First Ski Day

Today was our first day of skiing. I had a private group lesson with the oldest three kids at Arapahoe Basin. We found out a year or so ago that it was cheaper to do a group lesson with the kiddos than giving them regular half day lessons, since the three of them are all at about the same level. I'm at about the same level as they are, so I decided to tag along this year since it's the same price up to four people.

We had an instructor named David that we liked. Unfortunately, Alex wasn't feeling well from the congestion and from the altitude, so he went to the lodge to rest after about an hour and a half (out of a three hour lesson). The rest of us kept skiing and then went up to the Black Mountain Lodge for lunch. Patrick stayed at the base of the mountain with Eric. Alex ended up going home with Grandma and Grandpa.

Natalie did everything David said to do as far as technique, but she really has to control her speed a lot more. She's definitely more comfortable on the slopes than the rest of us, though. She also chatted with David a lot more than the rest of us. Poor guy.

After a nice lunch of salmon for Anthony, chicken tenders for Natalie, and chili for me, we had a little scare. Anthony couldn't find his skis. We thought that someone had taken them. That meant that he wouldn't have a way to get down the mountain. We talked with one of the managers and she could only tell us that this happens all the time. She suggested that we stay on the lookout for whoever took the skis to return them. Luckily, when Anthony looked again more closely, he found his skis.

Eric also had his very first day ever of skiing. Patrick mostly took video so he really only got a couple of photos. He may not look happy in this photo but every time the other kids and I saw him in the ski lesson area, he had a big smile on his face. Patrick said his instructor told him that Eric had the best smile. He enjoyed himself so much. When he talked about his day, he talked about how the skis moved by themselves. He did fall a few times, but he always got right back up, with a smile on his face, and went about what he was supposed to do. He didn't go up any hills, and we don't expect him to even tomorrow. What's important is that he is enjoying himself immensely.

Tomorrow Eric said he was going to go to the red flag instead of the orange flag. In other words, he will be in the next class. We signed him up for another lesson tomorrow. The other kids and I signed up for another group private lesson with the same instructor we had today. We're pretty exhausted after today, but tomorrow should be another fun day.