Yesterday was one of those days that goes on my “one of the best days ever” list.

I took the little guy skiing for the first time.

Yep, he’s 3-1/2. I started skiing when I was 4, so he’s got me beat!

It went almost exactly as I had hoped it would.

We got up early and left the house before 7 am. We stopped at Plaid Pantry and picked up some donuts for a “special breakfast” and m&m’s for later in the day. We talked about how he is going to be a Batmobile driver when he grows up and a bunch of other exciting and important stuff. Eventually, he asked to play games on my phone and I thought it would be okay so I could focus on driving.

We got through Zig Zag and made it to 2500 feet and it started snowing. I mean, blowing sideways flakes flying! This was the only part of the day that did not go as I had expected. The roads were snowpacked, and I was happy to have silence while the little guy played games so I could focus on the road. Once we got on 35 to head to Mt. Hood Meadows the road was really slick and made me a bit nervous. The last time I drove through snow like that was on the way out to Portland when we moved here in 2006! We passed a group of 4 cars that had spun out on the road (later on, I heard that they actually closed the road because of that accident). I took it slow and we got to the parking lot just fine. We got our ski clothes on and made the trek to the lodge.

The little guy walked almost all the way. I did not have mittens for him so he was wearing a pair of my gloves, my hat, and my goggles to keep the blowing snow out of his eyes. I finally tried to pick him up for a little bit, but with my skis and the backpack that I was carrying I could not carry him for long. I told him where we needed to go and he agreed that he could walk the rest of the way. He was such a big boy!

We hit the bathroom and then headed to ski rental for the little guy. He was so interested in the lockers and wanted to know how they worked because they were not exactly like the ones at rollerskating. After a thorough discussion I was finally able to get him moving to the rental shop. It was so easy to get through the rental line. Everybody was so helpful. We were able to purchase our lift tickets there as well which made one less stop for us to make before hitting the slopes. {For those of you who do not know, you can purchase a $10 adult ticket for the Ballroom and Wonder carpets, which is the best place to start your little ones. Kids under 6 are $9 for a full mountain ticket!}

First, we got his boots. He put them on and wanted to try walking around in them. I told him that it might be a little hard to walk in them. He walked around a bit and said, “They feel great!” We also rented a helmet and he carried that while we went to get his skis. We grabbed those and headed over to the ski shop to get goggles and gloves. Now that we had all the gear we just needed to find out where to go. The sales associate pointed us in the right direction and we went back out into the snow.

We got out to the Fun Zone and it hit me…now I need to teach him how to ski! I hadn’t even thought about that part of the day! I know, make a pie with your skis, but what was I supposed to tell him about how to put his skis on? How to balance? How to get on the Ballroom Carpet? I winged it.

He did awesome!

Not once all day did this kid show fear. No trepidation. No holding back. He was amazing!

He got right on the Ballroom Carpet and was just happy and talking and listening. Got right off the carpet (with a little help from me), and turned to go down the “hill”. He ran over my skis, fell down and started laughing. He tried to get right back up on his own, but couldn’t figure out how to get his legs and skis to go the right direction. I helped him out, he pointed his skis downhill and away he went.

The little guy was skiing!

I was smiling. I was laughing. I was cheering him on!

My heart was filled with joy. I was so proud of the little guy. Tears came to my eyes.

I looked around at the beautiful scenery.

Here we were in a snowstorm skiing together.

He was happy. He was excited to do this!

We got to the bottom of the hill and decided to go up one more time.



After another run we stopped and had an m&m snack.

We headed over to the Wonder Carpet, which is a smaller version of the Ballroom Carpet. We took a run over there and stopped for another m&m snack. After sitting in the snow eating the m&m’s he had dropped in the snow his hands got very cold. The little guy started crying and wanted to go inside.

No surprise. Totally expected.

I wish I could have gotten us there faster. I had his skis, my skis, the backpack, and him. He walked…crying the entire way. I wish I could have carried him, but he was tough.

We got inside the lodge and his hands were tingling as they warmed up…you know how that can hurt, right?! He kept crying…until I told him he could have hot chocolate…and a hot dog. What a trooper!

We ordered  two hot chocolates. One with whipped cream. One without.

The world was good again.

At this point I asked him if he wanted to come skiing again. He said, “Next time I want to go snowboarding!” I told him that Mommy only knows how to ski, so we would have to give skiing a try a couple more times and if he still wants to go snowboarding we will have to get him another teacher to teach him how to snowboard. He was OK with that.

After warming up with our hot chocolate and talking about the ski lodge and the snow outside we went to order our lunch. I have never seen the little guy eat an entire hot dog that big! He was HUNGRY! He also ate all of his apples and still worked on his hot chocolate.

I asked him if he wanted to go do anymore skiing and he told me that he just wanted to go home. Not in an “I’m unhappy and want to go home” kind of way, just that he was done skiing for the day and wanted to go home. That was good for me.

We returned all the gear, made a stop at the restroom, and headed back to the truck. I was worried that we would have trouble finding our car since I didn’t really pay attention to where we parked. I did notice the “Doggie Park” sign almost right in line with our row as we walked to the lodge earlier, so I used that as our marker for getting back to the car. And, we found it just fine. He walked the entire way back to the car!

The little guy played with the icicles on the car while I loaded up my gear and got out of my ski clothes. He threw snowballs at me, at the car, and in the air. I got him out of his ski clothes and into the car and we headed home.

The roads cleared up a bit. The sky cleared up a bit. The little guy took a little snooze (which was totally expected). It was a beautiful drive home.

I choked up when I thanked the little guy for going skiing with me. It was one of the best days ever.

home is…being a very proud mommy.