Skiing at Red Lodge

We went to Red Lodge; we drove on New Year's Day and met our friends, Pam and Bryan who had so generously gone to Costco the day before to get us lift tickets. They were only $35 per adult ticket compared to $47 at the resort. Sweet! So! A huge thank you to Pam and Bryan!! Well, Friday morning, we had rain in Red Lodge and it was windy. So we were concerned about what the mountain was like. We drove up there and found the lifts were not running because of the wind. Jonathan's ski lesson was postponed, but they let the kids play in the day care area if one of us was there too. I think it was about 10:30 maybe 11am before things got rolling. Michael and Bret went off on their snowboards and Jonathan started his ski lesson. He did great! He has been so excited ever since Michael came home with the rental skis before Christmas. (We leased skis for Jonathan for the entire season for $99! sweet deal!) So, off Jonathan went with the rest of the kiddos, with nary a look back at Mom. You can see from the first of the pics that the wind was blowing and the snow was swirling. Jonathan loves his new helmet and goggles. He was pretty cozy.

First time down the bunny slope...

...making a turn.

Riding up the magic carpet.

Here he comes with the rest of the kids.

After the lesson, the kids gathered in a circle and did something (I can't remember what.) Jonathan isn't a big group participant, so he just looked around. But when Benji, a ski instructor, asked them for their little aprons, Jonathan got spunky! He grabbed some snow and threw it at Benji. He was getting such a kick out of that! What a rascal! Benji was a good sport. He stood up and said, "You want to have a snowball fight?! Do ya?!", walked over and grabbed a big snow shovel. Ha! He asked who wanted in on the snowball fight. Three or four of the kids raised their hands. He lined them up, scooped up a shovelful of snow, and tossed it into the air above the kids' heads so it would rain down on them. They giggled and jumped around like it was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

After a little lunch, we went back up. I had asked the ski instructors if they thought he was ready. They said, "Oh, yeah, he's ready. Just ski off the Miami Beach lift." So we went up and he did great. We did two runs, I think. He was having so much fun. Michael skied backwards in front of him. Jonathan had learned "french fries" for pointing his skis to go faster, and "pizza" for snowplowing to slow down. He kept yelling, "Pizza, Daddy, do a pizza, you're going too fast!" Then we went up the triple chair...big mistake. He was tired by then, and the longer ride and longer looking hill bugged him. He quit. period. The only way we got him down was to give Michael one of my poles and Jonathan skied between Michael's legs holding onto the pole all the way down. Then he and I got hot chocolate! YUM!

Friday afternoon, it started snowing. And it snowed, and snowed. When we got up Saturday morning, we had about 6-8 inches of powder on everything. Michael and Bret had stars in their eyes and were itching to get in first tracks on their snowboards. So they went up and the kids and I stayed in our room. I packed up the car while the kids played and watched "Animal Kingdom" on the TV. Then we went up around noon. Annisia went into daycare again and Jonathan and I hit the slopes with Michael and Bret. It was only about 12 degrees, but we were pretty bundled up. We did the Miami Beach lift again, only once though. Then Michael headed to the triple chair again. Uh, do you think this is a good idea? Here's Jonathan on the way up...it was cold, a little breezy which meant probably a slight minus wind chill. So...what do you think happened?

Jonathan actually had a meltdown at the top. He was cold and remembered how long it took to get down yesterday. I am not sure why Michael didn't just take my pole and do the same thing, but he didn't. It was awful trying to get him down. He bawled and screamed all the way down. Uncle Bret took over at one point. Usually Jonathan really listens well to Bret, but that was even a challenge. Even promising him a "Mommy and Jonathan hot chocolate date" wasn't good enough. So, we moseyed our way down the hill listening to our cold little guy beller and excusing him to other skiers.

Here I am trying to smile my encouragement to my little guy. I enjoyed skiing with him...it meant I could stay on the bunny slopes! heehee