Just Like Riding A Bike?

While enjoying a New Years Eve party with our kids the subject of skiing came up. "We should plan a family skiing day", one said. "Yeah!" piped in a few others. I am not the athletic type and I don't love being out in the cold, but I've always loved skiing. I'm happy to report that I've just enjoyed one of the funnest and memorable days with Michael and several of our kids. We started out at "ski school" first thing this morning. Remembering that I hadn't been on skis for almost 8 years, I was feeling pretty good when early on I discovered that it really is like riding a bike. Mike, Andy, Kristin, and I had cute Jason from upper New York state as our instructor. Jeremy, Emily, Jeff, and Caitlin had Joshua. Andy, Caitlin, and Jeff were the only ones who had never skiied before, although Jeff had snowboarded. I was pretty impressed with how well they did. After an hour or so on the "bunny hill" we graduated to something bigger. And suddenly there I am at the top of the mountain. I. LOVED. IT. The entire day we were hit with snow, rain, and ice pellets but we never let it stop us. Poor Jason, he was riding the ski lift with Mike and I and we were being hit hard with ice pellets. I needed windshield wipers in the worst way. Jason offered me the soft cloth for his goggles to wipe my glasses off and when I handed it back to him he was concerned that I had icicles on my nose. "I don't think so", I said. "Well you look like you have frostbite on your nose, there's a big white spot", he seemed very concerned. Then it dawned on me what Jason was talking about, he was so apologetic when I explained to him "oh...that's just my skin graft." While taking a break for lunch I discovered that I was soaking wet, all the way to my first layer. I had some money rolled up in a zippered pocket of my ski pants, every bill was completely soaked. I watched as Emily was wringing water out of her gloves, but we still went back for more. Finally when I knew my legs weren't going to hold me up much longer, Mike and I did one more run and then we hung up our skis. The sore muscles are starting to settle in, I doubt I'll be able to stand up straight tomorrow, but it was a great day and I can proudly say that I didn't fall down the entire day. That is a very good thing, one less set of pains to endure.

Andy, Kristin, and Michael getting ready to head up the mountainJeremy is still dressingJeff, Caitlin, and Emily are set to goAt the end of the day soaking wet and smiling Drying my bills off and hoping I don't get reported for "laundering" money