While in Massanutten, we toyed with the idea of putting the girls in ski school. It is a five hour endeavor which made me nervous. After doing some research and talking to the folks that run the place, Alex and I decided to sign up Savannah and Lila. We waited until the morning of to register Adeline. Previously, she told us that she didn't want to do it. The morning of, she woke up and said she was going to ski. I had mentioned Adeline to the ski school director the day before and she was very thoughtful when placing Adeline in a group. I was very nervous but it became apparent that Adeline was going to put her best foot forward and give skiing a go. All three of my girls were successful on the mountain.
Ski school in Massanutten is an amazing process. The instructors begin by teaching the kids how to walk in snow with their ski boots. They progress to running, then walking with one ski and finally put both skis on. Next, they have to learn how to take off their skis and put them back on. After all this is mastered, they learn how to ski. They slowly glide down a gentle slope and make their way to magic carpet which carries them back up to the top. There is a snack and lunch. Its a good thing because five hours of learning how to ski has to tire every muscle!
After lunch, all three girls went up the mountain. It was tears-in-my-eyes, exciting. I was so proud of Savannah. She came down her first
run a little timid but got better each time. She was completely
independent by the end of the ski school. In fact, she loved skiing so
much that she kept going with Uncle Geoff after ski school and then went
with Alex the next night and skied from four to ten! By the time she
dragged her tired body off the mountain, she was flying down the
beginner slope, could turn in all directions and had graduated to
poles. Of all the sports, I never imagined skiing would be high on her list. Savannah picked it up quickly, rallied from some pretty hard falls and came down each run saying she wanted to go faster next time. The girl can ski!
Lila enjoyed her time on the mountain as well. I figured she would either love it or end up in tears due to exhaustion. Loved it is an understatement. Miss Lila looked confident and natural on the slopes. I have a hunch that she will be skiing for years to come. It just seemed like her element. Lila adored her very "snowboardish" type instructor. She called him, "My Ivan."
Lila was so confident on the mountain that she would ski down the beginner slope and spy us before she got to the bottom. Out came the smile and up went the waving hand. It was as if skiing down the hill took no concentration. Here is a clip of one of her runs (sorry about the loud parents in the background). There is another clip of her boarding the chairlift. Look for her cute waving hand.
Miss Adeline was a champ too. She navigated the snow with her big and heavy snow boots and eventually found her self sliding down the hill and taking the magic carpet back up all by herself. She never figured out how to turn or walk in skis but that didn't matter. Her instructor took Adeline's group on the chairlift and up the mountain anyway. Adeline put on her game face and went along with it all. I KNOW she was nervous. She held on to her instructor most of the way down the mountain. She fell down every two seconds in order to stop her forward momentum. Adeline isn't a big fan of operating outside of her control. Skiing down a mountain, albeit a very small one, is definitely outside of Adeline's control.
Right before the day was over, the director of the program, decided to help Adeline's group get back to the ski lodge. She told Adeline, in a nice and encouraging way, to stop falling down and ski all the way to the bottom. Miss "I fall down every two seconds" made it all the way without any falls. I am so proud of her.
And here she goes. . .
I am so proud of each of my girls. They worked hard and came off the mountain smiling. I think we might have to become one of those skiing families. Alex is taking Lila tomorrow!
