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Hey there, Daddy's 2nd blog post:
Last weekend, I took Abby up to Timberline for her inaugural ski trip. A couple weeks ago when Dani mentioned her friend Crissy was taking her daughter, Maddy, up skiing we started talking about taking Abby up. It dawned on me that I haven't been skiing in...I have no idea how long, and I missed it, but even more, it would be so much fun to show Abby how great it is.
We went and rented her ski equipment on Saturday afternoon and she was beside herself excited. I couldn't believe how small everything looked! So cute!
Sunday morning, we left early, had McD's breakfast in the car and met up with Maddy and Crissy in Sandy before driving the rest of the way up to Timberline together. On the drive up I thought it was important to make sure she understood that skiing took a lot of practice and part of learning was falling down. I knew if I didn't get that seed planted, I'd be in for a long day... :)
When we got there, we got our tickets, put our lunches away in the locker and then headed out. Luckily, the beginner hill was only about 30 yards from the ticket counter. Once we got pictures taken, I tackled the first challenge of teaching Abby how to get clipped into her skis. After a couple practice runs and a few fall downs, she got all clipped in and then we worked on the "A" or "Pizza Slice" or "Snowplow" stance, which she mastered pretty quick. Then we slipped and slid over to the beginner hill.
I was impressed there was an actual chair lift to take us the 100 yards up the hill to the top...this is clearly not the rope pull bunny hill I learned on! :) Anyway, the first run down I had her in front of me, in full snow plow position while she just tried to figure out how to keep her feet from sliding all over the place. She picked it up pretty quick. She also picked up the chair lift pretty quick - tips up at the top... :)
About the 3rd or 4th run down the hill, she decided she'd gotten the hang of it and wanted to try it herself...so that is this series of pics above. She started side ways, got the skis around, slid down the hill about 10 or 15 feet and ended up on her back. But I was proud that she 1) wanted to try it herself already, 2) wasn't afraid, and 3) didn't mind the falling down part...she wanted right back up to try it again! That's my girl! :)
After about 6 or 7 runs, it was time to break for lunch and then head back out. In the afternoon we tried more runs with her beside me, holding her hand rather than her in front of me holding her waist. Her balance had improved a lot and she was actually staying up for most of the run while standing next to me! I was so excited. On one of our last runs, we had actually made it about 3/4 or more down the hill before she fell and as I picked her up she said "That was awesome, Dad!" I couldn't have asked for anything more in that moment or from the day. She had been a trooper, she tried hard and she was doing really well and she knew it!
Maddy and Abby decided to finish up the day with some snow angels and rolls down the hill. We had a fantastic day, and Abby said we could go back up "every snow day!" Hopefully she doesn't find out for awhile that every day in the winter is a snow day up on the mountain! :)
I can't wait to go do this again with her. I want to try and keep this momentum going and hopefully teach her a skill that she can use for the rest of her life. Until next time...
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