OC Family News

Matt Wakefield
Family Liaison

Spring is officially here, but for most of this year it has been hard to tell the seasons apart. Our 2009 - 2010 Family Ski season is pretty much at end, however we can still hope to get in a couple days of Spring skiing. Family buses have ended for this year and I hope you all had a chance to get out and ski with your families. March gave us a special OC event, the Winter Carnival a Bromley that was well attended by family members. A ton of thanks to Dick & Paula on a job well done, tackling this years Carnival.

APRIL once again brings us to our club election time so please get to the PCC on April 1st, for the last chance to nominate candidates and then attend the election of club officers on April 15th. Make it a point to educate yourselves on the candidates, and make you selection wisely as the OC Family group needs their support to make family events happen.

March is here once again bringing with it the glooming end of the ski season. We can all hope it is not true as April sometime brings us the best of both seasons for skiing opportunities! But let us try to forget about that for a little bit as this year March starts off with a bang for the club, our annual Winter Carnival on Saturday the 6th at Bromley Mtn. There will be both drive-up and Family bus options for this event. Additional Family ski dates this March are available as we will continue to have our OC Family nights at Maple Ski Ridge for $10, 5-9 PM, on Tuesdays and Fridays until the area closes.

Smugglers Notch Family Trip, on January 22nd, Thirty-one (5 children under age 6 free, 26 paying attendees, including 5 guests and the trip leader) OC friends & families found there way to Smugglers Notch in Jeffersonville, VT. Most of the group more took advantage of the full Friday lift ticket and arrived early in the day. Smugglers was able to let us all into our condos for early check in when we arrived. Friday, Saturday and Sunday weather and ski conditions could not have been better, considering this trips past history of frigid temperatures. Many of the group took advantage of the swimming pools & skating rink as well as hitting the kids fun Zone & Teen areas Friday, Saturday & Sunday. On Saturday we had an Apres Ski party that rolled right into our Italian Food Feast in the Trip Leaders unit. The food portion as always, was a great success with enough food to feed twice the people. I personally want to thank all those again that helped with the food preparation & clean up. We had our annual trip prize giveaway after the Italian Feast with many Smugglers Notch souvenirs purchased from the 3 Mountain Outfitters. To cap the trip off, Smugglers was very gracious in allowing us to have a late 3:00 PM check out unit, so all could get lunch & final change of clothes before heading home. Everyone seemed to have had a great time and asked that we do it again next year. It was also suggested to look into getting a third night stay on Thursday to allow us to get in a full day of skiing on Friday.

It is hard to believe we are now in February, half way through our skiing season. The Family events have been going well, especially the Maple Ski Ridge Tuesday & Friday nights. Hopefully more OC members and not just the Family group can take advantage of this terrific offer. Our Smugglers Notch family trip, Jan 22nd-24th, was again a successful outing with 31 people in the group. A full report with pictures will be in next months Family corner. For Family buses, this month brings us a Sat. 27th Cross Country Family bus to Lapland Lakes. For Alpine Family buses we will have three, one Weekday bus to Bromley on Friday 2/19 and two Sunday buses on 2/14 Bromley & 2/21 to Pico. However do to the school Presidents vacation week being shortened for most schools this year, we are reviewing options to see what we can offer for the Presidents school break, hoping to set up the 2/12 Okemo bus as one such option. We are also looking for Mountain side activities & games suggestions for the Winter Carnival in March.

Please make sure you keep checking out the updates on the OC Web site under "Snow Sports" then click "Bus info & schedules", also look in "Social & News" then click "OC Family News". You can also get on my Family Email list for regular updates and specials that I send out.

Matt Wakefield Family Liaison