Skiing and Sleepovers

Over President's Day weekend, we went to Vermont for the annual Ingalls ski weekend.  My family gets together every year to ski together.  It was us, my dad, my 83-year-old grandfather, my Uncle Chris and his girlfriend Katie from California, and my Aunt Debbie, Tony, and Toni K from Connecticut.  It was great to have so much family together for such a fun weekend!

Mudgie and I had been talking about this weekend for few days, but he kept insisting that he did not want to take any lessons.  In fact, he would say (in a somewhat fresh tone), "Ski, ski, ski.  That's all you want me to do." I would try to explain that we think skiing is fun, and that he needs to take lessons so that he can do it safely and well and can come skiing up the big hills with us.  In the end, however, he convinced me that I could take him skiing instead of doing a lesson.  And you know what?  He was right!  I'm not sure that he learned anything from me that weekend, but we both had so much fun, and I think it will encourage him to keep skiing.  

We started out on the bunny slope on Saturday.  I let Mudgie go up the magic carpet in front of me, and then I skied in front of him, slowly down the hill, telling him which way to turn and when to stop.  He did really well, so the next run down, I put him in a harness that a friend had given me, attached some ropes to the back, and skied down behing him.  Again, he did really well, though every time a gave him a side to turn to, he'd go that way and then stop.  So the next time down, I told Mudgie we were going to try to go all the way down without stopping.  He loved going fast, and making his own decisions about which way to turn.  There were a few times that I even had to hold him back, but all in all, he did a great job.  And that is how we spent the rest of the morning.  On Sunday, we did 1 run on the bunny hill before moving on to the chair lift.  It was Mudgie's first green trail, and while he wasn't so keen on the lift (it was cold with 30-45mph winds, so no one was keen on the lifts that day), he loved skiing down the big mountain.  He loved it so much that I even got him to do it again, which is saying a lot because it was really cold!  It was honestly the most fun I've ever had skiing, and it was just down a dinky little green trail, but I was doing it with Mudgie and it was amazing.

Poor Aaron didn't get to ski that weekend, though he's not really a fan of the cold, so I don't think he was really disappointed.  It was just a fact of me only being to ski with 1 kid, and Mudgie not wanting to take lessons.  Instead, Aaron spent the morning with Dave at the house, playing outside and enjoying having Daddy all to himself.  On Monday, we all went sledding on the big hill behind the house, though Aaron didn't have much tolerance for the cold and wind, so we went inside early, but Mudgie had a blast sledding with Daddy and Aunt Debbie!

The next weekend, my Dad and Mary generously agreed to watch the boys overnight on Friday so that Dave and I could go out on a date.  It was the boys first sleepover without us (away from home).  I knew it would go just fine, and thankfully, I was right.  Grandma Mary spoiled the boys, just like grandparents are supposed to do, and filled them up with junk food and let them stay up super late.  They had a blast there!  Hopefully, Grandma and Grandpa felt the same way, because Dave and I really enjoyed the night out and sleeping in the next morning!