New Adventures means New Excitment!

Winter in the northeast is long. The last couple winters have seemed extra long as the kids are cooped up in the house and we all dream about warm vacation spots that we can't seem to figure out how to afford. Sure, the kids will go outside and play in the yard, build a snowman, sled down the hill, then come inside and demand their "well earned" hot chocolate... but it always seems like a lot of work, for not that much pay-off of fun. Well, this year, we are exploring a new winter adventure. Living literally less than 2 miles down the road from West Mountain, a local (but pretty nice) ski mountain, we figured that we best give it a go....

I learned to downhill ski in high school and really liked it, but I wouldn't say that I was an avid skier or did it on any regular basis, and have done extremely little of it in the last 10 years (If going 1x in 10 years even counts!) Nick never got the chance as a kid to try out downhill skiing and now doesn't really have the desire to learn, but we still felt like it could be a good thing to break up the long, cold winter season and create a fun, active thing to do with the kids. Last winter, Natalie did one lesson at West to see if she would like it and I couldn't believe how fast she picked it up! I think that kids have less fear, are closer to the ground and just seem to go with it. She did great! This year, she has signed up for weekly ski lessons through school and I have gotten a ski pass to be able to ski with her at least once a week! Last night was the first lesson and my turn back on skis and it was a great success!

Here is Natalie after her lessons heading down the mountain. West Mtn has all their trails lit so we can ski in the dark. Natalie was a little more hesitant in her first couple times down the mountain - even more so than she was last year, but as the night went on and her confidence went up, she did better. I expect each week, we will see a better, more confident skier!
Our self portrait as we headed up the ski lift together. I am loving that this is something that we will be able to do (and enjoy) together!