Skiing Adventures

 Skiing this year with these two has been so much fun!  Jack has made so much progress!  It was his first year skiing, and he is more cautious than James (which is ironic because he has broken his elbow twice), so it took more time, but he can now go down Little Cat all by himself, I am so proud of him!

 Jack getting a lesson from Erika

 These two being goofy

 James has been doing great this year as well!  He has mastered Little Cat, and when we would get off the lift he'd head down by himself then wait for us by the line for the lift.  He is fast!  He has gone down the next lift Becker, and gets turning great. 

 

 A good snow day, in December 2014

And his favorite this year: he got POLES!  This is a big step, because sometimes kids will worry more about their poles than their skiing, and then the skiing goes down hill (no pun intended, but that was pretty good)

 

 First time with poles!!! January 2015

One Saturday just James and I went, what a great ski buddy!

 On the way home we saw two moose!

A story from the last time we went: it was a Saturday and the first time that Nathan went with us.  We did two runs down Little Cat, both boys doing great.  We saw friends there, and all had a little one James' age, and they said they had gone up the gondola, and were able to take the easy road down.  So James and I went up and Nathan and Jack stayed and kept going up and down on Little Cat.  We got up that and we saw our neighbors.  James rides his bike to school with them, and they have a kindergartener.  I knew James could take the easy way down, I just wasn't confident in finding it, so I asked how their daughter gets down.  "Oh she just flies down" he told me.  I wasn't clear that I didn't know the way, and was becoming less confident that there even was a way.  But alas, we started out, and found the first part easily enough.  Then there was an "easy way" that crossed a run, but we were headed across and not down.  I told James to follow my tracks. When I turned he wasn't right behind me, but was still waiting,  and then I'm not sure how, but his skis got turned so he was facing uphill, and he started sliding backwards!  This part of the mountain was very, very steep!  I was yelling for him to just crash, and he ended up running into a kid (about 12yrs old), both lost their skis, and it was at the beginning of the terrain park part! I got down quickly (it wasn't far, just steep) and we got his skis and hiked back up to the "easy" part.  Well, that had rattled him, and even sliding a half an inch sent him into a meltdown and tears.  We were never going to get down the mountain at this rate.  We kept on, but he wasn't trying anymore, he was scared.  I stopped, and asked if he was scared, which he said yes.  I explained that Heavenly Father can help us when things are hard, and if we are scared, all we have to do is pray.  So on the middle of a slope we prayed that he wouldn't be scared anymore, that he would remember how to ski, that we would make it safe, and that we were grateful that he had been kept safe from the first misfortune.  I can say that has got to be one of the best parenting moments yet.  He did really well the rest of the way.  I would watch and he did wonderful turns, and we were making it down just fine.  Once we made it down we found Nathan and Jack right away sitting by the lodge.  They were done, and James had had enough skiing for the day too.  They both have come so far this year, but for the rest of this year James would like to stay on Little Cat and Becker.  He said next year he'll try the gondola again :)