Skiing

Molly has begun ski lessons!

At Highland Hills, the offer a program for preschool age kids, call Hot Cocoa Club.  You ski with a parent for 7 weeks.  It is a program that is set up with an Early Childhood Learning format.  So all the instructors have funny names, like Ropetoe Robin.  We have circle time with songs and games.  Then we ski for a bit.  The end is a story about winter or skiing and a snack of hot cocoa and a treat. The first lesson is in the chalet, where you learn what it feels like to move around in skis.  They have an obstacle course that you work around in first your boots, then one ski and then both skis.  Molly was mad that we couldn't just jump right on the chair lift and go!  But I had the flu that week, so I was happy to just stay inside (despite the 50 degree plus weather) and not move much.

Here we use a slant to learn how to tip our skis for a turn, Molly showed she was a pro right off the bat!

One of the toughest lessons is how to get these darn things off your feet!

Finally at her second lesson, we got to hit the slopes.  The temperature had fallen to below zero, but Mom had no flu and no excuses to keep from spending an hour outside. Again, Molly was mad we didn't just go right to the chairlift and head for the biggest hill.  She didn't want to start with a few feet up the bunny hill.  She cried and whined until her embarrassed mother gave in and took her to the top of the bunny hill.  We use special tethers to control their speed as we (the parent) ski behind them.  She didn't  like that I was slowing her down!  She was one of the first kids to master going up the magic carpet all by herself.  She was the one kid who fell the most because she just wanted to go fast instead of ski in control.  And even though her boots were too small and they hurt her feet every minute we were out there, she was the last one to get off the hill.

This is one kid with no fear!

Next week we get to move to the "big" hill and maybe even try the chair lift! God help me because I have enough fear for both of us over that prospect!