First family ski trip!

After getting the pediatrician recommendation (at Jake's ONE year appointment) to start kids skiing at age 3, Brian has been counting down the days until now. I can't say that I shared his enthusiasm for this countdown. Reasons I don't like to ski:

-I don't like cold weather. Or being wet.
-I don't like layers; I don't embrace the recent fashion trend of piling on layer upon layer of clothing, I find it to be exhausting and uncomfortable.
-I'm not a big fan of being outside. Combine that with my hatred of the cold & well...clearly skiing would not be my first activity of choice.

Reasons why I LOVED skiing yesterday (not that I actually put on a pair of skis-but I walked around in the snow, bundled up, so it counts for now---somehow, taking up skiing again after 12+ years since my last trip when 5.5 months pregnant didn't seem like the best idea...):

-it was 50 degrees out & sunny yesterday; I was actually hot after a few minutes & had to go back inside to strip off a layer of clothes. I didn't have to wear a hat or gloves all day long. amazing!
-Hearing Jake giggle all day long made me totally forget my list of reasons why I hated it in the first place

After getting a bit of a late start (I think we underestimated how long it was going to take all of us to get completely ready), we headed outside around 11am. To summarize the day & Jake's love for his new hobby, we left around 4pm (trying to console a hysterical kid who did not want to leave at all), with only one 45 minute break for lunch in between. He was a trooper!!



I can see why they tell you to start them young; Jake was absolutely fearless. He was flying down the hill (passing up many practicing adults) like he had been doing this for years. By the end of the day, he was pretty good at turning & getting a bit better at stopping (though Brian normally had to run in front of him to keep him from plowing over an unsuspecting person).



Later in the afternoon, we ran into some friends of ours...Jake is always a fan of Amelia and my heart melted right into the snow as I watched them hold hands while taking off to ski.



This video is his first run of the day:



And here is one a little while later, after declaring "I do it myself!":



By the end of the day, we experienced something we have never experienced before---Jake asked to go to bed. At 7:15pm. We have FINALLY found an activity that truly wears him out!! :)