In just a little over a week, the boys will begin five weeks of ski lessons. Oliver has been fired up since the snow melted last spring. Kellan has been saying that he doesn't like skiing since the snow melted. Our goal was to get the boys warmed up, especially Kellan, prior to lessons beginning.
It was a gorgeous Colorado day. The snow storm had just gone through the mountains, dumping plenty of white stuff. Another storm was on it's way, but on Christmas Eve, there was nothing but sunshine and blue skies. It was perfect.
Kellan had already hit it off better than last year with a quicker pace of walking to the lift. However, Keith was feeling kind and gave him a lift on his snowboard sled.
Oliver was fired up and couldn't wait to strap his skis on. The anticipation almost killed him.
By the time we got to the mountain, all four of us were excited to be skiing, even Kellan.
On the lift, we were so excited to be there and ready to take on the mountain.
It was such a gorgeous day.
Once we got off the lift, everything change. Kellan screamed bloody murder. You would have thought that we were chopping his leg off, or about to make him ski down a slight slope. He was frozen with fear.
Typically I ski with Kellan (or Oliver when he was learning) to teach them the ropes. Due to some pins in his ankle, Keith can't wear ski boots so he snowboards. It is really tough to teach kids to ski when you're on a snowboard, so that duty typically falls to this skiing Mama. Knowing this, Keth insisted that Oliver and I take a run while he hung back with Kellan.
Oliver and I were off and running!
It was like riding a bike, easy peezy. He's even tall enough for poles this year, which is a huge highlight.
After a quick run, we headed back up the lift. Keith and Kellan were nowhere in sight. Thankful for cell phones, I called Keith and found out that he and Kellan had made it to the warming hut just down the hill. This is where we found them.
It wasn't as easy as it sounded. Kellan screamed his head off the entire ride to the warming hut. He was happy to be off of his skis and in the warming hut.
On the lift, Oliver had said he wanted to ski a black diamond. I explained that black diamonds were quite tough and today was a warm up with greens and blues. We mapped out a route and let Daddy know the pan.
Kellan was very interested in the map as well as the shortest route to lunch.
Keith and Oliver headed out for some more skiing while Kellan and I aimed for the lodge. It took A-LOT of coaxing to get him to put his skis back on.
Our conversation:
Mommy: "I won't let you fall or crash, do you trust me?"
Kellan: "No."
Mommy: "Do you believe me?"
Kellan: "No."
Well... clearly this wasn't going to be easy.
Eventually, I got him on his skis, between my skis and we were headed down the mountain.
It only took a few minutes for him to claim, "this is fun, Mommy."
At the end of the run, Mommy's legs were burning and I was sweating up a storm, but we were off of the mountain and Kellan said that it was so much fun that he wanted to do it again.
Lunch Time!
After a bit, Oliver and Daddy joined us. Daddy looked as tired as I was, which was confusing since Oliver can ski on his own. Then.... the story came out. Oliver had skied his FIRST black diamond run! He insisted on going down and headed that way. He went straight for a black diamond that was covered in bumps, it was a LONG ride down. Every few bumps, Oliver would crash and Daddy would have to help him up. It was exhausting. Half way down, Daddy noticed a cut over to a blue run and they headed that way. Oliver wanted to finish out the black diamond, but he lost that debate.
On one hand, we are VERY proud of his ambition and thrill for skiing. On the other hand, we know that the black diamond story could have ended very differently. This is going to be a huge year of growth for Oliver's skiing and we are super excited.
We knew that we were on a high note and both kids were fired up about skiing, which was the goal. After lunch, it was nearly 2:00, our desired departure time. We opted to leave on a high note and head for home.
On the way out, I noticed this great sign:
Welcome to WP 2014-2015 Season!
It's going to be a great season!!
It was a great day!!
We are so thankful to have this holiday week to spend so much fun time together.
We are thankful that we have our little Ham Fam and we are all healthy and happy.
We are thankful that we live in such an amazing place that we can live the life that we do.
We are thankful to have another Christmas season which brings about reflexion and gratitude.
No comments:
Post a Comment