Skiing

Kong enrolled the girls at Como ski school this year against their wish. The thought of skiing was, according to Ayden, frightful. These pictures and videos are from February and March. (Dlaab/Uncle Phili in the lift behind Ayden and Kong)

I was not real hopeful after our first ski trip. Our second one, much happier campers! Taylor improved tremendously and was doing black diamond runs with her dad. I was scared to death for her but she apparently loves the thrill of going fast.

As for Ayden, after our first trip to Afton, she vowed to never ski again. Her problem was that she didn't really want to learn how to control the skis (as evident in the clip below). She wanted to go straight down which only works on the bunny hill. On our second trip she figured it out and just loved it. There were a few blue runs that looked really scary to me but she was determined to go down them. She did awesome despite my fears.

Both girls decided that they do not need to go back to Como next year. They can't wait to go out West to ski the real hills/mountains. As for me, I decided that I'm not as young as I use to be. My knees were in pain after each trip. It's the standing in the boots and stilling on the lift that does a number on me. And Kong...well, he is loving it. On our ride home he said to me, "I've been waiting nine years to be able to do fun stuff that I love with the girls." I guess that says it all.

Before you watch the video clips, be fore warn that I am talking a lot! I'm trying my best not to let the girls know how terrified I am for them. The fear would cancel out the positive energy of encouragement to try new things. It's a tough balancing act : ) You can hear me saying to Taylor, "...stay in the middle...go side to side..." This is much better then screaming "Don't go too close to the sides because there are a lot of trees and horrific things can happen if you hit one." and "Don't go straight down or you'll pick up too much speed and crash!" Oh yeah, and I scream everytime they fall.

It is important to note that the clip of Taylor going down the run, it looks like we are going really slow but that surely was not the case. Because the runs are short and steep you pick up a lot of speed so the clips are very deceptive.