The boys learn to ski

Lunch on the tailgate of Grandpa's pickup.
You can almost see the slopes behind.
Practicing pizza (snowplow).
Andy riding up the magic carpet
Aden riding the magic carpet
with Grandma Beth behind.
Grandma Beth showing us the
ropes of the magic carpet.
Aden and Andy had a great first day skiing. We went to Heavenly Nevada on February 13, 2010. The boys were asking the whole way how much longer it was going to be. I finally showed them the mountain we'd be skiing on and told them that when we turned we would be about 20 minutes more. They were really excited when we started up Kingsbury Grade. They kept looking out over the Carson Valley and asking what the blue squares were. When I could peek over I noticed they were taking about the ponds in the middle of the farm land. Just getting to the ski resort was an adventure. We got there about 830am. We saw Grandpa and Grandma, JJ, Aunt Aubrey, Jewely, and Rob Pumphrey. It took us a long time to get on all the gear. Aunt Aubrey got us free tickets from the booth. And we started up towards the bunny hill. Grandma lead the way and was explaining a few things about skiing. (Grandma taught ski school at Heavenly for a few years. She's an expert at teaching newbies.) The magic carpet wasn't opened yet so we tested out the skis on the flat part trying to get a feel for them. The boys were first in line when the magic carpet started going. The first thing they learned was how to point your skis into a giant pizza. Andy had a hard time with this until Grandma asked him what her skis looked like. he said a triangle then it clicked she meant a slice of pizza not a whole pie. He had it after that. Aden caught on to everything very quickly. Each of the boys were neck in neck in learning each new skill. Grandma took them on the big magic carpet around 11am. They kept practicing until lunch. When we stopped to eat that was when Aden started asking when he could go on the big chair lift. I told him he would have to ask Grandma since she is the teaching expert. She said that if he could go around all the cones on the bunny hill without crashing or missing any then he could go on the big chair lift. After lunch he was very determined to get every single cone. It didn't take very long before he had made it around every one. It was hard to convince him to go a few more time before we would try the big lift. Around 3pm we finally gave in and headed to Boulder chair (big lift). It is a beginner run but it is about ten times longer than the bunny hill. I was nervous about letting them go down but they did great. It did take us 45min to go down the first time. But the second time they were faster. We were only able to go twice that afternoon before it was time to go. The boys had a blast!! They keep saying skiing is the best best best best best (add a few more) thing ever!! We have plans to go the next few weekends so I hope they will continue to get better.