We started driving up to Tahoe on Friday around 3:45pm.  On the way up, there were 6 accidents on 680, and after 2 hours on the road, we only made it as far as Walnut Creek where we decided to break for dinner.  After dinner, we encountered 2 more accidents and more traffic.  My hubby wanted to circumvent traffic without the advice of Google, and took an exit, but unfortunately ended up in completely stopped traffic on the streets where cars were waiting at metered lights to get on the freeway.  Losing patience, my hubby came up with the bright idea of cruising down the right turn lane to pass all the cars, only to get pulled over by the cops at the end of the lane.  All in all, we got delayed an extra 30 minutes due to this stunt, haha.  After an additional 5 accidents on 680 and 80, we finally arrived at the condo close to midnight.... 8 hours when it should have taken 4!  Surprisingly enough, the kids were OK during the drive (with the help of some DVD entertainment, of course).  By the time we could squeeze our van through the tight parking spaces at the condo, unloaded everything, and finally got the kids to bed, it was after 1:00am.  

Saturday morning all the kids woke up late.  It was 9:45am by the time we got ourselves and all the kids in ski gear and out the door.  There was a long line of cars on the drive up to Diamond Peak.  After inching our way and finally getting to the ski resort parking lot, we were told the lots were full and that we had to drive back down to park in a separate parking lot and wait for a shuttle.  The shuttle line was so long we had to wait for the second shuttle to take us up.  I carried my backpack, my skis on one shoulder, poles in one hand, little J's skis, and somehow had to lug little J up on the shuttle as well, while my hubby had his backpack, skis, poles, middle J's skis, and the sled.  Clunking along in ski boots didn't help either, haha.  By the time we got to the resort, it was 11:00am, and it was crowded with long lines.  The ski resort attendants saw our sled and told us sledding wasn't allowed, even though I saw sleds in their ski school area.  SIGH.  

The weather was gorgeous though.. sunny and warm, and snow was still soft and fluffy.  I'd bought a little Wedgease Children's Ski Tip Connector to keep little J's ski tips together, and had him hold one end of my ski pole while I dragged him to glide over the snow.  He was tense and apprehensive, though, and after 5 mins he didn't want to ski anymore.  He spent the rest of the day playing with his snowball thrower, digging and shoveling snow.  Middle J refused to ski after lunch, saying he was too tired, so he joined little J playing snow.  My hubby and I took turns taking oldest J skiing, but oldest J also said he had enough by around 2:30pm, and he joined the other 2 J's playing snow.  I skied a couple Lakeview runs by myself, and my hubby skied a couple runs by himself, and then we finally left around 3:30pm.  

Sunday morning we woke up at 7am to start packing up cuz we needed to check out of the hotel and try to arrive at the ski resort by 8:30am to have some hope of parking at the resort.  We got out the door around 8:40am and drove 6 mins to the ski resort.  There was still parking left, but farther out.  Then we realized we forgot to drop off the condo keys, so hubby had to drop me and older J's off and go back to drop off the keys for checkout before 10:00am.  

I took the boys on Lodgepole, and it was great!  Hardly any people so no lines or crowded slopes, and beautiful weather.  Can't ask for more!  After several runs Hubby and little J got to the resort, so we swapped.  Little J was fussy and didn't want to ski or play snow, so held him a bit and hauled him to the main lodge around 10:30am to grab a table.  After munching on cheerios he finally perked up a bit and started playing in the snow.  An hour later Hubby and the older J's came back.  Somehow my hubby's backpack strap had gotten caught on the chair lift, and the strap broke when he tried to get off the chair lift, so he was trying to carry the backpack on one side while skiing down. This time even middle J went up Lakeview and skied all the way down from the top.   

We ate lunch, and were thinking to go home after lunch to avoid traffic, but oldest J wanted to ski more while middle J was complaining about stomachache.  So, I took oldest J up Lakeview.  While we were on the chair lift, Hubby called and said little J's complaining and wants Mama, sigh, haha.  So after one run we came back to the lodge.  Oldest J still wanted to ski Lakeview one more time, and middle J insisted on going, too.  So, Hubby took them up Lakeview for one last run while I watched little J.  I asked little J if he wanted to ski, and he said no.  I asked him how about 5 mins, and he said no.  I said how about just 1 minute?  And he said, okaaay.  So I had him hold the pole while I pulled him along.  Initially he was still tense, but after a few times he was telling me, "faster! faster!".  A few more times and he started shuffling the skis on his own, then finally I carried him to the top of a tiny little slope, gave him a nudge, and he skied down all by himself, gleefully giggling.  For 45 minutes, I carried him up that slope for him to ski down.. my arms are still sore, haha.  Towards the end, he was able to turn left, and do a pizza to slow down.  

In the meantime, oldest J came down first, and we waited for my hubby and middle J while little J was practicing on his slope.  After 5 mins and still no sign of Hubby, I called him and texted him. 10 mins still no sign, called again. 15 mins.. by now I was getting worried.  Finally, I saw my hubby skiing down, but no sign of middle J.  I asked him where's middle J?  He skied right past me and pointed in front of him to a ski patrol's sled, where I saw middle J's helmet peeking out. I was like OMG, what happened?  Turns out he fell going down a steeper section, was crying and saying that his knee hurts and that he couldn't ski or walk.  A ski patrol happened to come by and offered to take him down in the sled.  The ski medic examined him, said his knee, muscles, bones look fine with no sign of swelling or deformity.  Most likely just strained it or hyper-extended it, and should recover in 24-48 hours. He recommended icing it and taking pain killers.  I asked Hubby why he didn't call or text me to let me know, and he said his cell phone had run out of battery.  His external battery charger was in the backpack which he didn't bring with him due to the broken strap, hah.  My husband went to get the car while the rest of us waited with middle J.  After we loaded up all the gear, hubby went back to carry middle J, and one of the ski resort attendants gave middle J a "pain killer" that worked miraculously well.  Amazingly, after chomping down a Hershey's kiss, his knee no longer hurt :|

We left the ski resort around 3:00pm to drive home.  A little past Truckee, we ran into stop-and-go traffic for the next 59 miles.  We didn't get to Sacramento until around 7:00pm, where we stopped for dinner.  We didn't get home until past 10:30pm.  Waaay too much driving/traffic for this trip.