Ski New Mexico 2

The ammenities:

We knew going into our trip that this was a bare-bones type of ski resort.  We wouldn't have a fridge or microwave.  Therefore we didn't pack our own food.  What we didn't realize was that we wouldn't have cell phone service or wi-fi.  Or..... a coffee pot!!  We were out in the middle of nowhere!  The closest "town" was thirty minutes away.  

When we arrived we were pleasantly surprised that they had recently upgraded the room with a microwave and fridge.  We originally planned on eating at their only restaurant for our meals, but it was overpriced and not that good.  So we took advantage of our "upgrade" and headed to the Walmart an hour away to buy food for the week: breakfast sandwiches, hot pockets, oatmeal, those crappy kind of filler foods.  While I was there I bought the cheapest coffee pot they had.  It was a $15 five-cup Mr. Coffee, but it would do for the week.  We had to have a coffee pot.  That's a necessity.  If I were on a deserted island and could only have one thing from home, it would be a coffee pot.  (yes I realize there would be no place to plug it in, but you get my point.)  After stocking up on groceries we headed back.  I then realized I forgot to buy cups so we pulled into a Dollar General.  Once inside I saw they had a $10 10-cup coffee pot!  It was cheaper and bigger!  I bought that one, too, with plans to return the original one when we got back from our trip.  Well guess what?  While we out shopping, a staff member came into our room and upgraded our room with a coffee pot!  lol, so now we had three pots!    

our second fridge, the window.  With the freezing temps the extra stuff stayed fresh sitting on the ledge.  We couldn't figure out how to turn down the heater so we had the window open to let the heat out. 

What we didn't like:
The restaurant/ ski store area was the only place that had wi-fi.  Even that had spotty signals.  We were cut off from the rest of the world for the whole week.  No TV, wi-fi, or cell service in our room.  Not only that, but it was "quiet-time" from 10 pm to 8 am.  That's a long time to keep your kids quiet when the walls are paper-thin.  The skiing closed at 4 pm everyday, so there little for them to do from 4 until bedtime.  After being outside all day the kids didn't want to go play in the snow...which was really the only thing there for them to do. So we just passed the time by playing with Rudi, playing phone games, and hanging out.  We had A LOT of family time in that small hotel room.  Halle and I played chess, the only game on her computer.  I love my kids, but I was happy to return to our four-bedroom house.  Next time we'll find a resort that has a town nearby to shop or see movies.  This was a great first trip to see if we like skiing (which we do!!!), but we probably won't return here.

What we did like:
HAPPY HOUR! Happy hour was 3-5.  The restaurant is only a 100 yards from our hotel.  Halle babysat the littles.  The littles were crashed out during this time anyway.  Brian and I took advantage of this and went for a margarita or beer at the restaurant bar.  It was really nice to have some alone time together on our trip.

Sleeping arrangements:  Agghhhhhh!  This is how a typical night would go:

	BED 1	BED 2	KENNEL
10 pm Rudi whining in kennel,  Jack is crying because he wants to sleep with me and is elbowing Arden in face	Brian me	Halle Jack/bear/blanket Arden/Catarina/Sweet Blankey	Rudi
10:30 Jack is pushing me off the bed and Rudi won't lay still	Brian Me Jack/Bear/blanket	Halle Arden/Catarina/ SweetBlankey Rudi
12am Jack wakes up and realizes that I'm not sleeping next to him, so he comes and crawls in bed with the girls and me.  Rudi starts whining again.  I put zombie Arden who is taking up the whole bed anyway into bed 1	Brian, Jack/Bear/blanket	Me Halle Arden/Catarina/ SweetBlankey	Rudi
6 am Still two hours before quiet time is over, but we are done trying to sleep	Brian Arden	Me Jack/Bear/blanket Rudi Halle Catarina/Sweet Blankey

Like I said, I love my kids, but I was happy to return to my four-bedroom house.  :)