Aidan vs. the mountain

Our little winter sports enthusiast can now add downhill skiing to his list of outdoor activities. Last Saturday, James' employer sponsored a family ski outing at Labrador Mountain, a ski area south of Syracuse. James used to ski back in the day and while I tried downhill skiing once, I have no interest in ever trying it again. After all, I am the person who can walk across a completely level surface and still manage to trip/fall. So I went along for moral support only and was armed with a book and two knitting projects to help me while away the time.

Class did not start until noon, so James tried to teach Aidan some preliminary moves. Here he shows Aidan how to fall on his tookus:


Aidan spent a lot of time on his tookus that day.

At noon, James turned Aidan over to Shannon, a very patient and kind ski instructor. She soon had Aidan practicing how to use the tow rope, how to snowplow and how to turn. He did an excellent job of listening to her directions and not getting frustrated. After a quick lunch, he went back out to work with Shannon some more before she took him to the top of the mountain.

Here they are getting on the chair lift:


Shannon had some last minute advice for Aidan:


And here he is skiing, with Shannon leading and James following (and taking photos):


Hooray for Aidan! After thanking Shannon at the bottom of the mountain, he and James went on two more trips up and down. While the 40+ temps made it pleasant to be outdoors, it made for less than ideal conditions but at least I knew the slush would slow him down.

As we drove back home, he asked "Can we go again tomorrow?"