Sam Skis

This is a long overdue post...although I'm getting it in before the end of the ski season.  Perhaps that counts for something?

We took Sam skiing for the first time this year (at the beginning of February) at age 5 in Steamboat.  We've wanted to get him on skis for a couple of years and never made it happen.  We were determined to make it happen this year and it was well worth the wait.  I had two fears going into this trip...(1) Sam would be cold and not want to ski, and (2) Sam would not like skiing and I'd be stuck in a condo with a five year and nothing to do...oh, and I guess there was one more concern, (3) John and I hadn't skied in eight years which meant our joints and bones were eight years older since the last time we'd skied.

We dropped Sam off in a private lesson (15 minutes late because I totally underestimated the time it would take to get ready!) on our first of three ski days.  I scheduled him in a half day private lesson, as opposed to a full day group lesson.  This decision turned out to be the best decision we made.  We said our goodbyes and after walking away I realized I had forgotten to put Sam's lift ticket on him.  I ran back to clip it on him and his instructor said, "I hope we need that...you never know what to expect...the first time I was on skis I did nothing at all."  And then John and I took off to ski...sort of...I kind of hung around for a little bit to see what they were doing.  They started doing some shuffling and stepping and then walked up some steps to try to make a pizza down a little hill.

The next time we saw them, an hour and half into the lesson, this is where we found them...(they had made it up the lift and were on the way down)...

Sam's very first run.

Sam takes off from his instructor.

Pure joy!..and so proud of himself.

I knew at some point, Sam would be out-skiing John and me (neither one of us is a black diamond skier and I am quite timid)...but I had no idea we'd be so close to that point this soon.  Although he had some trouble keeping his tips together while making pizza, Sam's instructor said he was "a natural".  His desire and ability to ski far exceeded our expectations this trip.  And the best part was, as his mom, watching him enjoy himself so completely.  At one point he was skiing down the mountain humming the Star Wars tune on his way down.  I truly believe John and I were holding him up on our third day and we joked about having to hire someone to ski with him next year (since he'll probably be ready for more difficult runs than we're capable of).  The very last run of our trip is one I'll hold in my memory for a very long time.  Sam was trying to jump on his skis, he was squatting down and dragging his hand through the snow in between his skis and one time, from the top of a little drop off, he followed John straight down the steepest part of the hill with his skis pointed straight downhill (french fries, they call it).  He was clearly bored with my trying to get him to practice pizza back and forth across the run.  I'm sure he also got tired of hearing me say, "pay attention...watch where you're going" as I was having small panic attacks visualizing him going over the edge...another reason it might be worth it for us to pay someone to ski with him.  Whew!  Oh, and I never got one complaint about him being too cold...only too hot!  He was sweating under all the clothes I put on him!

We are all looking forward to next year's trip!