On The Mountain

January 2, 2010

I can't believe it's 2010 already! Happy New Year! (I know I'm late. Don't judge me!) We've been busy the past couple days, trying to settle back into our normal routine, getting ready to go back to school/work.

We had spent the last 4 days of 2009 up at Blue Mountain in Collingwood! Andrew's parents invited us to go up for a little ski trip.

We were all super excited, especially Nathan because this was his very first time skiing. I was a little skeptical at first because, I didn't mention in that other post, but his first time skating was pretty much a huge disaster. He was caught off-guard by the whole being unable to stand up on his own two feet, so he refused to do anything we asked him to.


I tried to be optimistic but at the back of my mind, I kept thinking, what if skiing turns out exactly like his first time skating?

But I was so wrong. His very first times going down the hill, Jay and I had walked him up the beginner's hill after the lifts were stopped. There was basically no one around so we just let him go and Andrew caught him at the bottom.

He was fantastic. He didn't flop over. His legs didn't turn into spaghetti. He didn't lean to one side. He didn't fall. It was perfect.


The next day, we signed him up for private lessons and they were so impressed by his ability to stand up on his skis and make pizza slices.

The rest of the week, we had him in ski camp. There were some times I stood there at the side, along with some other parents and I was so impressed by how Nathan was doing. I tried really hard not to compare, but really, Nathan was amazing and it was hard for me not to make it known that that superstar out there was my kid.


He was good. And he knew it.

Our last day there, he spent the afternoon on the beginners hill with Andrew. Eventually, he even worked up the courage to get on the lift and go down the easy hill!

He was going down well for the first half. Then he hit the drop. Then he dropped. He fell and got scared. We felt it was really important for us to make sure he ended with success. We knew he was capable of conquering the mountain but we brought him back to the magic carpet anyway so he could build up his confidence again, then we went back. And he was great.


It was such a magical way to end the year.