Enough of Dallas snow; how about Colorado?
March 12,2004: SKI BLOGGING! We're going skiing! We leave tomorrow morning and I'm going to try to ski-blog the trip. We're going to Beaver Creek, Colorado. Anne Marie and I actually went there before, but way back in the late 80s or 90s, pre-kids. That was actually my 2nd ski trip ever, and it was about the best ski trip you could have, at least for me. Anne Marie was working for Citibank, and the bank took a bunch of customers and spouses on a long weekend ski trip. So, I went along as a spouse. One of Anne Marie's clients had a female CFO, so her husband and I had a great time just being "the wives." We stayed at the Hyatt at Beaver Creek, which was very new at the time, and like all good corporate boondoggles, everything was "on the house" (hey, gotta treat the customers right!). The hotel was ski-in, ski-out, and there was a button on the phone in the room for the "ski valet." You woke up in the morning, called the ski valet and asked them to get your skis and poles out and put your boots on the warmer, slipped on a pair of slippers and headed downstairs. Your boots would be toasty warm and your skis (freshly waxed overnight) and poles would be out in the snow waiting for your. Strap on the sticks, and the lift was about 20 yards away, slightly downhill. After skiing a few runs, you could ski straight back up to the hotel. The ski valets would hustle out of the hotel and unsnap you from your skis; you would stumble inside, hand over your boots to go back on the warmer, and toddle off to the bar for a hot toddy (signed to the room, of course!). Once you were ready to hit it again, your boots would be warm and dry and you'd be nicely recharged. That, I was to later learn, was as good as it was ever going to get.
Since that trip, I went on one or two "boys" skiing trips. It wasn't until 2000 when we went on a family trip. Anne Marie's sister Roey had moved to San Francisco and, as a single gal, had a share in a ski house in the Lake Tahoe area. Roey managed to convince Anne Marie that we should come out as a family for spring break, saying (from personal experience) that it would be best if the kids learned to ski at a young age. Gina was 6 and Ellen was 3. Roey found us a very nice house, and Anne Marie skiied successfully for the very first time. Gina went through ski school, and a great time was had by all. We even saw Anne Marie and Roey's brother out there.
We had another ski trip in 2002 (starting our every-other-year tradition) to Ruidoso, which was cheap but fairly dumpy. We also had Mary by then. Gina skiied again, but Ellen wasn't interested and Mary was too young.
On this trip, both Ellen and Mary will ski (I hope!). As you probably know, Ellen is a "special needs" kid, and has a lot of issues. She has some real sensory integration disorders, which means that she can't deal with sensory overloads or particular sensory inputs. For example, if part of her clothing gets wet, she can't deal with it. She used to strip off her clothes when they got wet; now, if her pants leg gets wet, she will pull that leg up as high as possible, sporting that Jackie Joyner Kersee one-legged leotard look from the Olympics a few years back. She also can't switch from one thing to the next very well, and gets very overwhelmed very easily.
She also has poor proprioceptive skills. That's the type of skill that tells you how much force to move your body with in a particular circumstance. For example, if you went to pick up a briefcase that you thought was empty, and instead it was filled with lead, your proprioceptive skills would be fooled; likewise, if you thought the briefcase was full of lead and it was empty, you'd almost throw the briefcase in the air picking it up. That type of skill, along with balance and body awareness, are Ellen's short suits. She's physically adept generally, but because she gets so frustrated so easily (and her frustration becomes overwhelming), it's difficult for her to learn difficult things. So far, she hasn't gotten the hang of bike riding (she just learned to swing on a swingset; her poor proprioceptive skills make it hard for her to figure out exactly when to swing her feet forward and lean back, or tuck her feet under her and lean forward. When you think about swinging, it just seems so natural: feet forward and lean back; feet tucked and lean forward. But for her, it's not logical at all.
Because of that, I'm pretty concerned about whether she'll be able to ski. She's now aware enough of her own limitations that she's pretty concerned as well. However, I've been pumping her up for it for about a month, and things look pretty promising right now. When I first told her we were going skiing, and I wanted her to try it, she said no way. She just wanted to go into babysitting. I told her we could have that set up, but that I really wanted her to try it. She still said no way. After a few weeks of me telling her every night when I put her to bed how much fun it would be, she finally relented and said she would go up the hill one time and ski down one time, but that was it. It was babysitting after that. After another week, she decided that she'd be willing to ski one day, but that was it. Last Sunday, I asked her what she was going to be doing in a week: she said, "skiing!" When I put her to bed last night, she asked what we were going to be doing tomorrow. I told her we were going to fly to Colorado, then drive to the mountains. She asked if we could ski tomorrow. She is dying to try it.
God, I hope it works out. I'm realistic about it, but God, I'm hopeful.
More to come. . . .
Since that trip, I went on one or two "boys" skiing trips. It wasn't until 2000 when we went on a family trip. Anne Marie's sister Roey had moved to San Francisco and, as a single gal, had a share in a ski house in the Lake Tahoe area. Roey managed to convince Anne Marie that we should come out as a family for spring break, saying (from personal experience) that it would be best if the kids learned to ski at a young age. Gina was 6 and Ellen was 3. Roey found us a very nice house, and Anne Marie skiied successfully for the very first time. Gina went through ski school, and a great time was had by all. We even saw Anne Marie and Roey's brother out there.
We had another ski trip in 2002 (starting our every-other-year tradition) to Ruidoso, which was cheap but fairly dumpy. We also had Mary by then. Gina skiied again, but Ellen wasn't interested and Mary was too young.
On this trip, both Ellen and Mary will ski (I hope!). As you probably know, Ellen is a "special needs" kid, and has a lot of issues. She has some real sensory integration disorders, which means that she can't deal with sensory overloads or particular sensory inputs. For example, if part of her clothing gets wet, she can't deal with it. She used to strip off her clothes when they got wet; now, if her pants leg gets wet, she will pull that leg up as high as possible, sporting that Jackie Joyner Kersee one-legged leotard look from the Olympics a few years back. She also can't switch from one thing to the next very well, and gets very overwhelmed very easily.
She also has poor proprioceptive skills. That's the type of skill that tells you how much force to move your body with in a particular circumstance. For example, if you went to pick up a briefcase that you thought was empty, and instead it was filled with lead, your proprioceptive skills would be fooled; likewise, if you thought the briefcase was full of lead and it was empty, you'd almost throw the briefcase in the air picking it up. That type of skill, along with balance and body awareness, are Ellen's short suits. She's physically adept generally, but because she gets so frustrated so easily (and her frustration becomes overwhelming), it's difficult for her to learn difficult things. So far, she hasn't gotten the hang of bike riding (she just learned to swing on a swingset; her poor proprioceptive skills make it hard for her to figure out exactly when to swing her feet forward and lean back, or tuck her feet under her and lean forward. When you think about swinging, it just seems so natural: feet forward and lean back; feet tucked and lean forward. But for her, it's not logical at all.
Because of that, I'm pretty concerned about whether she'll be able to ski. She's now aware enough of her own limitations that she's pretty concerned as well. However, I've been pumping her up for it for about a month, and things look pretty promising right now. When I first told her we were going skiing, and I wanted her to try it, she said no way. She just wanted to go into babysitting. I told her we could have that set up, but that I really wanted her to try it. She still said no way. After a few weeks of me telling her every night when I put her to bed how much fun it would be, she finally relented and said she would go up the hill one time and ski down one time, but that was it. It was babysitting after that. After another week, she decided that she'd be willing to ski one day, but that was it. Last Sunday, I asked her what she was going to be doing in a week: she said, "skiing!" When I put her to bed last night, she asked what we were going to be doing tomorrow. I told her we were going to fly to Colorado, then drive to the mountains. She asked if we could ski tomorrow. She is dying to try it.
God, I hope it works out. I'm realistic about it, but God, I'm hopeful.
More to come. . . .
posted by Jeff at
11:46 PM
