Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Snowbunnies

We went skiing for the third time yesterday, and gosh, was it ever beautiful.  We had gotten fresh snow the day before (over 20" of fresh powder up in the mountains) but the clouds had cleared away and it was this sunny day of blue skies and all this fluffy white gorgeousness, both in the clouds and on the ground.  I really wish I was better at skiing so I could somehow manage to take some pictures with my phone or something, but navigating around still takes all of my concentration and I don't think I can take pictures at the same time, much to your loss, I am sad to say.  I still am spending my time on the bunny slope, which I now can ski down without looking too ridiculous or falling down.  I tried an actual green slope yesterday with Rob, and I reverted to ridiculousness and fell down three times trying to get back down to the bottom.  I am not sure how many weeks of skiing I have left in me this season.  Either my ski pants are just going to get too uncomfortable, or my balance is going to be compromised too much for me to manage it anymore.  We'll see which happens first.  Supposedly in most years you can ski in Utah well into May or even June but I'm not sure how many more times I'm going to make it up there.

Yesterday was enormously beautiful, but it was also insanely busy up there.  It was a holiday and long weekend for some people, and a fresh powder day, and this month is apparently the peak of the ski season here, and you should have seen the traffic getting up the mountain.  It took us an hour to drive up there when it usually takes 30 minutes and our day started with stress over missing the beginning of Grace's lesson (her first one!) and sitting in terrible traffic in the midst of NATURE and so forth.  Things worked out as far as Grace's lesson and all our other plans, but wow, there were a lot of people.

This was Grace's very first time up there with us, as she couldn't start the group lessons until after her fifth birthday.  She went through several phases while there.  First, excitement at finally getting to ski after hearing us and many of her friends talking about it since November.  Then, panic and saying that she didn't like skiing after discovering that it is kind of hard and you have to work at learning it and falling down is scary.  (At one point, she was standing facing a tree refusing to make eye contact with her teacher and crying about how she wanted to stop.)  And finally, after some convincing, perseverance tempered by barely-controlled panic as she started to get the hang of it and did actual ski down the bunny slope.  She is not a fearless shredder but at the end of it all she said she liked it and I think she will do well.

Violet came up with us this time as well and we put her in the childcare at the ski resort.  She seemed to have fun but she would have much rather come skiing with us.  She desperately, desperately wants to ski.  We have had utter freakouts about Grace's skis, which Violet wants to play with and drag around and have as her very own.  If she sees any skis at all, she declares, "I NEED SKIS!" and tries to run over and grab them or catapult herself out of my arms toward them.  We're going to have to come up with some other skiing plan for her that doesn't involve waiting until she's five for group lessons.  Unfortunately, neither Rob nor I are skilled enough to really teach a toddler/preschooler to ski, so we're going to have to pony up for private lessons or bribe a friend or something.  Because she NEEDS SKIS.

Violet is just full of hilariousness right now, come to think of it.  She has somehow confused our front doormat (which is about as clean as you would expect after being our doormat for the better part of a year) for a blanket and likes to take it and spread it over herself or others if anyone happens to be laying on the couch.  She announces herself to be "REALLY HUNGRY!" or "REALLY TIRED!" or, most commonly, "REALLY STUCK!"  Toys or objects are also often "REALLY STUCK!" Gosh, she has somehow developed a voracious appetite all of the sudden, being "REALLY HUNGRY!", as stated before, and also often proclaiming "I NEED FOOD!" or "I NEED SNACKS!"  And yes, she does always speak with exclamation points. It's just how two-year-olds roll.

5 comments:

amydove said...

Maybe you can just get her some skis and let her toddle around on them without going down hills or anything. Kudos to you all - I find skiing to be way too much exercise for a leisure activity. (Maybe I've said that already? I forget.)

Carlie said...

I am just beginning skiing myself! Hang in there! It's a great thing to do together. We have Ru learning and Dee is desperate to go too.

Eva said...

My German teacher claimed that he learned to ski right after learning to walk. I guess it's possible.

Amy B said...

I use way too many exclamations points when I write. Seriously, after I finish a blog post, I go back through it and delete tons of exclamations points. Apparently that's how I roll online. ;)

On an unrelated note: I gave you an award on my blog! It's just a silly, fun thing, so don't feel like you need to participate if it's not how YOU roll! :D

Sharon said...

Traffic to the mountains on weekends is terrible here, too. There's only one main corridor to the bulk of the resorts. Luckily, there is a resort north of us, off the beaten track. But I don't know what kind of lessons they offer. The resort we were at this week offers lessons for kids as young as three. Maybe you'll find something for poor Violet. It's so hard to be small sometimes.