on
Boxing Day, we journeyed west to Beech Mountain, where we rendevoused with my parents & my brother's family for a
family ski vacation ~ this time we had
two sleepy teenagers in the backseat, but we were quickly in Boone for lunch (at our favorite Boone eatery,
Our Daily Bread) &, a short hour later, pulling into Beech Mountain proper!
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| doe & fawns in Boone (photo by Joseph) |
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| (that's me, in the very warm hat) |
the town of Beech Mountain is at the top of a
really, really, really steep&windy road
(featuring occasional guardrails)...and, once you are at the top, you
likely don't want to go back down until you absolutely must.
fortunately, there is
Fred's General Store ~
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| everything you need, at Fred's |
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| & the yummy deli downstairs |
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| the lesson: Joseph (left) & Samuel (right) |
so, this was the first time the boys were ever on skis. based on this, we, of course, decided that the best way to start would be
night skiing...with a lesson on the bunny hill to kick things off! (the rationale with the night skiing was two-part: allow them to sleep in &, also, avoid the afternoon crowds on the slopes.)
yep, that was our plan. send them down a mountain on skis in the pitch dark. ACTUALLY....it really wasn't too dark (flash photography skews the lighting) & they did GREAT!!! after the hour-long lesson, they spent another hour or two walking partway up the green hill & skiing down. learning how to stop without wiping out was a priority, and they both mastered that pretty quickly. before we left for the night (after about four hours of skiing), they were taking the lift up to the top of the green slope & coming down with relative ease!
the next day...
we got an early start in the morning,
the boys looking forward to a full day of skiing with my brother's family ~
(now might be a good time to note that Mike and I did not ski.
personally, i've attempted to ski twice in my life & determined that, at this point,
i did not feel a need to make a third attempt.)
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| about to get boots, skis, & poles! |
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| got gear, ready to ski! |
so, like i said, i have attempted skiing twice in my life - once at around age fourteen & the other at around age twenty-three. on both occasions, i spent most of my time trying not to fall or actually falling or sliding down the hill on my rear-end. oh, and screaming - quietly, but screaming none-the-less. i attempted ice-skating last year & quickly came to my senses & turned in the skates. i don't even like going fast on a bicycle. so, i was okay with the idea of finding a good perch and
watching my children come down the mountain. watching with quiet vigilance. & the really nice thing about bringing teenagers, is that i
could. they were old enough...and so was i.
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| there's Joseph, snowplowing on the right |
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| and here's Samuel, who preferred skiing without poles |
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| & here i am, on my rocky perch |
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| Samuel checking in..while i check for a message from my brother |
as you can imagine, i was
thrilled that the boys took to skiing so successfully (given my own wobbly attempts at around the same age).
they loved it !!! after another couple of hours taking the lift & skiing down the green slope, they both decided to take on the lower blue run (which my brother later said was more green-level but a lot longer than the official green slope). naturally, i referenced the trail map for the lower blue run & quietly noted that, if they took the right fork instead of the left fork, they would end up going through the 'freestyle' terrain....meaning they would see other teenagers attempting insane stunts & possibly decide they could/should do the same. the mountain air must've made me mellow, though - when Joseph later reported that he could now do jumps, i just smiled serenely and said "wow - great!" (of course, i also got a report from my brother of an instance when he noticed, out of the corner of his eye, someone go down in a big spray of snow & realized that it was Joseph.)
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| Samuel the Skiier |
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| Joseph the Skiier |
once my brother & his family hit the slopes late morning, Samuel & Joseph had a good six hours of skiing (from the night before as well as earlier that morning) under their boots & were coming down the lower blue slope smoothly (for the most part, at least - i never witnessed any of the wipe-outs, which i was told primarily occurred trying to get off the lift). my brother later reported that there were typically two or three people piled at the lift exit, who had failed to ski off of it while remaining upright. when he told the lift operator that this was happening, the operator conferred with a coworker & it was determined that the rule-of- thumb was not to pause the lift until there were at least five people piled up.
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| my brother, Jeff, and his daughter, Sam |
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| Uncle Jeff and Joseph, skiiers extraordinaire |
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| Jeff's wife, Kelly, & Sam |
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| the skiiers: Kelly, Alex, Samuel, Sam, Jeff, Joseph |
with the help of my brother, who was actually on the slopes & witness to the boys' skill-level, i held firm on them not moving beyond the lower blue. another day, and they might've done the upper blue - but we will save that for next time. i am okay quitting while you are ahead ~ even if Joseph stated that he was ready to ski the black diamond.
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| Joseph |
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| Samuel |
that evening...
my parents, though not featured in any photos yet, were the primary rabble-rousers for this trip (thanks, Mom & Dad!), and did come out to the slopes to watch everyone ski & hang out with us for awhile.
they hosted everyone at their condo for dinner & xmas festivities in the evening ~
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| Dad, Mom, & Jeff in a studious moment |
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| Joseph trying to see the flying Buddha |
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| Sam drawing & coloring |
Dad put on his Santa hat to pass out gifts,
and being a hat-guy, kept it on the rest of the evening.
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| Mike & Dad looking festive |
after a very, very, very loooooong winter's sleep,
our teenagers woke up & we entertained at our place -
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| Samuel (resting), Sam (drawing), Joseph (strumming), Alex (candy cane eating) |
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| the three younger ones |
the boys embraced their roles as older cousins
(they are some of the youngest cousins on Mike's side of the family)
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| Joseph draws a tree for Sam to color |
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| Sam & Joseph |
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| Alex & Samuel |
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| Alex & Joseph |
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| Alex, Joseph, Samuel, & Sam |
Nana came over while Grandpa took a nap
after lunch, we all trekked back over to Nana & Grandpa's
for some puzzling, marshmallows, & conversation
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| Sam and Nana work on a puzzle |
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| Grandpa works on building a fire |
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| marshmallows! |
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| me and Mom |
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| Mike and me |
knowing that a rainy Sunday potentially meant frozen roads for our intended journey home on Monday, we made the hard decision to leave late in the day - choosing rain & fog over patches of ice. (that morning, we were frequent visitors to the trusted mountain weather site,
Ray's Weather Center. so frequent that Samuel, who loves all things related to weather, stated he never thought he would get tired of people talking about the weather.)
Merry Christmas!
(if you look, again, at the title of this post,
you will know i anticipate one last xmas entry...stay tuned!)
