Friday, April 3, 2009

Spring Break 2009 - Part 5

I took a day off from skiing one day to wander around all of the villages of Vail. One of my favorite stops was this little general-store-type shop. It was full of candy in old-fashioned apothecary jars, all kinds of souvenirs and this little perch for the shop dog. He had the perfect spot for people-watching - what a life!


Since the kids had been in ski school all week long, we decided to get them out early on Friday so we could ski together. McIver had had a guy instructor all week long, but Jessie was his instructor for the last day. I'm sorry that I don't have a picture of the fellow, but Jessie seems to have a special place in McIver's heart.
McIver made me a nervous wreck on the chair lift! But, isn't he super cute all bundled up with his helmet and goggles?!

He loved showing me this 'jaguar legend tunnel' that the ski instructors use to help teach the kids.
McIver did a really great job with his skiing. He can turn well, if he so chooses; he just doesn't often choose to turn. He prefers to squat down on the backs of his skis and go straight down the slope.

Then, when he gets near the lift line, he just sort of splays out ... like this. Don't worry, no one was injured!

Olivia really liked ski school a lot. She had the same instructor, Andrew, all week. At the end of each day, the instructors gave us a pretty detailed report of what was covered. Olivia was able to go up the gondola pretty early in her ski school career, which made her feel like quite the accomplished student. She also made a friend or two. I didn't get to take too many pictures of Olivia because she ended up skiing with Will. She had no patience for McIver and all of his falling and taking 10 minutes to gather himself and get up.

I knew we were in trouble when Olivia said those dreaded words: Mom, follow me! (Dawn's dad had warned me that it would come.) She wanted to take me to a run called Chaos Canyon which is an old bobsled track. It's perfect for teaching the kids to turn and really not as scary as it sounds. My problem with following her was that Will was stuck with McIver, I didn't have a map and had no idea if she really knew where she was going or not. She was not at all happy that I made her wait for her brother. Chaos Canyon ended up being lots of fun. I am convinced that I'll need to take a lesson next year so that I can keep up with my children on the slopes!

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