The boys were out of school for a few days so we decided to take a ski trip to Red River. I love to ski. I used to go skiing at least once a year but since children....not so much. The last time that I really went skiing was when Chase was a baby! I went skiing when Chase was 5 but I never made it off of the bunny slope - that really doesn't count as skiing. We skied with Chase that day and we were going to ski by ourselves the next day but we had to leave because there was a blizzard coming. This trip, we decided to take Chase and Dylan with us and leave Cade and Nate at the grandparents. Cade really wanted to go skiing but we knew that he was not ready. I don't want him to have a bad experience and then hate it forever. Dylan was hesitant to go, but he LOVED it! The boys had a great time. They both did very well with only one minor catastrophe which is described below. Mark and I really enjoyed having a day together (the boys went to ski school the first day). The mountain was not crowded at all. The snow wasn't great, but we still had a fantastic time. It really was a lot of fun.
Here is Chase with Jenise. This is the first time that he ever went skiing. He was 5.
My boys ready to ski. Notice how Chase is holding his jacket. Even though it was supremely cold, he refused to wear it. It wouldn't be cool.
Dylan is under there somewhere.
Ready for the catastrophe story? Chase and Dylan were doing great on the bunny slope so we decided to take them on the beginner slope. I rode with Chase on the way up and discussed with him how this hill was not like the bunny slope. I talked about how it was steeper and he needed to make big turns all over the mountain. This is what Chase must have heard, "I am so good at this that I don't need to listen to what my mom is telling me. I have this skiing thing down." So, we are at the top of the mountain and Mark is starting to take Dylan down when Chase decides to take off. Does he do what we had talked about? Oh no! He points his skis down and takes off. He very quickly is out-of-control and zipping, flying, streaking down the hill. It was truly terrifying to watch your child in danger and not be able to do anything about it. He is almost to the bottom of the hill when the ski patrol starts running at him and yelling at him to fall down. He finally falls down and is not injured. He came very close to running into the chair lift line. The ski patrol guys were firm but kind. It was scary. He was spooked and did not want to ski anymore. I made him immediately go back up because I wanted him to know that he could do it. He did fine the next time but he was still spooked. (By the way, don't mention it to him because it still upsets him). We went back to the bunny slope for a while. By the end of the day, he was doing great on the bigger slope. Dylan skied so well. He did so much better than I ever thought he would. The best thing, the boys loved skiing and cannot wait until we can go again.
It is hard to ski when you lose your ski
Isn't he cute!
So happy!
Here is Chase with Jenise. This is the first time that he ever went skiing. He was 5.
My boys ready to ski. Notice how Chase is holding his jacket. Even though it was supremely cold, he refused to wear it. It wouldn't be cool.
Dylan is under there somewhere.
Ready for the catastrophe story? Chase and Dylan were doing great on the bunny slope so we decided to take them on the beginner slope. I rode with Chase on the way up and discussed with him how this hill was not like the bunny slope. I talked about how it was steeper and he needed to make big turns all over the mountain. This is what Chase must have heard, "I am so good at this that I don't need to listen to what my mom is telling me. I have this skiing thing down." So, we are at the top of the mountain and Mark is starting to take Dylan down when Chase decides to take off. Does he do what we had talked about? Oh no! He points his skis down and takes off. He very quickly is out-of-control and zipping, flying, streaking down the hill. It was truly terrifying to watch your child in danger and not be able to do anything about it. He is almost to the bottom of the hill when the ski patrol starts running at him and yelling at him to fall down. He finally falls down and is not injured. He came very close to running into the chair lift line. The ski patrol guys were firm but kind. It was scary. He was spooked and did not want to ski anymore. I made him immediately go back up because I wanted him to know that he could do it. He did fine the next time but he was still spooked. (By the way, don't mention it to him because it still upsets him). We went back to the bunny slope for a while. By the end of the day, he was doing great on the bigger slope. Dylan skied so well. He did so much better than I ever thought he would. The best thing, the boys loved skiing and cannot wait until we can go again.
It is hard to ski when you lose your ski
Isn't he cute!
So happy!
Dylan following Daddy down the big hill. He did great!
