Fun Mom Points

On Jay's day off on Friday, he took Seth and Sam up to our local ski mountain to teach them how to ski. He's done this before. Last year, he took them both once and the year before that, he took Seth once. With that kind of frequency, the boys haven't exactly become little ski demons.

He came home and declared the day a success. Seth managed to only fall off the chair life once (right at the beginning of the lift because he wasn't paying attention and his ski got caught in the snow) and Sam was skiing independently down the bunny hill by the end of the day. Following in his fun-parent footsteps, I decided to take Seth and Sam up to the mountain, myself, on their Monday holiday.

I don't know why exactly, but I almost always have a feeling of dread before doing something fun with kids. Isn't that bizarre? Even when I know something will be fun, I also know it'll require a lot of work and patience on my part. As soon as we got to the ski rental place on Monday morning, which was packed, I knew I had to decide to put on a happy face...no matter what.

I hate crowds and lines and being where everyone else is, so waiting in the half-hour line just to hand out our rental slip to a grouchy ski bum who would clearly rather be skiing than dealing with all of us needy non-ski owners, while Seth and Sam bemoaned the fact that it was taking so long, was a test on my resolve. Even when a toothless jerk cut in line in front of us, I held my tongue and kept my "hmmmph"ing out of earshot.

Things weren't looking better when we got to the slopes. The day offered $25 lift tickets due to a fundraiser and everyone and their cousin seemed to be there. We parked far away which made for a grueling walk to the lodge. At one point, I was carrying all three of our skis while simultaneously encouraging Sammy to keep walking. The original plan was to have Sam enroll in the advertised all day beginner lesson for $19, but when I went to sign him up and truthfully told them that he'd been skiing twice before in his life, they said he didn't qualify because the class was for "beginners" only which obviously mean first time skiers. I did argue with them, because I knew Seth was ready for going to the top of the mountain and Sam was not, but my arguments fell on deaf ears. My perspective, up to that point, is that the ski industry employs grouchy people.

Eventually, we made it to the bunny hill and everything that had bugged me up to that point was overshadowed by the joy I had skiing with my boys. They were so good! Seth charged down that bunny hill with his skis straight and without making a single turn. After watching him struggle in basketball the last few weeks, it was refreshing to watch him do something he so clearly enjoyed and felt confident doing. Sammy needed a few runs between my legs before he was ready for skiing solo doing his "pizza slice" but by the time we went back to the lodge for lunch, I knew we were ready to graduate from the bunny hill and onto some real runs.


Greasy food tastes even better when you've been skiing. These boys had me laughing all day.



We went non stop for three hours after lunch and not one of us wanted to stop when it was time. I barely saw Seth all day as he was always out of sight ahead of us and because once we started riding the double chairlift up, he had to ride on his own. Sam did scare me twice by almost falling off the chairlift because one ski got caught under his other one and I had to pull him back up and on the same ride, he forgot to unload when it was time and I had to pull him off. Those things happen in seconds, but they were the only times my heart leapt into my throat. Even when Seth or Sam fell, they were both able to get themselves back up without usually needing help from me and I know after a few more days of practice, they are only going to become more independent.



The best part of getting off the bunny hill was having a better view!

It's hard to take a self-portrait on a chairlift.


Seth was always in front of us. On the chairlift but even more so on the downhill part.


I made him wait at the top of a run so that I could get a picture of him. It was the only time of the day I was further down the mountain than him.

This little boy improved so much! He was jealous of Seth and my poles and liked to pretend he was holding his own.

My reward was listening to them chatter excitedly on the way home and when Jay told me how animated they were when telling him about their day. Plus, because I pretty much spent the day in a snowplow in front or behind Sam, and carried their skis to and from the van, I got a really good lower and upper body workout. Go fun mom!