Ski Season

Kellen on his snowboard

Evan on his skis

Wu Yi's first run on the bunny hill

Evan and Wu Yi taking a break

Daniel giving Wu Yi some pointers

We are definitely a skiing family!  Don has been a ski instructor for over 15 years.  Daniel got his first job this winter as a Jr ski instructor.  All three of the boys were on skis at the age of 3.  I started skiing as an adult. I'm not a bad skier, but not really a good one either.  Don gets the credit for our kids loving the mountain and I love watching them get better each year.  Daniel started outskiing me about 3 years ago.  Kellen and I were evenly matched about that same time, and then he switched to snowboarding.  I'm sure Evan will be hot on my tail this year!

Wu Yi saw the occasional snowfall in China.  It was never more than an inch or two, and it was never meant to play in. 

When she first landed in the US, 9 1/2 months ago, there was alot of snow on the ground.  I don't know if she was excited by it or not.  She was a pretty unhappy girl at the time ~ she had alot of other things on her mind, I'm quite sure.  By the time she started to come out of her shell, the snow had melted for the season.

One thing Wu Yi spends hours doing is looking at our family photo albums.  She pours over every photo and wants to know every story.  She reminds me of things we did years ago that I have a hard time even remembering.  She is learning our history this way and I think she really wants to have every experience that she missed out on. This is how she learned that snow really IS meant for playing in.

Before fall was over, she started talking about playing in snow.  She wanted to make a snowman, a snow angel, ride on a sled, wear new snow boots (she tried to throw her old red ones away ~ AAAGGGHHH!), have a snowball fight, and go skiing.  I took her to the ski swap and bought her some new pink skis.  (This was a first.  Don usually takes care of all the skiing equipment and the boys have never had anything new.  Despite this, she was still rather indignant that she was getting boots that were handed down from Evan ~ they were PURPLE and WHITE.  I mean, poor Evan!)  She was also unhappy to not get ski "sticks" (poles).  Had to explain to her that she had to learn to move without them first.

We headed up to the mountain for Don and Daniel to do some orientation for their jobs.  We really didn't plan to take WuYi out to ski until Don could go with her (he was recovering from surgery and wasn't ready to put skis on).  We took her skis up anyway and as soon as she saw the other skiiers, she was ready to try it!  Schweitzer has whats called a "magic carpet" which is a gentle slope on the top of the bunny hill that has a carpet escalator that takes kids slowly back to the top.  (Much less scary than the chair lift).  Don walked along with her as she skied down the slope and then rode back up.  She was a little nervous and uncomfortable and at the end of the first run she asked to go in the lodge.  Don encouraged her to do "two more runs"  (each run took about 10 minutes).  By the time she finished the 2nd run, she asked Don if she could do "nine more runs"!  He was amazed by how coordinated, strong, and competitive she is. I can't believe we got a daughter that loves to camp and ski as much as we do!  How cool is that!

The next day she wanted to ski the entire bunny hill.  Don was working and I hadn't taken my skis up.  Another friend of ours offered to take her, but Wu Yi really wanted me to go.  (And, of course, I didn't want to miss it!)  I coached her a bit on turning and stopping and then enlisted Evan to take the lead.  The two of them skied while I hiked down behind them in my snow boots.  She got a little nervous on some of the steeper sections and when people skied by her too closely, but she was really determined to do it and only wrecked once or twice.  (They weren't really too bad ~ mostly  "sit downs").  I was nervous about getting on the chair lift with her.  Despite the fact that I consider myself an outgoing and adventurous person, I have a tiny fear of heights.  I'm okay being responsible for myself on the lift, but I freak out a little bit if the person next to me needs any kind of help.  The lift operator was very helpful getting her on, and I protectively put my ski pole across her lap.  She gave me a dirty look and said "why are you doing that?"  (I guess she must have noticed that no other kids' moms were doing that).  Anyway, as soon as we were in the air, she started giggling hysterically and saying "I'm flying!  I'm flying!".  No fear at all!  She skied a few more runs and was tired but very happy by the end of the day.