Skiing at Elk Mountain!

We had plans to ski at Elk Mountain in 2017, 2018, and 2019, but it never actually happened because the dates we could ski there usually fell around January 2-4 and as we approached the date Paul would then say he was too busy at work to take a day off to go skiing with us. I felt uncomfortable with the idea of taking Ian and Nadia skiing by myself (for their very first time skiing) in 2017, and I felt uncomfortable taking all three kids by myself in 2018 and 2019, especially as it would have been Oliver's first time skiing. Last year when all five of us were skiing at Ski Sawmill towards the end of February, I told Nadia that I would (Lord willing) take all three of them skiing twice in 2020. Ski Sawmill had seemed more appealing to me because it's almost exactly one hour from our house, whereas Elk Mountain is almost exactly two hours from our house. Yesterday was the first time any of us had skied at Elk Mountain. Hindsight is 20/20. Had I known that the bunny slope at Elk Mountain had a chair lift, I would have come here last year! I didn't fall down ONE time yesterday. I can't recall how many times Oliver pulled me down getting off the T-bar lift for the bunny slope at Ski Sawmill.

Isiah and Micah planned to ski last February at Ski Sawmill with us, but they were sick that day and unable to go skiing. They went skiing last January at Elk Mountain, but we didn't go. This time we both were skiing together! My three love to go skiing, but skiing with friends made it an even better experience! The ski sloped opened at 8:30. The kids have typically been waking up sometime between 7:00-7:30 each morning. I hate waking the kids up, but I decided to wake them up at 7:00. If we were to arrive there at 8:30, I would have had to wake them up at 6:00. I knew we couldn't stay until 4:30 because they had their first ice skating class at 5:15. I had the kids' lunches made before I woke them up. I toasted three bagels for them to eat in the van while we drove to Elk Mountain. We arrived at 9:30, and it took a full hour to take the shuttle to the lodge, use the bathrooms, and get our ski equipment. Nadia and Ian pretty much skied for four hours straight. Oliver and I took a little break at noon to go back to the van and get our lunches and my camera. At Ski Sawmill the parking lot is right beside the lodge, but the next time we go to Elk Mountain I'll bring our lunches and such up to the lodge when we first arrive because the lockers only cost 50 cents! Nadia and Ian were having so much fun skiing that they decided to wait until 3:00 to eat their lunches, and we usually eat lunch sometime between 11-12. I had my cell phone and camcorder in my pockets the whole day. I used my camera a little bit after eating lunch and then locked it in a locker along with Ian and Nadia's lunches.




Everyone started on the bunny slope. I then told Nadia and Ian they could go explore some other beginning (green circle) slopes while Oliver and I would stay on the bunny slope. Isaiah and Micah showed up with their father and his parents around 11:30, and Ian stayed on the bunny slope the rest of the day so he could ski with Micah. Isaiah's dad was teaching him how to ski. Nadia skied with everyone for the majority of the time, but she and I did do one intermediate slope together (blue square). Oliver, Ian, and Nadia certainly fell down, but everyone always landed on their bottoms so no one was injured. Paul was relieved to hear that. I took a few pictures with my cell phone, about six videos with the camcorder, and quite a few pictures with my cell phone. I haven't even gone through all the pictures yet. I had planned to stop at a Subway on the way to the ice skating rink for dinner, but in light of how late they ate their lunch, I decided to wait until after their ice skating class to eat dinner at Subway.




Nadia and Ian had taken ice skating lessons - first the Snowplow Sam class from 4:30-5:15 in 2015 and then figure skating lessons from 5:15-6:00 in 2016 and 2017. Their basketball practices interfered with ice skating lessons in 2018, which was the year I first planned to have Oliver take the Snowplow Sam class. When the basketball practices again interfered in 2019, we decided to pay for private lessons instead. The group class is much cheaper. In 2015 it cost $50 for ten weeks of lessons (skate rental is included). The last few years it has been $60 for ten weeks of lessons. Private lessons were more expensive because we had to pay the teacher plus pay admission to the public skate and pay for renting skates. Because Oliver had taken private lessons last year, I decided to skip having him take the Snowplow Sam course. They divided the kids into three groups last night and had multiple instructors for each group. Nadia was thrilled that she was put in the most advanced group. They worked on crossovers last night. Ian was at first placed in the middle group, but then they moved him back to the beginning group. Ian has an easier time with basketball than Nadia does, but Nadia definitely has an easier time with ice skating. I'm looking forward to seeing how much progress all three of them will make over the next ten weeks! The last week is not a lesson but a pizza party during which family members also can skate for free.

Skiing for four hours and ice skating for 45 minute meant they definitely worked up an appetite. One of the kids had received a $15 gift card to Subway for Christmas, and that covered dinner for the four of us last night with about 30 cents to spare. Our skiing trip cost us the gas to drive four hours round trip plus the 50 cents for the locker. We used the driving time for listening to Roll of Thunder Hear my Cry for an hour, listening to music on the radio, and the kids watched part of The Odd Life of Timothy Green. Ian also read six chapters of an Olga da Polga book. Nadia read a little bit as well, but her motion sickness doesn't allow her to read in the van as much as Ian.

Considering we were gone from home for almost 12 hours straight yesterday, it would have been nice to be able to stay at home all day today, but such was not the case. We did schoolwork this morning, and then we left around 1:30 to go to the library and bread store en route to the kids' computer hardware class that took place from 2:30-4:00. Next week we'll shop at Aldi before the computer class. I made a super quick trip to buy just a few things afterward but that coupled with a stop for gas plus a stop at Taco Bell/KFC for dinner meant Oliver was about 15 minutes late for his basketball practice. We typically either get a pizza to go or use a gift card once a week. This week we definitely ate out more than usual, but we used gift cards every time. Next week I think we will only eat out on Friday night after the computer hardware class. Even though Paul didn't eat with us today, we brought home some chicken from KFC for him. Oliver and I got tacos, Nadia ate dinner at church at the Bible quizzing event, and Ian ate some chicken. We very rarely go to KFC (once a year or less) so Paul is eagerly anticipating the chicken that's in the refrigerator. I always think of my mom in conjunction with KFC as that was one of her favorite places to eat.

Nadia is supposed to be picked up around 10:00pm. I am hoping that Paul gets home from Baltimore around that time so he can pick her up as the boys will be asleep at that time. We haven't seen him since Tuesday morning. Tomorrow all three kids have their first basketball games for the season, and Nadia will be rejoining the quizzing event after her basketball game is over. Paul has worked for 13 days straight. He usually works on Saturdays, but he's taking tomorrow off to see the kids' basketball games.