ski bunnies

ellie and claire did it! they skied and loved it. yesterday, december 1st, we met tom & laura at Welch Village to get all the kids on snow. I am so glad they were willing to sacrifice their lower lumbar to come and help us manage the kiddos. I don’t think we could bundle up the crew, put on ski boots, mittens, helmets, goggles without help. because once you put on the girls’ ski boots they become dangerous little beings. they can walk ok with them on, but the boots are so heavy and often they trip on them and then tumble over. our main focus is that they think it is fun and fun they had. they loved each part of skiing. running around the chalet, being on their skis, going up the chairlift, coming down the slopes, and especially eating snow (yuck! but pick your battles people). the day was really warm (40s), but overcast so most of the pictures look gloomy. it was a great day to get everyone out though because we really didn’t need to worry about the kids being cold.

me and the chitlins before heading out. love their matching pata outfits.

in the car ready to go. when we would ask the kids if they were excited to go skiing they would each exclaim “YES!!!”. here they are zoned out to ice age.

eleanore running around the lodge.

loving the chalet!

claire was in heaven!

 

claire ready to rock. just waiting on a table to save bubba’s lower back. I asked claire to smile and she tried, but the helmet and goggles made it distorted.

 

cutest little people on the hill.

this is one of the moves that really pains the lower lumber.

kindercare on skis.

pappy pushing claire over to the chairlift.

claire and bubba.

here comes charlie to join us! getting a skating ride from dad.

eleanore checking out the hill. you will notice in these pictures how slim the coverage is of snow. we have not had any real snow yet this year so it was actually amazing how much fake snow they were able to blow around the last month. they had 12 runs open.

ellie was stunned by the scenery.

 

pappy and claire.

pappy was a real work horse yesterday. I was pushing claire up the bunny hill to give her an idea of what skiing felt like. there wasn’t enough snow to have the magic carpet open.

a mini workout pushing them around.

I loved seeing ellie just stand on her skis and wait around.

bubba and claire.

me and claire.

 

charlie headed up the chairlift first with bill. bill had high hopes for charlie this year. he was really thinking he would be off the harness right away. I thought he would need the harness for awhile longer. well lets just say – he definitely needs some direction and he needs to put a lot more of his own effort into skiing this year. he is currently enjoying the ride (directed by bill’s arms or harness), but hopefully over the next few times out he will start really working to manage his skis more. he looks so big out there this year!

claire’s turn!

off she goes!

claire and daddy on the lift.

charlie being all floppy and eating snow (yuck!). I think it was a little hard for him to share the skiing spotlight with 2 sisters.

eleanore was delighted with eating the snow and then spitting it out. thanks a lot pappy!

 

claire coming down her first hill.

by the end she was getting a little lazy and was resting into the harness.

  

eleanore’s turn!

 

while ellie was heading up to ski, claire was enjoying a snack of snow.

 

ellie was a champ! she cried a bit at the top, but then really enjoyed it.

she wasn’t sitting in the harness quite like claire was.

coming in to greet claire, charlie and bubba!

so cute!

the whole family. I wasn’t on skis yesterday because I was helping manage the kid turnover.

love this series of the girls together trying to bend over and eat snow. they have great balance on their skis to go up and down while eating snow.

claire. eleanore.

uh-oh. ellie fell over.

so after bill took each kid down the hill once and they all liked it we had pappy get his gear on. here he is ready to start chauffeuring chitlins down the hill.

pappy and charlie and bill and claire coming down together!

cute 20 month old coming down the hill.

we took a break after being outside for awhile and let everyone cruise around the chalet.

I love these of ellie waiting patiently for her time to go up.

  

  

pappy with claire. nice maneuvering pappy.

just waiting in line to head up.

up for a double seestor run. bill with ellie and pappy with claire.

  

here they come!

claire wins!

after that laura and I took the girls in to get undressed while bill, charlie and pappy took a few more runs.

having a snack like real big skiers do.

and that was our first experience getting all 3 kids out on snow. we will all be skiing in big sky in about a month so we will see how things really go then. feeling very proud of our brave kiddos who like to participate in fun, family adventures.