Daley Ponderings

Sunday, February 19, 2006, Jonathan went skiing for the first time. Just after 11am, we headed east to Seven Springs, which is the closest/best mountain to Pittsburgh.
We arrived at the parking lot at 12:45, then took a shuttle to the lodge. We got off at the wrong place and had to walk to the ski area. All that took about a half hour, then Jon got the tickets and we went to get Jonathan's rental skis. His "lift ticket" was free. That's in quotes because he didn't go on any lifts. But he did go on the Magic Carpet which I will write about later.

It took about 45 minutes to get the rentals - they were really busy. It also took a couple of minutes to find the special children's fitting area. I was looking at the boots and discovering that the smallest were way to big for him before we went exploring for something else. The line was long.

They sat each child in a chair and measured his feet and then found corresponding boots. Jonathan's feet were about an inch smaller than the smallest boot size, but that part was ok. He still complained about them being tight on his calves. Then they took the boots and fitted them into the skis, adjusting the bindings as necessary. The man there said Jonathan was the youngest that day.

Finally, we were ready to go! Jonathan really wanted to wear his regular boots, but Jon explained to him that only the ski boots fit into the skis. We found a nice nearly flat spot to start on. Jon pulled him around, and Jonathan did a sort of walking. He was good at it from the start, getting the feel of it, testing, walking. After going down the very slight incline a couple of times, Jon went to put his own skis on. While he was doing that, Jonathan decided to walk down the slope all by himself!

Pretty soon we decided that he should go on a bigger hill, so we headed to the beginner slopes. He had a very fun time sliding down with Daddy, sometimes in front, sometimes behind with Jon going backwards. Jonathan did a lot of leaning on Jon's arms, but he would lean forward when Jon reminded him. He was mostly good at moving his feet correctly to fix it when he stepped on his skis. Only a couple of times when he was really twisted did Jon have to help him out of it.

They have these neat lifts called Magic Carpets that are a cross between moving sidwalks and escalators. There is a rubber mesh belt that moves slowly and grips the skis so they don't slip. Jon said it was very easy to get on.

There was a second beginner slope further down from the first one and it was not so crowded. Jon and Jonathan went down about 6 times total, and then Jonathan was tired and wanted to take the boots off. That was about 3:10pm. So Jon headed off to ski the big slopes by himself and Jonathan and I went to the snack lodge. He changed into his regular boots before we walked anymore, though.

We went to the bathroom (but his diaper was dry!) and then headed to a place to sit down. We had some fruit we brought, and bought a pizza. Then at 3:30, Jon found us. He had forgotten to take his hat or goggles out of the backpack and it was cold up there. It was about 18 degrees (F). He got some pizza and fries, too and finished up the fruit. Jonathan did not want to go back out - he was ready for a nap.

Jon took his hat and goggles and went out for a couple more runs. Jonathan and I went downstairs to return his skis and then came back up for some milk and sleep. After a while, Jon came back and we headed out to catch the shuttle back to the parking lot. I think we left a little before 5pm.

When we arrived home, Jonathan woke up and said in a sleepy voice, "Thank you for taking me skiing, Daddy."