trip continued (part 2)

The highlight of our time in Utah was our ski/snowboard trip. I have to admit that I wasn't excited about going to begin with. I had been sick for so long that I thought I was in no condition to hit the slopes and I was being a bit of a penny pincher, too. Boy am I glad that Rick pushed the trip. We all had so much fun that I'm sure we will try to do it again next year.


We hadn't been skiing since Erin was 6. I simply refuse to go to the man-made snow in So. Cal. and we never go to Utah during the winter. So this trip we decided that the boys definately had to take snowboarding lessons since it was their first time. We put them in the morning class and headed up the slopes. The first run was pretty miserable. Erin was freaking out! She said that she "has a serious fear of going fast". Rick banished me from being near Erin and gave her a private tutorial. I was glad to be banished since I couldn't handle the shrieks coming from Erin every time she buckled and fell. I thought we were in for a very long day on the mountain. Well, after the first run, I took Erin to the bunny slopes where the boys lessons were. We went down the bunny hill a few times where Erin finally figured out how to turn - YEA!!! Then we headed back up to the real slopes and Erin didn't have any more trouble.


When the boys lesson was over, we met them for lunch and then they wanted to go on the real slopes, too. I thought we were in for a repeat of Erin's first run, but I was pleasantly surprised. The boys didn't struggle much with snowboarding. They did, however, spend quite a bit of time on their behinds. They learned that if they were going too fast or out of control, they could just fall down and start over again. Bryant learned that "slow and steady wins the race" and so he didn't fall very much. Parker, on the other hand, loves speed and had great form going down the mountain - if only he knew how to stop!!!


This skiing experience reaffirmed to Rick that he never wants to snowboard. He is a very good skier and picked up right where he left off. Why teach an OLD dog new tricks???! I was surprised at how well I was able to ski. I was able to take the camera up the whole afternoon so that I could get pics to remember our trip better.