It also happened to be our first day skiing as a family. We had gone up before and the girls had lessons while E and I went off boarding ourselves, then I took the girls by myself once, and E and I went by ourselves once while the girls were in school. But yesterday was our only day getting out there, all four of us, and making a go of it.
And it was great. We were mentally prepared for it to be a big pain in the you-know-what, and to knock off after a run or two. Admittedly, we spent most of the day on the beginner's lift and run. Still, it was so fun to be doing something like that as a family. Everyone enjoyed themselves.
I'm still sort of amazed we pulled the whole thing off this season. We didn't go very much, though we went enough that the passes paid for themselves. But I'm most excited that we built the foundation for trying new things as a family. So maybe we won't be stuck at home looking at each other like dumb fools every winter weekend for the rest of our lives.
There was one little exciting moment. It was getting near the end of the day, and everyone was getting tired (it's waaaay more work to snowboard with little ones skiing, by the way. You have to balance on your edges for excruciatingly long times; hike up hills to help them if they fall; control your movements exquisitely; and pick their little hineys up off the slopes). But I wanted to go up the big lift with Addie before we left. She had never done it before and, in the weeks leading up to this trip, she swore she would never do it. EVER. Even she was getting a little bored with the beginner hill, though, and so after lunch, to my surprise, she enthusiastically embraced the idea of hitting the big lift before going back to the condo.
Getting on the lift: fine. Riding the long lift up: fine, uneventful, lovely. Getting off the lift: well.
Well.
She was such a pro at getting off the beginner lift. And I hadn't done the big lift with her before so I didn't quite know what to expect. She was all ready to get off. The lift was ready for her to get off. I was already off.
And she was not off. I was dismounting from the chair and had her hand and she just stayed on the chair. Not sure why, but she stayed on there. But I didn't let go of her, and the chair kept going, and she made the decision to jump off the chair, even though she was about four feet above the ground and gaining.
I was immediately sure she had broken her leg, because I'm calm and optimistic in a crisis.
She was fine. We skiied down. She kicked butt on the green/blue run, only fell twice, and was brave and in control.
My heart pounded for a few more days.
Luckily, there was a puzzle at the condo for us to work on to calm me down. It was the hardest puzzle I've ever seen. It had this note on top of it:
I like to help.
So we finished that puzzle.
We stayed up really late, and we both need chiropractic work now, but we finished that ever-lovin' puzzle.
Then, we saw the backside of the note.
Then, we lost the spare key to the condo.
We are really good guests.
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