We Three Ski (and one snowboards)

On Thursday we headed up to West Virgina to go skiing at Winterplace. This was the first time that either of the boys had been skiing. We had been planning to go the previous week, but a sudden string of 60 degree days delayed our trip. But the timing worked out perfectly for my Friday birthday. We stayed at what appeared to be a very nice place, The Resort at Glade Springs. I say appeared to be because we didn't get there until 10 p.m., even though my plan was to be there before 6. Not bitter, not bitter (I just keep repeating that to myself). Anyway, there was an indoor pool and spa, sauna, indoor basketball court, and a bowling alley. We were too late to enjoy any of these, but they all looked like they would have been fun (not bitter, not bitter). We got an early start on Friday, and were at the slopes just after they opened. Sam decided to try out snowboarding, and he got the hang of it right away. You never have to worry about Sam in these types of activities. He usually picks them up fairly quickly, and will just keep plugging away until he masters it. He wakeboards so that may have helped him some. According to Sam, snowboarding is easier than wakeboarding. Ryan, on the other hand, I was worried about. He very easily could have tried, fell once, and said "I'm cold, I don't like it and I want to go." And then he would have repeated that every 5 minutes for the rest of the day. BUT, this kid absolutely loved to ski. It was amazing, he just kept trying, run after run, until on his last run of the day he didn't fall one time. In his words, he "conquered" the mountain. I was so proud of him. We had purchased a snow tubing add-on, which was for two hours, but after about 30 minutes, both boys said they wanted to return to skiing. I think that when sledding is set up in lanes and you can't try to knock each other off, or double up or form a chain, it took some of the fun out. It was like structured sledding. On the drive home Ryan said it was his best day ever and Sam made the decision to make a ski trip and annual family trip. Sounds like a good idea to me.