Skiing the Rocky Mountains

We had a late Christmas celebration with Shawn’s family in Colorado at Shawn’s parents’ new home.  While there, we drove to Keystone and took the kids skiing for the first time.  We all participated in ski school on the first day.  Some highlights and lessons learned from this adventure together:

1. Altitude change is not for the faint of heart.  Anna, after reaching the top of the mountain, said she was having trouble breathing and felt dizzy.  After sitting down for a bit and getting some water, she was good as new.

2.  Abigail has the need for speed and has no fear.  Once she got away from Shawn and went barreling down the slope.  Our sweet ski instructor Justin glanced up and saw her, jumped in front of her, and, as a result, she plowed in to him, taking him down with her.  Of course, the boys were cheering about how awesome that looked!

3.  Cody and Anna proved themselves to be natural skiiers.  We decided to end the last day with a little more advanced ski slope.  Cody and Anna did awesome!  I wiped out on a steep slope.  My legs were all twisted, so I decided to take my skis off to get my legs corrected.  I could not get them back on, though, on such a steep slope.  After awhile of trying and phone calls from Shawn with advice, Shawn, somehow, hiked up the mountain to rescue me.  It was an exhausting hike, I know!  I was so grateful to see him, and I promised to make him his favorite dessert when we got home.  My hero!

4.  If in need of a ski instructor, just lay down and play possum.  While struggling so long to put my skis on, I can’t tell you how many times I wished for a ski instructor to come by and offer some assistance.  At one point, I did see a ski instructor come flying by me on a mission.  Turns out, he went to the bottom of the hill to check on Cody.  Cody was waiting so long for me, that he decided to just lay down and rest.  The Keystone employee saw him from the ski lift and hurried down to him, thinking he was injured.  He was perfectly fine; it was his mom that desperately needed help!

5.  You will experience a little post traumatic stress syndrome after an experience like that.  On the ride home, any sharp turn or downhill slant in the road, instinctively caused my feet to wedge quickly in the front seat, hoping to prevent any collision from occurring!

6.  Cody declared it the best day ever.  One, because he loved skiing.  Two, because he enjoyed watching his mom wipe out!  Ha, I am sure it did look pretty comical!

7.  Some of the best moments occurred on the drives back to the house.  One evening the moon was so full, shining between two peaks in the mountain.  It caused a little concert in the car, all of us singing the words to the song, “You are God Alone.”  The next night, we got to witness a falling star come down a little distance in front of our car.  Just little reminders of God’s power and existence in this great big world of His.  He is worthy of everything we can give.