Skiing vacations are great: There's lots of snow everywhere, you're doing something active, and you get to hang out with your family while doing it. But there are some not-so-great sides to skiing, like getting ready to go out on the first day. In my family, it takes no less than two hours to get everyone out the door and on the slopes. It generally goes a little something like this:
1. An early bird, usually my mom, wakes up at 7 a.m. and decides that we're heading out early to get the fresh snow. They run up and down the stairs yelling, "Who wants to ski?" in the hopes that someone else will get up and go out with them. It never works.
2. About 30 minutes later, the rest of us roll out of bed, staticky hair and all, in an attempt to make the early bird just shut up.
3. Everyone begins to check their phones for data on snow and the temperature, with someone always declaring that it's too cold to ski right now and we should try in an hour when it warms up.
4. The slow march to gather your gear begins. If you're unlucky enough to have sisters roughly the same size as you, it's a fight to decide who wears which jacket and which ski pants are yours and which are theirs.
5. There's always one person who can't find their ski pants or their goggles or their helmet. There might be tears, there's always yelling and accusing family members, but it normally ends in a trip to Sports Authority.
6. After the layers have been piled on, it's time for the hard job: putting on your ski boots. The front hall is filled with grunts, yelps, and exclamations of "these didn't hurt this much last year!"
7. Once everyone is almost ready, one straggler walks out still sporting nothing but their long underwear.
8. After a few shouts of "you're not ready yet?" and "what have you been doing for the past hour?" they finally get their stuff together.
