Learning to Ski, part 2

Monday, January 20th (MLK Day)
- This was our second time going to Sundance as a family, this time with some knowledge and experience!
- Cat practiced at the tow rope, hanging out with Ben and Luke while I had the middle two on the lift.  Then Ben took the older 3 on the lift and I hung out with Luke.
- Luke was pretty bored with the tow rope after a while, so much that he resorted to playing in the deep snow on the edge of the run below the tow area.

Friday, January 24th

- I finally did what I should have done from the beginning of Ski School: I had the van loaded up with all the gear and the clothes the kids would need, plus a fresh Little Caesers pizza, when I picked the kids up from school.  We arrived at Sundance earlier than ever, we weren't rushed, and we arrived at the check-in spot early.  Awesome.
- As we were driving up, we saw emergency vehicles on the side of the road and a car in the river.  We found out when we pulled into the parking area that right after we arrived, they would be closing down the road so they could bring wreckers to bring in the multiple cars that had gone into the river.  The road would be closed for a couple of hours.
- This meant that ski school was cancelled that day, since we were early and everyone else who was on time wouldn't be able to get up to the resort.  It worked out for us - I had planned to stay and ski anyway, so I had all my gear and I just skied with Jack and Eliza the whole time.
- Luke had his second lesson and did so well that afterward there was even talk of Ski Team (not for this year, but maybe next year)
- Before his lesson started, he made a snowball and put it in a plastic bag in the ski instructors' yurt.  He was told that it was magic and if he was good for his teacher, something special would happen.  Sure enough, when he went back to the yurt after his lesson, he found his snowball but when he broke it up, there was a toy car inside.
- It was fun for Jack, Eliza, and me to run into Luke and his teacher periodically and say hi, to see Luke skiing or taking a break and making a snowman.

- Luke carried his own equipment back to the car when we were finished, after a lot of waiting for him to decide to do it.  He's carried it ever since.

Friday, January 31st

- After Luke's boredom with the tow rope, and now with two lessons under his belt, we decided to bite the bullet and get him his own season lift pass.  I hated that I hadn't done it at the pre-season prices when we'd bought passes for everyone else, but when I talked to the ticket office they said they'd be happy to honor the pre-season price for us.  Hooray!
- Cat had her first lesson and did great!
- I had my first real ski experience with Luke on the mountain and he was super confident and fast!  At one point I thought I communicated that I would meet him at the bottom of the Outlaw Trail but when I got there and didn't see him, I looked down the mountain and he was just skiing away.  I quickly went to try to catch up with him, but I couldn't, and I didn't want to yell for him to stop and distract him and risk him falling down, so I just followed him the best I could.  At one point he started to lose his balance and bent his knees like he was going to go down but then he just straightened his legs and kept going.  I couldn't believe it!  He did look around periodically to see if I was nearby, but he kept going until he got to the bottom - when a run-in with a ski rack ended his spree.  (Something similar happened when he went skiing with Ben a few days later, so we knew that stopping was the next thing for Luke to work on.)
- Luke got used to taking a break when he was having his lesson the week before, so I did the same thing with him, making little powdery snowmen, and he did snow angels too.

- Day Three of Ski School for J and E was a success, until Jack got so frustrated and worked up that his teacher brought him to the yurt to try to calm down.  I happened to be right there with Luke, so we all hung out together for a bit.  Jack managed to calm down, but though we hoped he could meet up with his teacher for one more run before the lesson time was over, we ran out of time and Jack didn't get to ski anymore.  He was really disappointed, but hopefully learned from the experience.

Friday, February 7th

- Eliza had to miss the last day of Ski School because of her hurt knee.

- Their poor teacher had a huge group of kids at first (12!) but relief arrived and the class divided up after a little while.

- The teacher knew that getting turned around and having to ski backward was one of the things Jack was most scared about, so he taught him how to ski backward!

- He also told us that he'd love to ski with the kids on his own some time and gave me his number so we can try to coordinate.

- Luke had his 3rd (and last) lesson, with the same teacher as last time.  I asked that they work on stopping, which they did.  Luke told me afterward that he skied in the "enchanted snow" under the trees.  Too cool.

- I skied on my own while the boys were having their lessons, and stopped to make a video of my favorite view so far.

Can you find Jack?
He's 3rd from the back in this picture.