Family ski day

Yesterday we took a field trip to Appalachian Ski Mountain near Blowing Rock, NC. The ski slope has homeschool days on certain Wednesday and Thursday’s during the winter.  On these days skiing is very affordable and each greatly reduced ticket includes a one hour lesson and rentals. Love it!

The kids had never been on skis before and they were just as excited as Tom and I were about them learning. We arrived in just enough time to get the kids their tickets, suit them up and get them out to the bunny hill for their first lesson.  

As you can see, there hasn’t been a lot of snow here in NC this winter. The snow was only on the 4-5 runs that they had open.  It has been cold enough to make snow at night, but that is about all they had.  Yesterday it was so warm out that none of us even wore a jacket.  It was 50 degrees or more and the poor kids were seriously sweaty after their lesson.

About five minutes into the lesson, Tom and I had the realization that we had an hour free without children. We quickly went to rent our own equipment and were able to get in five or more runs before the kids’ class was over. The runs were super short but enjoyable just the same. 

The kids skied and skied and skied. After practicing on the smaller bunny hill, they all quickly graduated to the bigger bunny hill. Faith learned how to turn while the boys just learned how to go straight down the hill and then stop.  They all skied for hours until it was time for lunch. It was so warm during lunch that the kids complained about it being too hot!  Crazy right?  And yes, I have on a tank top in January.  


After eating the sandwiches and snacks that I packed that morning, we went back out to the slopes. This time, Faith wanted to go up to the bigger runs.  She and Tom went a few times together and then I got my turn to ride up with Faith.  I was so proud of how determined and fearless she was on skis.  She did an amazing job.  By the end of the day she was cruising down the blue runs.

Little Miller was like Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights, “I just want to go fast!”.  He was one of those little kids that you see zooming down the slopes without turning and without any fear.  He did awesome!  He went up to the top with Faith and Tom over and over again.  At the end of the day he cried and cried because he didn’t want to stop skiing.  He especially wanted to keep his helmet and keeps asking me when I am going to buy him a helmet of his own.

Wilson did a great job too (of course I don’t have a picture of him skiing).  Wilson is usually somewhat fearful of going fast (which seems so unlike him), but he liked going fast down the bigger bunny hill.  He isn’t quite ready to head to the top of the mountain but I know that he will get there soon enough.

I was almost in tears yesterday thinking about how we have found a sport that we can all do together, and it is one that I truly enjoy doing.  The kids will only get better and better at skiing and snowboarding as time goes on.  We plan to head back up to Appalachian Ski Mountain in two weeks for the next homeschool day and we are all counting down the days until we can go again.


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