Emily's First Ski Trip

The learn-to-ski plan in this house is for Nate to take every kid skiing for the first time when they are seven. Emily was seven last winter, but they ended up not going due to scheduling and generally crappy ski weather. Nate promised her that they would go this year. Thursday night he took her up to Wolf Mountain for their first lesson. They had a wonderful time together. After teaching Ben (who is renowned for his stubbornness when learning something new), Nate was accustomed to a slow learning curve. Emily surprised him and took to it like a natural. They went down the hill a couple of times with her right in front of him holding onto his poles. After that, Nate acted as her brake with a strap tied around her waist. Within a couple of runs she pretty much had her turns down pat, so he only held onto the strap right at the first part of the hill (which is a little steeper). The last two runs of the night, they took off her “edgie wedgies” and she made it down the hill all on her own. Nate said that the best part of the night was just to hear her say, time after time, “This is really fun!” She wasn’t expecting to like it so much. Other than getting soaked through the first half of night (when the falling snow was melting on contact), they had a really great time. Nate loved that he actually got to ski a little without being tethered to a kid all night. They both came home just beaming. Emily kept telling me “Mom, you really should try it. It is so much fun!” I have tried it, and I’m not a big fan. It’s all good. I’m fine if I’m the only non-snow-skier in this house and I’m glad that all of our kids will get this one-on-one time with their dad.