March 15: Things get worse, then they get better.
Well, we woke up this morning and started getting everyone ready to go. Mary and Gina got up first, and Ellen was still in bed. I waited as long as I thought we could to get her ready, and when I woke her up, she couldn't move her right knee. Actually, it was swollen a little, and was probably pretty stiff. But the pain of moving it was like death for her. I got her up, though, and after walking (hobbling) around a little she was able to straighten and bend it. She did have a pronounced limp, though. We canceled her ski lesson and got her into the play school, so everyone's schedule was pretty much the same (except for Anne Marie's since she now didn't have to ski with Ellen for the morning as we had planned).
Of course, by the time we got up to the mountain and AM went to check Ellen into the play school, she told AM, "No, Mommy, I'm supposed to be skiing today." I don't know what that means. I hope it means that she is still willing to try skiing, and is planning on more skiing, even though she keeps telling us she doesn't want to. It's not reverse psychology, but I think this may be the way her mind works: she needs to say she won't do it so she won't fail at it, but underneath it all she really wants to try. She can't say she wants to do it, because if she can't do it she won't know how to bail out of it. Or maybe I'm all wet, and she just didn't really want to do the play school either. Who knows? By the end of the day, she was walking, running, and jumping with no limp at all. I don't think she was faking the limp (as tough a kid as she is to deal with, she doesn't have the ability to be that deceptive), but I do think she was really overreacting to some stiffness in her knee.
Gina was in ski school again, and graduated to the next level. Mary was in the kiddie ski school with her buddy Amanda. AM skied with Lydia and I skied with Gary. I was very pleased with my skiing, tearing up a lot of pretty hard blues, including a handful of mogul runs. I've got to say, I just do not get moguls. What the hell's the point with all those bumps? It's hard work and you have to go slow. That's not skiing.
Beaver Creek is really beautiful, and the skiing is awfully good. The resort staff work really hard to make sure the guests have a good time. I should especially point out how great they are here for kids with special needs or disabilities. Although Ellen isn't physically disabled, her PDD is enough to keep her out of regular kids' lessons. But they have what they call the "adaptive ski school" here, where special needs kids get their own instructor, one on one, for ski school. It's not cheap, but for the same price as full-day ski school, you get a full-day private lesson, and a 5-day lift pass is only $99. They get their gear free, and one parent or caretaker can accompany her and the instructor anywhere they go on the mountain for about 1/3 the price of a regular lift ticket. And the instructors are good at dealing with kids like her. They were also totally accepting of the fact that we didn't know if or how much Ellen would ski. She was scheduled for adaptive ski school for Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, and was scheduled for play school Monday, Wednesday and Thursday (we had planned on Tuesday being an off day either way). Both the adaptive ski school and the play school have charges for cancellations, but both waived them as long as we notified them before morning. The Beaver Creek guest services folks have just been fantastic in helping us deal with Ellen's issues. That sure makes it a whole lot easier.
Another good thing about Beaver Creek is their "resort pass" system, including DTL status. You can get a photo ID resort pass with bar code that is about the size of a credit card, hooks onto a strap you can hand around your neck, and is connected to your credit card. You can use that resort pass to pay for lift tickets, meals, rentals, ski school, or pretty much anything else. Instead of looking for lift tickets, they use a hand-held bar code reader to read your lift ticket, ski school pass, etc. If you have DTL status on your resort pass, you don't have to buy a lift ticket; you can go "direct to lift" and when they scan your resort pass, you get charged for that day's lift ticket. A very good system.
We finally ran into the Merkls on the mountain at the end of the day today. Dinner tonight was at a Mexican food place, actually in the same building as our condos. We did repair to the Drummond condo for dessert and the boys took to the balcony to smoke some great Cuban cigars. Chris even hit the liquor store to pick up some excellent 1994 Porto Rocha Colheita Port to go with the cigars. Tomorrow is a day off; we haven't set any particular plans, but will probably end up in Vail for some part of the day.
On the whole, I'm feeling a lot better about Ellen today. I think she'll ski another day, and I'm going to really try to get her to ski both of the remaining days (after tomorrow, of course). That will mean that I won't ski any more other than with her, but I'd happily give that up if she would just ski. She's not ready to go without an instructor, and won't reach that point this trip, but she can get more and more comfortable with it. Then, for the next year, she will have "done it" already, so the next ski trip will be easier to get her up on skis. There won't be that initial hurdle to get over. I'd hate for her skiing experience to end the way it did yesterday afternoon, and another good day of sliding would be just the ticket.
Of course, you'll know how it turns out.
Well, we woke up this morning and started getting everyone ready to go. Mary and Gina got up first, and Ellen was still in bed. I waited as long as I thought we could to get her ready, and when I woke her up, she couldn't move her right knee. Actually, it was swollen a little, and was probably pretty stiff. But the pain of moving it was like death for her. I got her up, though, and after walking (hobbling) around a little she was able to straighten and bend it. She did have a pronounced limp, though. We canceled her ski lesson and got her into the play school, so everyone's schedule was pretty much the same (except for Anne Marie's since she now didn't have to ski with Ellen for the morning as we had planned).
Of course, by the time we got up to the mountain and AM went to check Ellen into the play school, she told AM, "No, Mommy, I'm supposed to be skiing today." I don't know what that means. I hope it means that she is still willing to try skiing, and is planning on more skiing, even though she keeps telling us she doesn't want to. It's not reverse psychology, but I think this may be the way her mind works: she needs to say she won't do it so she won't fail at it, but underneath it all she really wants to try. She can't say she wants to do it, because if she can't do it she won't know how to bail out of it. Or maybe I'm all wet, and she just didn't really want to do the play school either. Who knows? By the end of the day, she was walking, running, and jumping with no limp at all. I don't think she was faking the limp (as tough a kid as she is to deal with, she doesn't have the ability to be that deceptive), but I do think she was really overreacting to some stiffness in her knee.
Gina was in ski school again, and graduated to the next level. Mary was in the kiddie ski school with her buddy Amanda. AM skied with Lydia and I skied with Gary. I was very pleased with my skiing, tearing up a lot of pretty hard blues, including a handful of mogul runs. I've got to say, I just do not get moguls. What the hell's the point with all those bumps? It's hard work and you have to go slow. That's not skiing.
Beaver Creek is really beautiful, and the skiing is awfully good. The resort staff work really hard to make sure the guests have a good time. I should especially point out how great they are here for kids with special needs or disabilities. Although Ellen isn't physically disabled, her PDD is enough to keep her out of regular kids' lessons. But they have what they call the "adaptive ski school" here, where special needs kids get their own instructor, one on one, for ski school. It's not cheap, but for the same price as full-day ski school, you get a full-day private lesson, and a 5-day lift pass is only $99. They get their gear free, and one parent or caretaker can accompany her and the instructor anywhere they go on the mountain for about 1/3 the price of a regular lift ticket. And the instructors are good at dealing with kids like her. They were also totally accepting of the fact that we didn't know if or how much Ellen would ski. She was scheduled for adaptive ski school for Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, and was scheduled for play school Monday, Wednesday and Thursday (we had planned on Tuesday being an off day either way). Both the adaptive ski school and the play school have charges for cancellations, but both waived them as long as we notified them before morning. The Beaver Creek guest services folks have just been fantastic in helping us deal with Ellen's issues. That sure makes it a whole lot easier.
Another good thing about Beaver Creek is their "resort pass" system, including DTL status. You can get a photo ID resort pass with bar code that is about the size of a credit card, hooks onto a strap you can hand around your neck, and is connected to your credit card. You can use that resort pass to pay for lift tickets, meals, rentals, ski school, or pretty much anything else. Instead of looking for lift tickets, they use a hand-held bar code reader to read your lift ticket, ski school pass, etc. If you have DTL status on your resort pass, you don't have to buy a lift ticket; you can go "direct to lift" and when they scan your resort pass, you get charged for that day's lift ticket. A very good system.
We finally ran into the Merkls on the mountain at the end of the day today. Dinner tonight was at a Mexican food place, actually in the same building as our condos. We did repair to the Drummond condo for dessert and the boys took to the balcony to smoke some great Cuban cigars. Chris even hit the liquor store to pick up some excellent 1994 Porto Rocha Colheita Port to go with the cigars. Tomorrow is a day off; we haven't set any particular plans, but will probably end up in Vail for some part of the day.
On the whole, I'm feeling a lot better about Ellen today. I think she'll ski another day, and I'm going to really try to get her to ski both of the remaining days (after tomorrow, of course). That will mean that I won't ski any more other than with her, but I'd happily give that up if she would just ski. She's not ready to go without an instructor, and won't reach that point this trip, but she can get more and more comfortable with it. Then, for the next year, she will have "done it" already, so the next ski trip will be easier to get her up on skis. There won't be that initial hurdle to get over. I'd hate for her skiing experience to end the way it did yesterday afternoon, and another good day of sliding would be just the ticket.
Of course, you'll know how it turns out.
posted by Jeff at
8:58 PM
