Learning to Ski

Brad and I met on a ski trip in college.  We both love the sport and always thought we would take our family skiing.  This year in Canada, every time it snows feet of white fluffy powder we get the itch to find the nearest mountain.  At the end of February, one of Brad's colleagues thought it would be a great idea to plan a fellow's ski trip.  We finally had our excuse to go skiing.  It would be simple, drive up Saturday morning, ski in the afternoon, head back on Sunday.  Blue Mountain here we come!

We made it to the resort around noon, just in time to feed our hungry munchkins.  Little did we know that weekend (March 9th) was the start of Spring Break in Toronto and the place was packed.  But we found a spot for a quick lunch, and Mackie went down for her nap.  Campbell was so excited to be at Blue Mountain, there was no way he was going down.  So we hit the slopes instead.  [Our nanny, Morgan, has become part of our family.  As the only ones bringing kids on the this trip, we brought Morgan with us so she could watch the kids while we dined out on Saturday night with Brad's colleagues.  So, no,we didn't leave Mack peacefully sleeping in a hotel room by herself!]

I was a little nervous about whether or not Campbell would like skiing.  I have visions of our future family ski trips, all of us tearing up the slopes the way dad and I used to when I was a kid, and I really hoped that Campbell would like it. On our first trip, the goal was to just get him in skis, maybe go down the bunny slope once, and take some photos.  To my delight - he loved it!  One run up the bunny slope and he could see the rest of the mountain.  He immediately pointed to the other area where people were actually skiing and said, "I want to go over there where the big kids are!"  Slow down cowboy, we have to practice one time down the bunny run.  Second ride up the "magic carpet" and he had it down.  And emphatically repeated his request to ski where the big kids were.

Luckily Blue Mountain is a super family friendly mountain.  We were in the "green" zone and from the bottom of the lift we could easily see the top of the "big" lift.  Brad (aka our photographer) agreed that we could make it up and down - it wasn't too steep or crowded, so we should be fine.  C got a little nervous when we got to the top, and he couldn't see daddy any more.  But we made it down just fine and called it a day - time for hot chocolate!

First pair of skis!

Cruising up the "Magic Carpet" for our first run down the bunny slope.

Riding the big lift!

We look like little ants coming down the mountain!