The scale is right. Shirley Meadows is the Kern County Fair. Better yet, the school carnival. Easy starts with getting there. Zip up the canyon on Highway 178, hang a left at Lake Isabella and left at the road to Alta Sierra.
Skiing can be a big production with kids.
Some of the hardest work you'll ever do is bending over and snapping on ski boots. It's one of the few activities where you can simultaneously herniate yourself and explode the disc between the fourth and fifth lumbar. Thomas, let me do that. I'm a veteran of the boot and ski war. All you have to do is jam the toe down and then snap the heel in.