The evening parties are fun, too. We were sorry to have missed bingo and karaoke, but we were just too tired. Smuggs has a great website, with lots of details about all aspects of their resort, programs, ski conditions, and costs at Smuggs.com .

Quick Tips:

If you're a beginning skier, buy a Morse Mountain-only lift ticket and save money. The concierge desk in the main building has lots of area info - ask if they have a coupon behind the desk for a particular place you want to go. We went to the ECHO LEAHY aquarium, and they had a discount coupon in addition to the flier that was on display. Try the area restaurants: 158 Main, Jana's, and Stella Notte were all good. Go to Stowe or Burlington for shopping.

Best Way To Get Around:

We did several of the planned family activities, including the Welcome Party (kid-friendly dancing, hors d’oeurves, and resort giveaways - we won a mascot teddy bear), the Luau-themed night at the FUN ZONE (good for all ages), and nighttime tubing on the snowboarding hill. There were also adult-only evening activities like comedy night and music, but we opted out and went to bed exhausted from the daytime fun each night.

New this year is an optional $150 RCI guest activities fee allowing unlimited use of the FUN Zone; pools; planned activities; and discounts on childcare, ski camps, lift tickets and rentals, and the ski shop. For us, the ski and camp discounts for both kids just about made us break even (full-day camp is $95 per child; rentals are extra, but lunch is included). We added the Familyfest program option onto the 6-year-old's camp to cover rentals.

There are quite a few restaurants on site but nothing stellar, though we admittedly didn't try the more upscale one. We ate dinner twice at the Morse Mountain Grille (mediocre, but family-friendly and convenient). Breakfasts at the grille were much better – a buffet breakfast for adults was $8. Offsite and across the street was a wonderful Italian restaurant, Stella Notte, and in Jeffersonville (5 miles away) we also had several great meals at 158 Main and Jana's. One night we drove into Stowe for a fondue feast, but it took 45 minutes to get there in the winter, when the mountain road connecting Stowe and Smuggler’s is closed.

The condo itself was in the Sycamores units on the West Hill, which is not walkable from the main resort area, but we had a car (it was about a 3-minute drive) and the free shuttle was great, too. We were disappointed by the number of indoor stairs to go up, down, and around to get to our room (we were later told that our building was the only one setup that way, on a hill). But the unit was great: roomy living space, lots of TVs (evenone facing the bathroom Jacuzzi), VCRs, a fully equipped kitchen with a microwave, dishwasher, and washer and dryer. We arranged ahead for a highchair - they had cribs and boosters available, too.

The downside: You can only go through RCI once every 4 years.

• Unit Type: 2 Bedroom
• Activities: Excellent
• Amenities: Excellent
• Unit Satisfaction: Excellent
• Family Friendliness: Excellent
• Service: Excellent

Two nights later, we returned for the aforementioned dinner. We go there just as a party of several dozen people was being seated. To the credit of the wait staff, they made sure our order went in promptly and we experienced no delay whatsoever. My husband ordered a spicy Japanese-influenced soba noodle and meat dish that he liked very much, and I ordered a crusted fish dish that came with the most delicious sauce (I can't remember the details). Our toddler got a plate of creamy homemade macaroni and cheese that was so good that we all nibbled at it. We got more take-out maple creme brulees for dessert (even at family-friendly restaurants, which this was, complete with available toys to play with, a several course dinner is sometimes too much to ask of a little one, so we often choose to eat dessert later).

158 Main is open for three meals a day, so we decided to have a breakfast there before our trip was over. The breakfast menu was so large and varied that it was difficult to decide, but eventually my husband settled on eggs Florentine, and I got a skillet dish with eggs, hash browns, sausage, cheese, and veggies. We also shared a side order of pancakes. Apart from having too much food (which we expected and happily took home in a doggie bag), everything was great! 158 Main focuses on fresh, local ingredients, and the quality and taste shows through. Most dinner entrées are in the $12 to $18 range, and breakfast entrées were between $5 and $10.

A chalkboard hanging over the bakery listed a few evening events, such as a coffeehouse and musical guests upstairs on certain evenings, but none were listed for the slightly off-season week that we were there.

The menu has a range of burgers, sandwiches, and local specialties as well as the more creative entrées. Desserts are homemade, and I was tempted to try the Sugar on Snow (frozen maple syrup candied over ice), but the kids were too restless - we'll have to try desserts on another trip. They have an ice-cream parlor counter on one side of the restaurant, but I think it probably does more summer business. It was pretty quiet in December.

We ate several dinners at the grill, with more disappointing results. The menu choices seemed interesting, but the food was bland and in some cases tasted pre-packaged. The French onion soup was okay, but it was topped with mozzarella cheese instead of gruyere, with soggy bread in it. One night, I ordered a grilled maple-marinated flank steak with frizzled onions (not really a bargain at $16.95). It came dry, overcooked, chewy, flavorless, and without the onions. The waitress seemed surprised--she said it was a house favorite (though some staff was new), and she offered to bring me something instead. I re-ordered, and my burger came well-done instead of medium-rare (plus, it was obvoiously a pre-made frozen patty). I decided to just eat the mashed potatoes and mashed cauliflower side dishes (both good) and call it a night, since the kids had long since finished their meals. Another night, I had a very uninspired, dry shepherd's pie (my 3-year-old liked it, since it was basically bland, crumbled, chopped meat, canned corn niblets, and mashed potato).

The kids meals are the usual--hot dog, burger, nuggets, grilled cheese, pasta in butter or red sauce, etc. They do offer a nice choice of sides for the kids--smiley face fries, applesauce, veggies, fruit salad, roasted apples, and a few others, but you can only choose one--just try to convince a toddler to pick fruit or a veggie INSTEAD of smiley fries. Desserts come with the kids meal--a white chocolate-coated Rice Krispie treat or a "cup of dirt" (canned chocolate pudding with crushed oreos).

If you like beer or something with a bit of kick to it after skiing, it sounded like the bar had a wide range of offerings, including local beer on tap, but that's not really our speed, so we didn't partake.

The check-in desk at Smuggler's Notch has brochures, maps, and if you ask them to look for them, discount coupons for ECHO behind the counter ($1 off per admission).

Check out ECHO Leahy Center Vermont .

We found the facility to be just wonderful--very clean and up-to-date (think radiant floor heating for little feet, tiny sinks and toilets, and one-way mirror viewing for nervous parents like me). Each child had a cubby where they could leave things for subsequent days like snow pants, diapers, wipes, extra clothes, etc. The staff was very friendly. Our daughter went for their brand-new Little Rascals on Skis program, and she had the same caregiver all week (whom she adored, by the way). They serve lunch, snacks, do diapers, have naptime, and of course, have all sorts of puzzles, games, stuffed animals, and playtime choices. In the ski program, they also take 2 1/2- to 3-year-olds outside and get them used to equipment and beginning ski techniques. It's a cumulative 5-day learning program. On day one, they try on boots and stomp around a bit. By day 5, some are actually being pulled around on a tow on skis. Our daughter, however, said the boots felt funny and the goggles hurt her nose, so she liked to be inside more. The staff was very nice about it and didn't push her. She just took it at her own pace. We were concerned she'd only last a few hours, but she wanted to go back all day, every day, for the whole week. The costs are $95 per day for the ski program or $66 per day for regular childcare, and $25 for the kids'-night-out programs, which run from 6 to 10pm. There is a discount on all Treasures rates if you purchase the RCI activities pass at check-in.