This time of year is always an exciting time for those snow-loving families who hit the trails and create amazing memories. I’ve been promising my husband and son that we’d make it back to a mountain for a family winter vacation for a couple of years now. They’ve both been anxious to learn how to snowboard after listening to me ramble about how much fun it is. So this month we’re starting the year off right and heading to Nemacolin Woodland Resorts in Pennsylvania, where they’ll get an opportunity to take private snowboarding lessons.

Our first family ski trip was one of my original “travel with young kids” dilemmas that I wasn’t quite sure how to remedy:

How does a family with younger kids, including one with additional needs, get to enjoy a ski vacation together?

I still haven’t found the answer to that.

We’ve felt fairly limited because of the ages of our kids and because our youngest has additional needs. We couldn’t figure out how we could maneuver time on the slopes together, without having to split up. A few of the mountains that we’d been to locally weren’t able to meet our exact needs at the time.

My four year old, then two, didn’t dig the snow and my seven year old, then 5, was too young to take snowboarding lessons at the particular resorts we’d visited.  So, what’s been happening is that we’ve done activities separately. On our last trip, my husband hung out with the kids while I snowboarded for the afternoon. It hasn’t been the best of arrangements but it’s been the only one we can think of.

Perhaps two years old is a bit young for a family to hang together on the slopes. I could be wrong, but I do know that things will be easier for us now that the kids are a little older and because I’ve found facilities across the country that have adaptive ski programs for people with special needs. Whitetail in Pennsylvania is one that we’re looking at exploring. And once we get to that place in our collective skills (hopefully, by the end of the season) where it’s worth traveling across country for that West Coast powder, I know we’ll have even more options before us. I’m keeping my eye out for these affordable winter ski destinations suggested by The Krazy Coupon Lady.

For our trip to Nemacolin, we’ll still be splitting up as a family. Hub and big boy will be on the slopes, while little bit and I will be at the pool or exploring animals on the property. This is one of the great things about a resort like Nemacolin – there’s so much to do besides skiing.  And maybe that’s the answer to maneuvering a family ski vacation with young kids – opt for a resort that gives you more options than you might think you need. This way, everybody has something to enjoy and your family ski trip is about more than just skiing.