A Mini Ski Lesson

Technically this will be Bennett's third year on skis, but this will be the first year that he will actually ski.  At the mountain.  With an instructor.  I'm nervous.  He's rather moody.  And he gets tired of things quickly.  It may not be pretty...

So in an effort to get him a bit more acclimated to his skis, we took him three blocks away to Chapman Hill to practice on a beginner's slope.

the usual suspects

Callie used to be a giant "cheezzzee" ball but lately she's really had a dislike for the camera.  It's rare that I can capture a smile.  But she's sort of been continually cranky in real life too so maybe there's a theme there.

Callie and I did a little sledding while Bennett & Daddy headed up the hill for a ski lesson.

Brett made Bennett do two tiny runs and that was that.  Bennett was done with skiing for the day.  Our joyous day took a bit of a downward turn until we pulled out the hot chocolate and snacks.

And then we tried to sled a bit.  This hill wasn't technically suppose to be used for sledding but we got a few runs in.

is it wrong that i love this picture? hehehe

It was interesting to watch Bennett eye a bunch of rowdy boys that were running up a snow hill and sliding down with their tennis shoes.  He tried many many times to get up the slippery hill until he finally noticed that someone had dug in foot holds.  After he made it to the top, it was hard to get him away from this magical snow slide.

he just got the "two minutes until we leave" warning

All in all, I think it was a productive day.  In a small-person sort of way.  But I'm really glad our destination was three blocks from the house rather than the 25 minute drive to the mountain.  

It's a lot of work getting children ready to play in the snow.  I think I may need to add a flask of sanity to my snow jacket by the end of the winter.