Logan's First Day on the Slopes!

After years of talking about it, Ron and I finally decided that this was THE YEAR for Logan to hit the slopes for the first time.  Although I have always wanted all of my children to grow up as snow skiers, Ron pointed out to me a few years ago that it wouldn't be fair to him if all of his children were skiers and he was the only snowboarder in the family.  As much as I hated to see his point, I realized very quickly that he was right and so Ron decided to raise our boys as snow boarders and left the girls to me to be raised as snow skiers.  After getting an amazing and free amount of snowboard gear, equipment, and clothing from a co-worker last year, we decided that we should start Logan snow boarding this year and Ella the next year (when hopefully my knees are healed enough to hit the slopes again to help her).  Since the ski resorts all require advanced ticket purchases this year due to Covid-19, Ron got online a few weeks ago and bought tickets for the three of them to go "skoarding" on the first official day of Winter Break today.  Since Logan does not do well with change and really despises trying anything new, Ron and I decided to bite the bullet and pay for a 2-hour, private lesson for this morning.  We knew that if he had a bad, first experience snow boarding in a group class that it could negatively impact his attitude and desire to ever go again for months if not years to come.  We felt like this would be a worthwhile investment.

Since Logan was not happy about the fact that Ron had reserved his lesson and purchased tickets for them a few weeks ago, he was pretty worried and scared on last night.  Ron and I both had private, pep talks with him and Logan and I even said a prayer to help him being brave on the slopes and to have a positive experience.  After packing everything up in the afternoon, we got the kids to bed early last night for their 6:30 wake up call.  Since I woke up before they left, I will able to slip downstairs and wish Logan good luck again and say another prayer with him.  It sure felt strange to not be with him for the first time he was trying something new and challenging as I have always been with him before.  Lia's friend, Elle, and her dad who were joining them for the day and came to our house at 6:45 and the entire gang pulled out five minutes later.  I wondered all day long how Logan was doing, but never got any text updates from Ron.  I had to wait until they got home after 6 p.m. to learn that his first day went as great as could be expected.  They made it up to the mountain in time to find his teacher a few minutes before 10 a.m.  Logan then had a good, first lesson with her and was as happy as could be when he broke for lunch with Ron and the rest of the group.  After lunch, Lia was able to ski with her friend and dad while Ron gave Logan a second lesson all afternoon.  Ron was able to move Logan from the small, magic carpet up to the big one and he said that if they had been given one more hour that he could have taken him on the chairlift for the first time.  Logan really picked up the basics of snowboarding quickly and was cruising down the little, bunny slopes with ease and even making some turns by the end of the day.  He was in such a good mood tonight at dinner.  I was so relieved to hear this news and just thought that he looked so cute boarding down the hill in the videos that Ron took of him. 

Logan and Lia heading up to the slopes after arriving in the morning.

Logan and Lia with Elle.

Lia taking off on her skis.

Logan working with his instructor at the end of class.

Logan taking a break from boarding.

Logan falling over while boarding down the hill with Ron in the afternoon.

 A very hot and tired boy heading back to the car at the end of the day. I just love this picture! Apparently, I overdressed him and he will need to wear less layers in future (just like his father)!