Skiing

Well, we're home. It was a lovely trip.

We skied all day Tuesday. It was pretty icy at first but conditions improved over the course of the day. But by afternoon, we were starting to see bare spots on the slopes. But it was still very fun and ski-able. Brody, Gracie and Ellas went to ski school and by the end of the day were skiing pretty well. Gracie was able to get on and off the lift by herself, ski down the blue run without falling and stop with no problems. Brody was able to come down the green run with minimal face plants. He doesn't snow plow. Nope, he turns. I was amazed.

At the end of Tuesday, we were sure that there would be no more skiing. The bare patches were too big. So we spent the evening recounting the day, moment by moment, laughing and acting it out. Chris and I very deliberately tried to teach the kids to be thankful for what we got and not grumpy cause we couldn't have more.

Wednesday we woke up late, ate a leisurely breakfast and decided to head over to Grandfather Mountain. Then the coolest thing happened: it started to snow. We spent part of the afternoon in Boone and by the time we got back to Beech everything looked like a winter wonderland. We drove straight to the slopes to check it out. Chris and Scott went to see about conditions and came back nearly frozen. It was horribly foggy with really strong winds and lots of ice. Oh yeah, and it was about 10 degrees with a windchill of below zero. So Beech was out. Instead, we went to App. Ski Mountain. They have much shorter runs but a buttload of snow making equipment. Great coverage, cheaper, not too crowded and warmer. It was 19 degrees. But the wind was still strong.

We went night skiing and had a blast! The best thing about it was the fact that it was so unexpected. We had no plans to ski anymore and then were able to. By the end of the night, Brody was skiing down the green by himself without falling. And he laughed the whole time. "Momma, look! I can go speed!" (That means fast.) Gracie went down the black with Brendan a couple of times and had a great time.

At one point, Bren was going to fly past me on the blue run. I could see him out of the corner of my eye. Just as he got even with me, the wind started blasting. It blew so hard that it almost brought us to a stop. We looked at each other and died laughing. It was like something out of a movie. Then the wind died down and off he flew.

As you can tell, we had a great time. I'd never skied in my life until Chris. He taught me how when we were just dating. It's so much fun. And to see my kids fly past me, waving, yelling "Hey Momma!" is somehow very gratifying. I'm not sure why.

And if I may brag just for a moment.... I'm the only one who never fell. There is a story about the slow-witted lift operator but that's for another time. Bren says I didn't fall because I only go about 2 mph. I told him that's not the point... the point is... I did not fall.

When I finally get a working keyboard, I'll post some pictures. Until then....