Ski Trip

I learned how to snow ski!!!! What a great trip. It was just a little too short. We got there Friday night, and stayed in a cabin with Craig, Mary Beth and their boys, and Allison, Brian and Byron. Friday night it snowed like 3 or 4 inches and it was beautiful. So we had lots of good snow to ski on. We finally had a chance to use our 4 wheel drive on the Pathfinder, and boy were we thankful for it - you couldn't get anywhere without it.
Saturday morning we headed out to the Beech Mtn resort, and it was the most crowded day in 2 years for them. It was a mess...but with Sage and Dwight holding our hands, we got through it, got our skis, and got Briar and Bo into their camps. Bo and Nicholas did the 3 year old ski camp and Briar did the 8-12 year old snowboarding camp. J.T. and I, along with the other adults took a 1 hour ski lesson to get us started. We did alright in the lesson, then headed up the ski lift to come down the easiest slope. I took off flying straight down the mountain and out of control - crashing each time! J.T. crashed a lot too. I finally found Gary and Tracy, and Gary helped me get used to going back and forth across the mountain and staying in control. By the afternoon, I was doing alot better. I went up to the top with them and Michele and had some ugly collisions with some snowboarders, but I never got hurt - other than a few purple bruises. When the boys got out of camp at 3:30, we took them(Briar and Brandon) up the lift to let them try out their snowboarding skills and they had a rough time. Bryce did great on his skis with Michele though. So Briar and Brandon decided to trying skiing the next day, and so did most of the other boys.
We got them a one hour lesson, and they all did great. Briar couldn't hardly get it with his poles, so I took them away and he did great too. We got on the quad chair lift and went all the way to the top and came down the IV, V and XI slope you see below:


They are blue slopes, which are labled "more difficult". I had to take my time, and I was still crashing a lot, and Briar ran off and left me. He said it "was the most fun he's ever had"!! He beat me to the bottom and later told me that when he looked up and didn't see me anywhere he said a prayer for me to have a safe journey down!!! Matt, Kyle, Brandon and Byron also mastered the skiing quickly. They went up and came down some blue slopes too, and did great. Mary Beth really caught on the second day too, and before we got done she came down the Powder Bowl (XI) slope, which is a blue. J.T. had enough by the this point, so he hung around and watched us and got Bo from his ski camp. Bo enjoyed his ski camp better the second day, I think. The weather was warmer and it wasn't so crowded. I just wish we could have one more day! I think everybody enjoyed it, and we all want to go out west next year!! It snowed again Sunday night, and we came home Monday morning. I'll post some pictures soon.