Ski School

Sam brought home a paper right before Christmas about ski school. It is held for six consecutive Fridays. They leave the school at 2:00 in the afternoon, ride the busses up to the ski resort, have a one hour lesson and then are free to ski until 7:00. At that point, they load the busses again and we pick them up at the junior high about 8:00. Sam wasn't really sure he wanted to do ski school. We thought it would be a great idea. Sam really wanted to learn to snowboard but we told him he needed to learn to ski first and then after a couple of years if he liked it, we would let him learn to snowboard. He went up the first week. He had a good time (but did come home pretty sore). He and a friend spent most of the time on the bunny hill. They did ride the lift up the hill once. Sam said they had a hard time getting back down the mountain and so they went back to the bunny hill.

My dad has talked about taking a day off of work and coming up to go skiing with Sam. You see we used to go skiing all the time in the winter as a family. My dad is really good at teaching other people to ski. We decided the second week would be a great week for him to come and go with Sam. That way he could give Sam some pointers and help him a little more than what he is getting in his one hour class.

Friday my dad took the whole day off of work and drove up here, bad roads and all.

Everytime we would talk about this ski trip, my dad sounded so excited to come and go with Sam. We had figured out it had been at least 10-12 years since my dad had last been skiing. Never once did my dad make it sound like his age plus not going for so long would at all be a problem. Everytime I hung up the phone, I kept saying "I am not sure he knows what he is getting into. I know he isn't thinking about what he is going to be feeling like on Saturday morning." Yet I was still ever so thankful that he was willing to come and give it a try. I have to say, my dad would do almost anything if Sam asked him. They have that sort of relationship!

The ski trip was a huge success. My dad said Sam couldn't even make it up the rope tow without falling over. So after the ski lesson, they worked really hard at getting up the rope tow without falling. My dad said that by the end of the night Sam could get around the bunny hill really good. They even went up on the lift once.

When they got home, my dad said he is NEVER doing that again. He could hardly move.

Dad, we just really want to say thank you so much for taking time out of your schedule to come and go with Sam. It meant alot that you would do that. We love you!