Skiing up to the cabin with kids... not recommended

The week before Christmas we thought it would be fun to ski up to the cabin up Lambs with Brittney and Justin and Justin's brother and his wife. Originally the plan was to leave the kids behind, but as I tried to find someone for them to stay with, I quickly realized just about everyone's week before Christmas was as busy as mine! So... we decided to bring them along. Crazy idea? Yep, it definitely was. I prepared for the worst, but that was not enough. We weren't able to start the 3 mile ski up until 10 pm (we had spent the evening babysitting a couple other families kids), and thought that might actually work out well, Joe and Dan who would be in the Chariot could just sleep. So Pete pulled the younger two, John skied the first mile or so, then got tired and hopped on top of the sled too. It was pretty smooth sailing until we hit the last mile or so where the trail was no longer paved by snowmobiles. We had to break through a foot or two of fresh snow. The girls broke trail, Pete continued to pull the sled, and Justin and his brother pushed the sled. That's when it all fell apart. Because of the roughness of the trail, Joe and Dan both woke up and cried/screamed the last hour. Pete stopped about 500 yards away from the cabin and, being realistic, wondered if we should turn around. He didn't know if it was physically going to be possible to pull/push the sled the remaining way through the fresh snow. Everyone was already totally exhausted. So we put John, who had been putting extra weight on the sled, on my back, and took it one step at a time, worrying that if we turned around now, the kids would be exposed to the cold weather for too long. After 20 minutes or so of this, John started asking if we were almost there and complained that his feet were really cold and that he was really cold, and I could tell that his face and lips were frozen because of the stiffness of his voice. I don't know much about frost bite, but I really was getting worried that John's fingers and toes might not make it! (maybe my exhaustion wasn't making me thing straight). Us girls paused for a moment and looked back at the boys struggling to get the sled through the snow, pushing and pulling with all their might, the baby screaming, and couldn't help but think of the pioneers. What misery! Only they didn't have a cabin a half mile up the road that could give them shelter. And there was no option for them to turn around. Well, we FINALLY did make it up there. And when I neared to the top of the driveway, John said, "I never want to do this again." And I said, "Neither do I." Needless to say, we were all completely exhausted. Brittney felt sick the rest of the night, and the kids didn't end up going to bed until 1:30. BUT, after all is said and done, I am glad we did it. With the kids and all. When we had all the kids inside and calmed down, I took them upstairs and got them all tucked in. We huddled around a space heater and I watched their sweet faces glowing in the heat, their eyelids slowly closing until all was quiet. There's something that feels good when you do something hard. And it makes you appreciate things... a heated house, good food, running water, cars, not having to wear a super heavy backpack all the time... and never has a hotdog tasted so good : ) A memory we will never forget!