Skiing

Last year we rented skis for the girls and just had them go down the snow piles at the farm. This year Sofia was old enough for a lesson so we took the kids to the mountain. We decided to go to King Pine. We had never been there before but in an effort to save money we gave it a try. It was perfect for Sofia's lesson. The resort offered a 1 and 1/2 hour ski lessons with a lift ticket and rentals for $37. This is almost half the price of other mountains close by and they were great with Sofia. She immediately started talking to another little girl in the lesson and before I knew it she was shuffling off in her skiis. I had to call her back to start the lesson. The teachers sent the kids up the magic carpet and had them come down the small slope. Sofia did this over and over again without stopping. I couldn't believe it when she actually snowplowed to a stop! She did a great job and was exhausted after one hour so we called it a day. Ali also did a great job although not in a lesson since she is too young. Ali enjoyed starting at the top of the hill and going as fast as possible down the hill into Jason's arms. I can just envision her giving me heart attacks when she is older whipping down the mountain. We gave the girls the next day off from skiing and then headed out to Shawnee Peak the following day. Shawnee Peak is another ski mountain close to the farm. We decided to skip the lessons and just let the girls goof around. We went up the magic carpet first. Sofia again did great going up and down this area. We realized that Ali just doesn't have the leg strength to make a snow plow yet and decided to just let her ski between our legs. We wanted her to have fun since we want the girls to love skiing like we do. After a little while on the magic carpet the girls asked to go on the lift. With their enthusiasm at a high we headed over to the lift. We helped them on/off the lift but they still had to do some of the work and they did great. I thought for sure Ali would fall getting off the lift but she didn't. I held ali between my legs for the trip down the mountain but Sofia did it all by herself. She had a lot of fun and while Ali was too tired for another trip of the lift, Sofia and Jason went for another turn. I'm glad they had so much fun. Jason and I had a lot of fun skiing with the girls and we also had a lot of fun skiing by ourselves. Thanks to Jason's mom and step-dad we got two days and one night of skiing in without the kids. It was a blast! I am looking forward to next winter and skiing here in the Czech Republic or Germany or Austria...maybe even all three!! Here is a video of Sofia's first ski lesson.