Ski Enthusiast

Sanjay has really embraced the sport... check him out:



It's difficult to hear in the clip, but he is singing. He sings to himself and talks in gibberish with us frequently during the day. When he's not doing that, he's fighting with Priya over who gets to go first behind Daddy. Both kids love the sport, but it looks like Sanjay would have a harder time living without it.

And to further entice Weezie and family to make a visit next year, here are today's pictures. :) (clicking on any image should bring a larger view)


Priya shuffles out of some powder on a flat spot of the trail.


Someone commented after seeing Sanjay do this... "You've got yourself a skier there".




If you look closely at the bottom left of this picture, you'll see Bartee and Sanjay in the trees.

Solitude

Yes, indeed. There's nothing like a chair lift ride alone with only the sun shining on your back and the "ski tunes" playlist in your ears.



For those of you worried about my safety with those old skis, you'll be relieved to find out that we did in fact go shopping for better equipment. I ended up finding these new-but-possibly-gently-used skis at a great shop in Frisco that carries both new and used ski stuff. I absolutely love them and am not sure how I ever managed tight turns on the old ones. Oh, that's right... I didn't manage tight turns before. Ric and Katy, you won't be surprised to learn that yes, even with the new and improved equipment, I still need the entire width of the trail before getting the courage to make a turn. However, I think I did shave some time off the Wolverine run today.

Today's Pictures

Kids were in ski school so Bartee and I tore it up at Keystone...


If you look closely, you can see the slopes at Breckenridge off in the distance behind me.

The Ski Hair

I think what Priya likes most about this ski vacation is that she gets to wear her hair like this every day...



Nah, she's enjoying the skiing, too. But she's terrified of getting on the lift. She has it in her head that unless Daddy is there to pick her up, she'll end up falling down which will result in her not being able to ride up on the same chair as us. Oh yes, she has it all figured out in her head and she's just waiting to be able to say "I told you so". In fact tonight her stomach is all in knots. Why? Because tomorrow we are putting the kids in a lesson and she is very stressed out about having to do the lift without an adult. Nevermind that the lift operators here are overly helpful with the kids. Sanjay has been lifted up and placed gently on the chair numerous times and both kids have been grabbed from behind and slid back into place by the same friendly operators. Reminding her of this doesn't seem to offer any relief for her unsettled stomach.

This girl worries an awful lot. Earlier this week we were told by a ski-repair-dude that the bindings on my 15 year old skis were not working properly. They, in fact, would not release my ski boots even under the greatest amount of pressure. He recommended, after he made the adjustment and took our $19, that I not ski on them because they were too dangerous. Under the stress test, he had never seen bindings that were this far out of the acceptable range. I was prepared to go ahead and ski this week with them because after all we were just getting started on the vacation. Did we really have time to shop for new skis and/or bindings? But, this little one was too worried about Mommy. She was afraid that I would break a leg. She made it clear that it upset her that I was even thinking about getting on those skis. Sometimes the worry is so sweet... other times not. Like when she notes the speed limit and lets me know when the speedometer exceeds it. Or when she makes a fuss about parking in a no parking zone, even if only temporarily. She keeps me in check; she certainly does.

Quick Update From Summit County

We are away for a week in the mountains skiing and we've been busy doing just that. But, I thought I'd take a little time tonight to post some pictures and a video.

It's been a great family getaway so far. Now that Sanjay is comfortably on skis and has ditched his daily nap, we've been spending all day, every day on the slopes. It's been a long time coming, but we are finally enjoying this hobby again.

Today was spent at Vail where we received some much-needed fresh snow. It was just enough to improve the ski conditions but not too much to cause us trouble driving home. At the beginning of the day a ski instructor let us in on an area called "Chaos Canyon" where they take the ski school kids so we headed there first.





You too can ski with us through the canyon...



After lunch, Daddy headed off on his own and the kids and I finished the day a bit early. A lady from an Indianapolis ski club snapped this shot for us...