Ever since I got the idea of kids in my mind, I looked forward to skiing with them, one day.
Although I always had the rule of “don’t teach the ones you love,” I pictured that since I was a ski instructor, I could teach my kids to ski. (because of course I was different…) If you want the full account of their first time skiing click here. Needless to say it didn’t go well. Why, because I was the classic parent, teaching their kids to ski. My dad taught me how to ski…well, tried just as I have. So let me take a moment, and say to my dad thank you so much for trying to teach me how to ski, as well as thank you for putting me in lessons 13 years later after I had gotten over the fear that all the adults would fall on me ;-).
As a parent you find yourself wanting to enjoy the sport with the child. The child on the other hand, is for some reason cold, tired, and sick of falling down with larger than life shoes. Because I was so focused on success, every time my kids would complain I would find myself tensing up, seeing this dream going away, and I would just want to take their skis and throw them, throw them far away and tell the kids they can’t ski anymore… I didn’t throw them, I held composure and just pictured my dad throwing his ski pole uphill…on one of his first lessons, and having to walk up the hill and get it. (Dad I am not trying to embarrass you, just thank you again for a visual that helped me hold composure.) In the end, as a parent I am so caught up in getting my kids to ski a perfect parallel turn by the end of their first day, that I can’t stand it when they don’t try hard…The kids don’t know the fun on the other side of that pain…
By the end of the ‘08-‘09 season the kids had attempted to ski 3 times, in that I am sure there were lots of under the breath cussing, tears, crashes, and lastly vows that I would give up skiing to not have to go through this.
This year I had to approach it differently. I had to think back to my instructor days and not care if all we did was eat snow, talk about Mickey Mouse, and never put a ski on our feet. It would at least be in a wintery alpine setting shared with my little friends. So I took each kid out individually. Trying to focus not on how advanced we can get three kids, but having a blast with one.
Ayla was the first, and we went up to Alta, and I reveled in the fact that she was giddy on the rope tow (with me holding the rope and her between my legs..Something you can’t do with three for some reason). We got to the ski run that we would be playing on. We went down two times. After the second time she said “Can we make snow angels?”, Of Course! It was great. We made two exceptional snow angels. We then finished a couple more runs which she was able to pizza, and French fry, and had a smile the whole time.
We headed back to the car, where Ayla delighted in hot chocolate, and fruit snacks. At this point I regain the hope that I will one day have three little ski buddies to accompany Lace and me on great snow adventures…
Slow down I am getting ahead of myself, I still have two more.
After Ayla’s great success, Carter and Lilly were very anxious to go out. We recounted what happened last year, and they both said they would love to go together and they would work it out…
I gave in. I went with both Carter, and Lilly. 
We raced around the flat ground and reminded everyone how to ski, and I remembered how I should approach this with my success with Ayla. I stayed on the flat until the kids were the ones to suggest moving on. Carter suggested we hit Collin’s Face, the black diamond that comes off of the Collin’s lift, Lilly suggested the rope tow. Sorry Carter.
As we headed over to the rope tow, Lilly started whining about how hard it was. I went into instructor mode and was able to shrug it off with no temptation of ski throwing. Lilly went with me on the rope tow, and Carter went with an Alta employee. I forgot to tell the Alta employee we were going half way. So I had to drop off Lilly, and go get Carter. Carter and I skied down to Lilly.
I had to stick to my idea of one at a time, so I left Lilly at the bottom and went up with Carter. He did great! He was doing the pizza french fries, he was even turning. (had he practiced in our backyard??) 
So after a couple times with him I went with Lilly. She also was on it quick. She only had trouble getting off the rope tow. She would end up sliding into the powder, down the hill backwards. Again kept my cool, and all was well. After a couple times with Lilly she too was doing great.
I then had them go up on their own, and wait for me and we were able to play follow the leader, they could stay on the mountain on their own, and their was no whining on their part, or yelling on mine, it was wonderful.
After we had learned for some time, I wanted them to have fun so I told them to go up and come down and show me their stuff. They both headed right up to the top and had a blast coming down.
After some great runs we headed down to the car, enjoyed a Reese’s peanut butter cup, and some hot chocolate. We then enjoyed what I enjoy most of the ski day, the conversations afterwards. “Dad did you see me do this”, and “Lilly you were awesome when you did this, and that.” It was the picture I had when Lace first told me we were about to have a kid (we then had two, but she first said we are having one…)
What a great day skiing!!
