1st Skiing Adventure of the Season/Year

Due to time and financial constraints, I haven't been up skiing yet this season. Thanks to Tommy graciously taking skiing lessons through the National Ability Center though, I was able to get up with him to Park City Mountain Resort on Saturday. Parking up there is a nightmare, so even though the lesson wasn't until 11:45, we got there at 10:30. We were able to find parking no problem but that left me with an anxious 8 year old to entertain during the long wait. Fortunately, he was just happy and excited and was perfectly behaved the whole time. Here we are waiting:

While waiting we also ran into my old friend and mentor, Kris Vipond. She was the director at the preschool I used to teach at, Total Energy. This woman is amazing! She can walk into a room of screaming angry children, no matter the age, and instantly captivate them. She was an inspirational motivation to me throughout my Early Childhood teaching career. It's people like her that drive that industry continually to better things. I now know so many important things about Early Childhood Development... it was a very fulfilling career field - except for financially. I'm certainly far from making the big bucks, but I'm rolling in the dough compared to most of the measly salaries offered by preschools. It's an under-paid, under-appreciated job that really needs more attention. I could obviously go on and on... Anyway, it was really sweet to see her again.

When we hit the slopes we took a couple of practice runs, but were soon up on the mountain doing some real skiing. He is so amazing! Look at him go here, he's leaning forward to get some momentum....

Just doing the run itself wasn't enough for him, he had to keep going up on the sides and skiing down...

It was lots of fun, he's getting so good! Won't be long before he's better than me, and I'm thankful that his lessons get me out on the slopes too.

On Sunday I FINALLY! finished Eric's blanket. I have been crocheting this thing since October. Here he is snuggling into it...


And here his on the bed with it.

Now that it is done, I might make on for the kitties because they love it so much. Tomorrow I get to go on Syrena's field trip. I am looking forward to spending some time with her... she has been quite sassy lately (damn you teenage hormone changes!) and I think this will be a great experience for both of us.