Devil's Head Ski Resort

As a class field trip the entire 4th grade went to Devil's Head Ski Resort. DS1 was apprehensive about going as it was something new and scary. The permission slip stated that snowshoeing would be available for those who didn't want to ski. I told DS1 he didn't have to go, but I wanted at least to try the bunny hill once. That alleviated his fears somewhat. Neither one of us have ever been skiing before.

The above photo is a poor picture of DS1, but you can see one of the more advanced runs in the background. We were awaiting directions in the cafeteria before heading outside.

Here we are after getting our helmets. Adults weren't required to wear them, but I wore mine! I figured if anything it would be warm.

Finally! We got our skis!!! Now we waited in line to have enough people to form a group. In all it took about 2 hours to get outside from when we arrived. Not only was the entire 4th grade there, but there also was two other schools as well.

There were 6 stations to go through before being allowed to go down the hill. This was station 1: getting your skis on and learning to stop. We were taught little pizza (toes towards each other and heels apart so it looks like one is making a wedge of pizza with their feet) which one uses to slow down. Big pizza is the same thing but only a wider stance and used to stop.

We graduated!! On to station 2!

More pics of station 1.

Woo hoo! At least one ski on!

And two skis on!

Here's me in the perfect pizza stance. Proof that I was there!

Station 2: learning to walk up the hill and stopping.

DS1 is the one off on the left.

Here DS1 is showing off an excellent pizza stance.

More pizza-ing.

At the bottom of the "run".

Neighbor boy and DS1 in front of one of the black diamond runs. We were heading into lunch.

By the time we headed into lunch Ds1 still had not passed the final run before heading on to the ski lift. He was quite upset with himself. He wouldn't talk to me at this point so I wasn't quite sure what was wrong. I incorrectly assumed that he was not liking the day and too scared to continue. I asked his teacher about the snowshoeing, but she didn't have an answer. I asked DS1 if he wanted to snowshoe if it was an option and he didn't.

After lunch we headed back to the stations. DS1 continued to go down a few more times. I wanted to go down the hill at least once so while he was mastering the last station I grabbed another mom to be my buddy and to help me get down the hill. She's skied before so talked me through how to get on and off the lift.

Once at the top of the hill, well, there's no turning back at that point. I applied my new knowledge and started going down the hill. The snow was less than ideal conditions. Basically, it was pure ice. To compensate I really zigzagged back and forth down the hill. At times I was going so slowly that I had to kind of walk forward to keep the momentum going. Julie, the other Mom, was very patient and stayed near me. I have to say it was scary, but I did it!!! When I got to the bottom I raised my hands and shouted, "Olympics here I come!!!"

When I looked around for DS1 I saw him in line for the lift!!! I can't believe I missed his "graduation". He was grinning from ear to ear and it was so good to see that. He later told me that he was so upset earlier because he was upset with himself for not graduating sooner. From that moment on he was on cloud nine. It was such a confidence boost for him!

For the rest of the day we skied together....well, we went up together. He became a speed demon and raced down the hill. Meanwhile I took a snail's pace and slowly built up my confidence.

After our first run together the busses were loading. I was so thankful that I drove separately because that allowed us to stay as long as we wanted. If I wasn't there he would have had to leave after only one run. It became quiet after everyone left and less stressful because there were not as many people on the hill. I timed us. It took about 11 minutes from getting on the ski lift to getting on the ski lift for the next run.

By our last run I finally wasn't zigzagging as much and was able to go a bit faster. We left at about 2:40 in time to get the other two boys from school/daycare.

I would like to thank the 4th grade teachers for giving us this opportunity to not only learn how to ski, but also to build up DS1's confidence and give us some much needed mom/son time together.

P.s. I tried swimming tonight. I had to pull myself out of the pool after only doing a little less than half of my normal workout. This is one tired Mama!

Finally, the school is selling tickets for this Friday for only $15.00/ticket. Guess who's going back??