Location: Seven Oaks Recreation – Boone, Iowa
Attractions: Snow Skiing/Snowboarding and Snow Tubing

I’m always looking for for additional ways to better connect with my family. One long-time dream of mine is to have at least one or two hobbies that my kids and/or wife and I enjoy so we can do them together and get in some real quality time with each other while doing the things that we love. After last year’s outing with wifey at Sundown Mountain, the kids were chomping at the bit for their chance to try snow skiing or snowboarding and I was excited for them to try it.

So guess what we got them for Christmas this year? A trip to a Seven Oaks Recreation hill in Boone, IA and a stay at a hotel where they could go swimming after! On the drive down to Boone, Jill and I tried to warn the kids that they weren’t going to be able to just jump on their snowboard or skis and know how to do it right away. It’s a process of learning…. a painful process that includes falling, bruises, and frustration. They said they understood, but how do you really prepare an 11 and 7 year old for the battle they were about to embark on?

As we pulled up to the hill, I think both kids peed a little. They saw the big runs on the hill and were like, “We have to ski down that!?”. They didn’t realize there was a bunny hill. Once we calmed them down, we got our lift tickets and gear and suited up for a day outside in the snow. We welcomed the cool air since we were all a little over heated from having all our snow gear on while getting our ski equipment figured out. It was pretty comical watching the kids attempt to walk around in ski boots. They clomped around for a bit before they put their skis on and I tried to give them a few pointers before the free lessons.

I watched them for a bit before I took off and went down a few runs on my snowboard. Little did I know that would be the only snowboarding I would do that day. When I came back Charlie was upset because she hurt her knee and she wasn’t really “getting it”. We took this as an opportunity to take a break, switch to our snow boots, and head over to the snow tubing area. Since we had a lift ticket, we were able to tube for an hour for just $5 per person.

The snow tubing was a blast! The kids loved it. We loved it. Heck, I think the staff loved it! We got some great footage with the GoPro and it was exactly what the kids needed to forget the feeling of defeat from the skiing attempt not clicking. The hill was pretty big and you get quite a bit of speed going down. You could hear the kids screaming as they flew down the hill and the first couple of times Mattix didn’t even open his eyes.

After well over an hour of tubing (shhhhh, don’t tell that we stayed too long), Charlie surprisingly said she was ready to get back on her skis. The original plan was that she was going to try snowboarding. I was able to work with her for a while and I think she was starting to get it by the end of the day. Mattix, however, was spent. He was throwing skis and ready to break something. Luckily, momma was able to calm him down and they both returned their rental gear while Charlie and I practiced a little more before doing the same.

Once we got our stuff packed up, we headed to the hotel, ordered a pizza and head to the pool to soak in the hot tub and swim for a bit. The Best Western was very nice and the staff was great. We order pizza from Jeff’s Pizza Shop and they did not disappoint. We ended the night watching the Titans beat the Patriots in a wild card playoff game. I wasn’t able to stay awake to watch the Patriots lose, but we were all happy that we didn’t have to watch the Patriots make another Super Bowl run.

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