| So much has been going on! The last ten days or so have been a total whirlwind, and I am still trying to orient myself. The last post I wrote happened right before I heard the heartbreaking news about Sandy Hook. After that, I was so sad it was hard to contemplate being able to write anything. It's hard to contemplate saying anything that wouldn't fall horribly short of being useful, meaningful, or somehow express feelings of sadness and condolences. The days went on, and we began to start the Christmas/holiday break. Once I was home with the boys, it was hard to get anything done, much less write. We had originally planned to be home for Christmas morning, but after some deep contemplation, we decided to go to Bob's parents' house on the 23rd and stay until Christmas day, when we traveled to Snowshoe for Bob's birthday ski trip. We left Snowshoes on the 28th and spent one night in Blacksburg. We then left on the 29th for my parents' house, enjoyed Christmas with my side of the family, and left on the 30th to spend New Years back with Bob's side of the family. I have to say, it felt really good to wake up in my own bed this morning! |
I wish I had taken a picture of myself in all of my ski gear at Snowshoe. I looked so totally hardcore! It just so happened that Snowshoe was hit by a pretty big storm the night we arrived, and it seemed like the conditions the next day were close to that of a blizzard. I'm sure it wasn't an actual blizzard, but it was frigidly cold, the wind was extremely gusty (50 mph), and the precipitation alternated between snow and ice. If you were outside, you really could not have any skin exposed whatsoever, which we learned the hard way.
So as I prepared to my beginner's ski lesson, I had on my wool socks, my running tights, my warmest Brooks long-sleeve, and underarmour t-shirt, my snow pants, a total thermal face mask, goggles, a hat, ski gloves, and my North Face jacket with the hood all the way pulled up. Again, I wish I had taken a picture, because it was intense. The good news is, it kept me warm and safe from the elements.
I got up to the ski lesson place, and everyone who had signed up for the group lessons was rescheduling. I was seriously considering it as well, but I knew that we were not planning to have Stephen in kinder-care the next day, so I wasn't sure what to do. Right then, Bob came up and told me that the conditions were a lot better down mountain. I thought, "I feel like a total badass right now. Let's do this thing!!" And off I went with my ski instructor, Shanti.
The first thing he had me do was ski. I was pretty freaked out, since I haven't actually been on skis in over five years. I actually did pretty darn well, considering I wasn't all that good six years ago. Shanti described me as "decent." Hey, I'll take it!
Since everyone else had rescheduled, I had myself a one hour, forty-five minute private lesson. I really think the Snowshoe Green slopes are actually pretty tough. They were fairly narrow and steep: not an easy combination in my book. We started out doing simple S-turns. I told Shanti I could spend the rest of the day just doing that, but he had other plans. I'm not sure he realized what a MAJOR accomplishment it was that I hadn't gone flying over the edge of one of their steep embankments and impaled myself on a tree.
He worked with me on parallel skiing, hockey stops, and more. I definitely feel that my skills improved as a result of the lesson. Not to mention, I managed the lifts every time without falling! This was also another *huge* accomplishment.
I really had a blast and then spent another couple hours in the afternoon skiing the Greens with Bob.
The biggest accomplishment for me was just that I enjoyed myself, something that doesn't always happen when I ski.
I did have a couple major wipeouts, but Bob says that if you don't wipe out a little bit, you're not challenging yourself. If that's the case, then I really challenged myself! :)
So as I prepared to my beginner's ski lesson, I had on my wool socks, my running tights, my warmest Brooks long-sleeve, and underarmour t-shirt, my snow pants, a total thermal face mask, goggles, a hat, ski gloves, and my North Face jacket with the hood all the way pulled up. Again, I wish I had taken a picture, because it was intense. The good news is, it kept me warm and safe from the elements.
I got up to the ski lesson place, and everyone who had signed up for the group lessons was rescheduling. I was seriously considering it as well, but I knew that we were not planning to have Stephen in kinder-care the next day, so I wasn't sure what to do. Right then, Bob came up and told me that the conditions were a lot better down mountain. I thought, "I feel like a total badass right now. Let's do this thing!!" And off I went with my ski instructor, Shanti.
The first thing he had me do was ski. I was pretty freaked out, since I haven't actually been on skis in over five years. I actually did pretty darn well, considering I wasn't all that good six years ago. Shanti described me as "decent." Hey, I'll take it!
Since everyone else had rescheduled, I had myself a one hour, forty-five minute private lesson. I really think the Snowshoe Green slopes are actually pretty tough. They were fairly narrow and steep: not an easy combination in my book. We started out doing simple S-turns. I told Shanti I could spend the rest of the day just doing that, but he had other plans. I'm not sure he realized what a MAJOR accomplishment it was that I hadn't gone flying over the edge of one of their steep embankments and impaled myself on a tree.
He worked with me on parallel skiing, hockey stops, and more. I definitely feel that my skills improved as a result of the lesson. Not to mention, I managed the lifts every time without falling! This was also another *huge* accomplishment.
I really had a blast and then spent another couple hours in the afternoon skiing the Greens with Bob.
The biggest accomplishment for me was just that I enjoyed myself, something that doesn't always happen when I ski.
I did have a couple major wipeouts, but Bob says that if you don't wipe out a little bit, you're not challenging yourself. If that's the case, then I really challenged myself! :)
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