Our Little Ski Bunnies

The boys spent a whole morning learning how to ski while we were in New Mexico.

In the morning, while they waited for lessons to start, they were a little nervous and unsure of things.

Even though this was something they had been wanting to do for years.

But pretty soon they were smiling again.

They spent the morning with their instructor and a small grouping of other never-ever-skied-before children.

The boys did not care much for their lessons, to be honest. Too much time watching others ski down the mountain, while they made an "S" in the snow with their foot over and over.

We had been advised to arrive early at the mountain, so I planned for us to be there an hour before skiing opened. As it was, it took us well over an hour to pay for the ski rentals, pick up the skis, then pick up the boots, then pick up the helmets, and then to register them for lessons. They needed an efficiency expert, that's for sure - five different LONG lines. Things got really crowded as the day went on. I know, we were there the busiest week of the year, but still... this was a LOT of people.

After lunch, the boys spent several hours on the bunny slope to the left of this picture, before they worked their way up to the green slope, seen on the right.

Here's Alex going down on the bunny slope.

Apparently, poles aren't used by people anymore -the instructors called it old school, and equated it to listening to cassette tapes.

So if you are wondering where their poles are, they had none.

Although you often see older folks (ie, my age) with them, because they can be used to help push you off the snow when you fall.

Here comes Ryan for the first time.

Just in time to see Alex wipe out.

Oops!

And now both of my boys are on the ground.

Ryan actually fell on purpose. It seemed like the easiest way to stop, he told me later.

Giving this another shot.

Alex and Ryan on the conveyor belt "lift" for the bunny slope.

And now they feel like they've got the hang of this.

Favorite crash of the day:

And a few more:

Finally, they felt they were done with the bunny slope.

I put these two photos together, because while we were up there, it started to snow. At first it was just nice little snowflakes falling and we were all excited because, hey, it was SNOWING. But then a real storm started to blow in.

So OF COURSE this is when my kids decided they were ready to try the more serious beginner green slopes.

I wouldn't have even been that freaked about it, except that these ski lifts scared me to death.

And I couldn't even tell which blobs were my children at first. Carl, using the zoom lens on the camera, could, and in retrospect, I can see the blue coats on my kids in all these pictures.

But let's just say that this was some of the worst worrying I've done in quite some time.

It was all for naught, of course.

They did a great job!

And they were ready to go again.

Even though the weather was really getting bad.

Apparently, while they were waiting in line for the lifts, Ryan helped himself to a snack of a little freshly fallen (but no fresh, because who knows who stepped on it) snow.

The boys had a blast skiing. As our official safety captain, I worried way too much. But I'm glad we went, and they couldn't have been happier with the day.

And they were thrilled they could finally earn the much-desired "skiing" belt loop for Cub Scouts!