Today was our first day of skiing. Arapahoe Basin doesn't offer reservations for ski rentals so we got there early, around 8:30AM. It was good thing too, because while we were finishing up our rentals, lots of people arrived and Patrick later heard them say that they ran out of equipment to rent. We bought Anthony, Alex, and Natalie a group "private" lesson because they are all around the same level and the cost was a little cheaper than the regular group lessons. They did that from 10AM to noon. Patrick and I went skiing for about an hour before I decided I was exhausted and went to the mountain lodge to rest and wait for my sister and her daughter to arrive. Patrick is a much better and faster skier than I am, so he went up the mountain for more skiing.
My sister M and niece E arrived around 11:30ish. E took her first ski lessons yesterday, and M took a refresher lesson since it's been something like 10 years since she has gone skiing. They bought lift tickets for the beginner lift because they had the "magic carpet" lift and E had never been on a regular lift before. E was very hesitant and kept sitting down instead of trying to stop while doing down the very short beginner run. By the second run, I knew that she was done. She would not even try to get up once she fell. I had to physically turn her skis and pull her up. M was of limited help because she wasn't that confident in her skiing either, but she finally took her skis off so she could help E down. Finally, E just sat at the bottom sulking and eventually playing with the piled up snow while I took M up the beginner hill a couple of times. She did well and might have been ready for the mountain, but we went back to the mountain lodge instead.
By the time we got back, the kids had finished their lesson and wanted to go skiing with Patrick and me. Grandma and Grandpa had also arrived with Eric and waited in the mountain lodge with M and E. Anthony and Alex both felt like they learned some new things during their lesson and relearned some old things as well. The instructor told Patrick that Natalie had some problems with "control". She apparently did not turn enough and kept speeding up. We tried the reinforce skiing under control when we went up the mountain with them. After one run, she was ready to go in again, while Patrick went back up with the boys for one more run.
We were all pretty tired after skiing, but Natalie and Alex apparently had not had enough of the snow. They immediately went outside to play in the backyard. Eventually, Eric and Anthony joined them, as did E when she got back from their hotel. I took a nap! I found that walking back and forth from the beginner lift to the mountain lodge while carrying my skis was much more exhausting then the actual skiing. I woke up when Patrick brought Eric into our room after his bath. Eric played hard, apparently, and even threw a snowball that hit Anthony. Anthony responded by inadvertently getting snow in his baby brother's snowsuit. Patrick said he took some pictures and video, so hopefully I'll have some pictures to post here later.
Tomorrow we're going to relax and "sleep in". Eric actually asked to go to bed tonight so that usually means he is exhausted. Natalie is spending the night at M and E's hotel. We'll see what time people actually get up tomorrow.
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