangential here, but I agree. You try and things are just sometimes not in your control. It sounds as if the time goof was a good thing, as different aspects of the day ended up not being so brochure-like. It is sad when something gets ruined by unsympathetic seasonals and an occasional thoughtless teenager.
They got their snow and ended up walking away (or carried away as it were) having remembered good things. That's a great thing!
oh so sorry! we went last year and while it was very busy it was fun. We love Stone Mountain and go several times throughout the year including Snow Mountain, and always get kind, good service. I am saddened to hear you didn't. I know they are worried about the economy's impact on their business so they should be very sympathetic and helpful! :(
I shared this post with my husband because we took our small children on a x-country skiing outing in a jogging stroller converted to a skiing sleigh. We're doing everything we can to enjoy the outdoors and the snow we have in Idaho. The kids enjoyed it for an hour and then about drove us over the edge when they just couldn't handle. . . the cold, the confined conditions, or whatever it was that made them grouchy. But afterward my 3-year-old son again proclaimed the glories of riding in a sleigh!!!
I gained perspective to know that others have to pay money to enjoy snow and we made our kids ride in a sleigh for two hours so we (the parents) could enjoy the snow. ha ha ha. Next time I'll let them get out and play more.
Thanks for sharing the story. . . glad you heard from Snow Mountain.
That was a great post. The pictures vs. reality vs. their experience is so true!
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