Dear Abby,
As I mentioned before, right after Ellie's birthday party, we jumped in the car and headed towards West Virginia! I don't think I mentioned that this year Mimi went with us!! She was very excited about seeing you ski and she was not disappointed. But more on that later. For now, we have a 10 hour drive to make. Thankfully this year we decided we would break it up like in the old days and stop on Bristol, VA. And, to break it up even more, we made a pit stop in Knoxville to see Aunt Jill's new house. She was SO excited to have us stop in and it was a perfect potty break, albeit a long potty break and also a fun potty break :) Remy was very eager to show you and Ellie her rainbow room, and, of course, to play with you! You three went off and we didn't see you again until you all came down for your fashion show. Aunt Jill's house was awesome and she was such a good road trip break host with little appetizers for us to munch on!
Eventually, though, we did have to get back on the road. Finally we made it to Bristol and finally (after all Aunt Jill's snacks) we were hungry so we grabbed some dinner and headed to our hotel.
Can you tell you were excited to have Mimi along on this trip? Mommy was FOR SURE! You, of course, slept with Mimi in her hotel room and the next morning we were ready to get up that mountain!
With another quick pitstop at Walmart, some lunch and then the hike up the mountain, we finally made it. This year we were staying at the top of the mountain, again. Last year (and a few others in the past) we have stayed at Nona & Papas down the mountain, but they are trying to sell that place and are now staying up top. It was nice to be already at the snow without having to deal with cars. Of course, that meant carrying your skis, which you were NOT a fan of...
But you survived! Finally on Monday we got our first run on the snow. Mommy was so ready and so were you! I wasn't sure if you were going to love it again, but I soon realized I was crazy for even thinking that. You were born to love it!
But not born to remember how to put your skis on. Thankfully we had Mimi capturing every moment :)
I thought it might be a good idea to do the bunny slope first, instead of plummeting down the hill on your first run out.
After the second run, you told Mimi "I didn't come here to do this." so off you went... Later Katie Bug!
And that's pretty much what you looked like to me for the rest of the week. You had the need for speed and did NOT want to stop, which of course put the fear right up in me! I'd catch up to you only to have to speed off again! Nona had to reassure me a couple times that that is exactly what Aunt Meg did when she was little and that we just had to teach you how to stop at the bottom and wait for us! Man alive, be careful what you wish for !
Mimi stuck around to catch us on the lift.
You asked me multiple times if there was some way not to ride the lifts because they took too long and were boring... What have I created???
That first day was great and you and Ellie both did fantastic, but we decided that both of you needed a lesson to start learning how to turn on the hills rather than shooting straight down!!! So on Tuesday, you went to ski school all day. That was nice, except Mimi had to be stuck inside all day and not see you ski! So, the next day was Mimi day. Just you, me and Mimi. It was a BEAUTIFUL day, so we took the bus up to the top top.
Mimi needed a little refresher so we did the bunny slope a couple times for her and even did the bunny lift so she could practice getting off the lift (and getting off the lift with you!). Finally, off we went! It was one of the best days. Mimi could not get over how good you were and also could not stop screaming for you to slow down! She was so worried about you that she was having trouble skiing herself. We had so much fun and did lots and lots of runs (you did NOT want to stop at all!). It was getting to the point where you would get off the lift and we wouldn't see you again until we were at the bottom getting back on the lift. Mommy had to set some boundaries on how far you could go down before you had to stop and check on us!! It was so fun and eventually, you even pulled out Shirley the cat (your friend from school) and taught her a little about skiing!
Here we are Three Generation skiers!
As the old saying goes, all good things must come to an end...
And it was an abrupt stop for us. So, we were supposed to meet everyone else at 12 for lunch. (we'd been skiing since 9). Around 11:40 I set us on the path to head back to the top to eat, or at least so I thought. We were all getting hungry and of course tired, but we just had one more little run to make to get there. Well, somehow that run ended up being a Blue vs. the green we wanted. Mimi refused to do the blue but before I knew it, you were already started down. I knew it wasn't going to go well since you were so tired and sure enough you fell. It wasn't pretty. So Mimi's at the top, you are 20 yards down, no skis on, and I'm standing there wondering what to do. Well, I dropped my skis and poles and went to get you, of course falling and sliding most of the way down. I convinced you through your tears to climb back up to Mimi and I would carry your skis. That, my friend, was not an easy task. That about did me end, for sure. I had to get you to walk in the tree line because you kept slipping, and, well, let's just say I lost a few pounds on that work out. Finally we made it to Mimi and had to keep going up a hill (green now) because you did not want to ski anymore. We ended up walking the rest of the way back and OH MY GOD, that was awful. Within minutes of sitting down at the table (and to say the least we were late!) I started laughing and haven't stopped every time I think about that last little bit of our day of skiing! Ahhhh, the memories. We had sooooo much fun skiing with Mimi!
You tube down, have the time of your life, scream really loud...
As I mentioned, it was FREEZING! and eventually both of you lost your hats and faces were solid ice. Neither of you wanted to go in, but eventually you said your toes were hurting really bad, so we called it a night! What an awesome night it was. And, shhhhh, we weren't supposed to tell you, but the 'dults had their own tubing night with no kiddos. Greatest night of our lives, too!
One night it snowed over 18 inches and continued to be over 2 feet of snow. We tried skiing in it but sometimes too much powder makes it difficult to ski, especially if you aren't used to 2 feed of pure powder! But we sure had fun playing in it!
This was Kate's first year on skis, and while she didn't last long on them, we did try a couple times. You were very helpful in showing her what to do, but man you hated to climb that hill to get to the magic carpet...
And then there was swimming. We had a pool at our place we were staying and it had a hot tub that you LOVED. Mimi took you a one time and snapped this pic. Both you and Ellie told me you made boyfriends. Mimi said you didn't say a word to them, just would swim up, sit there, then hop back in the water. Focus Abby!! We're here to ski, not to make boyfriends!!!!! TROUBLE!!!!
Overall we had a FANTASTIC trip this year. I had so much fun skiing with you and Daddy and Mimi and even Kate. I can't wait for years to come where we ski down the slopes as a family, that is, if you will wait on us!!!!
