The Boys' First Ski Day

Today was the day!!  We finally got the boys out skiing!!  I have been wanting them to learn, so I was so excited to finally start the process (key word: process!).  And what a perfect day!  After hardly having any snow, we got a storm last night that brought 5" of fresh snow.  We woke up, ate breakfast and drove the hour and a half to Wilmot Mountain.

I'm not going to lie, I was a little nervous when Miles started melting down the minute we stepped outside the rental shop because his boots were too heavy.  He laid on the ground crying, begging us to take them off and I could only imagine the long day we were going to have.  I mean, let's be honest...those boots are terrible.  Even I hate the feeling of them.  But after a few rides up the magic carpet and down the bunny hill, he was able to pull it together.   

Ryan and I knew we couldn't handle teaching the three of them on our own, so we enlisted the help of some friends.  The dads of two of Owen's best friends just happen to be past ski instructors.  They offered to help us teach the boys and we totally took them up on the offer. 

Owen got the hang of things real quick.  He's athletic, has good balance and above all is fearless which made for a terrifying combo.  It wasn't long before he was riding up the chairlift with his buddies, flying straight down the hill.  I was so proud of him and impressed with how quickly he caught on, but in order for me to feel better about him skiing, he needs to learn some control to keep himself (and others) safe.  

One of my favorite memories of the day was when Ryan and I were riding up the chairlift with Miles and Joe.  It was early on in the day before Owen had even had too much time to practice.  We looked at the hill below us and saw his friend Ronan bombing down the hill, closely followed by Owen.  I looked at Ryan and said, "Is that Ronan?....WAIT!  Is that Owen??"  I proceeded to scream off the chairlift "Owen, Pizza!!  Slow down!  PIZZA!!!" encouraging him to try to slow down and gain some control as he whizzed past beneath us.  He just looked up and waved at us and continued to fly down the hill.  By this time I was turned around backwards watching him speed down the hill, praying he didn't crash, and caught the two people on the chairlift behind us laughing at the whole spectacle.  I mean, I would totally be laughing too if I were them.  It was kind of a hilarious scene to watch!

Thankfully, for my blood pressure, Joe and Miles took things a little slower.  We only spent a few runs on the bunny hill before taking them up to a green run.  Because of the fresh snow the bunny hill was almost too slow for them to do anything, so we figured they'd learn more on a run with a little more of a slope to it.  

They were super excited to ride the chairlift...meanwhile I was internally freaking out riding with them.  It's SO high and I couldn't help worry about one of them falling off.  They're so small, the boots and skis are so heavy, the seats are slippery and there's hardly anything holding them back.  Crazy the things you never think about until you have kids of your own.  

Between Brian, Andy and I we took turns skiing down the hill with Joe and Miles.  More often than not they were either between our legs skiing with us, or occasionally I'd ski down backwards holding my poles out in front of me like a bar for Joe to grab on to.  That way he was still skiing on his own, but I was stopping him from gaining too much speed.  They each had little moments where they skied on their own, but overall they preferred having the stability of someone else to hold onto.

Can we pause for a quick moment to talk about how cute these little guys look in their ski attire??  It's honestly one of favorite things...little kids with skis.  So stinkin adorable!!

Brian had to leave early, and Andy wanted to get some runs in, so our last run down it was just Ryan and I with Miles and Joe.  Ryan had no choice but to help Joe down.  I know he was nervous, so I'm so proud of him!  He did such a great job helping him!  

After that Miles and Joe decided they had enough, so I caught up with Owen and got a few last runs in with him.  We even did a black diamond, which he was so proud of!  I'll give it to him, he may fly down the hill, but he's able to stay up and in control.  We'll work on adding some turns into his repertoire, but for his first day, he did an amazing job!

I'm so proud of these boys!! They not only did a great job, but they were good sports and had fun doing it.  I'm already looking forward to going again!