Skiing

For Christmas the kids all asked to go skiing again.  I did a little research and decided the Loveland would be the best/cheapest/closest that would fit for all ski levels.  We took a day off of school, Jason watched the babies and off we went.  One of my favorite things about these kinds of outings is that I have my older children trapped in a car for a few hours and I get to play whatever I want and they have to listen.  And if you have ever ridden in my car you know that is conference talks.  Fortunately my kids also like conference talks, but the noise of the world always help them forget, but just one or 2 talks in and they are enthralled and offer great questions and insights. 

But back to skiing.  It was Megan's first time, so she was my buddy.  She was very frustrated at the beginning.  It was better when they were all learning together last year.  No one was rushed or annoyed, we just took our time.  But she wanted to be able to do it like her siblings and she was annoyed she couldn't.  Within the first 5 minutes we had some tears and wanting to go sit in the car and read a book.  I sent the other off to ski my themselves, gave her a good pep talk, and told her I didn't care if we spent the whole time on the bunny hill, I was just happy to be with her.  She dug deep, found some perseverance - and she figured it out.  By lunchtime she was skiing like her siblings.  

I absolutely love spending time with these 4.  They are some of my favorite people.  I love when it is just the 5 of us.  Because it ALWAYS used to be just the 5 of us, but now it almost NEVER is, and it makes me feel like a their "old mom".  I love it.

Brock was almost always off by himself, so I never got a picture of just him.  All of them had improved so much from last time.  Noah got a lot more daring and really excelled at going fast and doing some jumps.  And Brock and Maddie really learned to slow down, control, and stop.  We didn't have any major wipe outs and I don't think Brock ever skied backwards.  Although Maddie did drop several things off the ski lift and skied into sever feet of powder off the path.  I really saw how self sufficient and resilient Madison is.  She created a lot of BIG problems for herself.  But with each one she didn't pout, complain, get discouraged, blame it on someone else, procrastinate, get frustrated, wait to be rescued, or ask someone to do it for her.  She buckled down and figured out how to solve her problem, even if it took 30 minutes, even if it meant walking all the way up the ski hill (a few times).  It was cool to see.

Skiing is great becuase you get one on one time with each during the lifts, or group time, alone time on the runs, you are in nature and have time to be with yourself and God, also you are doing something hard and have to push and challenge yourself.  I find it perfectly wonderful!