Skiing

One of my favorite memories growing up was skiing together as a family.  I loved to ski.  My mom and dad taught us at a young age and took us every year up to the slopes.  In college I had an amazing job that allowed me to work in a ski shop, get ski gear for cheap, and have a season pass at Canyons.  While Lisa and I lived in Maryland, we really yearned for the mountains to go skiing.  The mountains were the biggest reason why we moved back west.

Now that our kids are getting older, I am really enjoying teaching them to ski.  I find a lot of joy and pleasure in watching them learn, improve, and begin to have fun with one of my passions.  We usually start our kids out at the age of 5.  We stick them in ski school for 2-3 days, until they can ski down the mountain on their own and turn without the aid of the ski clamps.

We just started Cole out this year, and so far he has been a champ.  He has been picking it up really quickly and has been enjoying it.  We went up as a family last Saturday to Brighton.  Well, all of us except Blake.  He had a one on one day with grandpa Calderwood that both enjoyed immensely.  The reason we go to Brighton and pass 4 ski resorts on our way there is because it is the cheapest, and because they have, in my opinion, the best ski school around.  It is less of a day care and more of a school.  We put Cole in ski school for the day, and Lisa and I hit the slopes with Tucker and Aubrey.  Aubrey struggled her first run out.  It was her first run of the year and her ski legs were quite rusty.  I sent Lisa and Tucker on ahead and I worked with her for a bit.  After a couple of runs, she had her swagger back and was rocking it down the mountain.

Tucker has been skiing for 4 years now and is getting really good.  He loves, loves, loves jumps and skiing through the trees.  Here are a couple of videos I took on the mountain.

The three amigos!

Tucker and I have matching outfits.

Last month when I went with Tucker and Cole the snowflakes that were falling were incredibly beautiful.  There were some that were perfect!

We try to make it especially fun for our kids and we usually get them some fun food at the lodge at lunch time.  We get them a hot chocolate and nachos.  Here is Tucker displaying his satisfaction with our nachos grande that are smothered in chili.

Me and my little ski bunny.

Lisa and Aubrey enjoying their hot chocolate during our lunch break.

Next year we will start Blake, and then our whole family will be skiing together on the mountain.  Having a winter hobby that we all love makes the winters go by quicker, helps us to love snow storms and all that magical white powder that falls, and gives us another fantastic outdoor activity to participate in as a family.  If anybody wants to meet up with us on the ski slopes, let us know.  We would love to go together.