The Chairlift

William was 3 years old in 2012 and we put him on skis for the first time. For an hour each weekend we would hit a local ski hill, Camp Fortune, and he would ride the 'magic carpet' up and then zoom down the small hill. He knew full well that I would catch him before he hit anything and pop a jellybean into his mouth, so his introduction to skiing was safe, thrilling and tasty. This year he was old enough to take lessons. Based on input from friends who know the different ski hills well, we signed up at Vorlage, a place that focuses upon families.

We opted for a group lesson instead of private lessons because William is a social kid and because it's cheaper. We debated group vs private because when it came to swimming he did much better in a one-on-one environment. Shocking, I know. We are very glad that we went with group lessons, because in his class there are 4 kids and 3 instructors (well, 2 teaching aids). In essence, he gets one-on-one instruction. Ya us!

I normally take him to the hill on Sunday mornings and it's a nice little break from the daily household chaos. Jill finally clued in on this and for his 3rd class she took him skiing. It was my loss in more ways than one, because on that day he began using the chairlift. He loved it. As Jill noted, it was the first time he had ever seen the world from that perspective. He went up the chairlift 5 times. When they returned home he had a big smile plastered across his mug. We were unable to get a picture of his first chairlift ride, but this past weekend I managed to shoot a quick video of him coming down the hill. Not much of a slope when I went by them, so he's shuffling a lot. If you have the volume up, you'll hear William warning his instructor, who is skiing backwards, of the trees behind him. I found this funny:)