Born to SKI

We've been talking about taking Griffin skiing since we moved to Utah. Well, my dad has been talking about it and I've been saying, "He's not ready!" A few weeks ago we visited my dad, and Griffin immediately wanted to try out the skis. He put his feet in the bindings and was ready to head out the door. After that, every time we go to visit my dad, Griff walks in the door and says, "where the skis?" We could tell, he was ready.
So, after three days of snow, we finally decided today would be the perfect day to go up. We bundled Griffin all up, headed over to Grampa's for breakfast (Griffin could barely be bothered to eat, he wanted to get on those skis!), and then went up the mountain for some fun in the snow. On the way Griffin kept saying, "Go to the mountain to skeeee!" It was literally all we could do to finish bundling him up and get him all ready to ski, he just wanted to GO! I felt like the mom on the Christmas Story, pulling on gloves and boots, picking him up when he fell over. It was exhausting.
Griffin picked out this helmet and put it on...

It was too big and backwards, so we found a smaller one for him. And we found some awesome sunglasses in the lost and found, which were good to have because it was so bright outside! We truly couldn't have had a better day. It was beautiful and sunny, and the snow was perfect. It would have been a great powder day. Finally, Griff was all outfitted and ready to go. Whew.

Here are Griffin's first moments on skis...you can see that he's a natural!

The we scooted around for a while, just to get used to it, and of course, had to take some pictures. Here is Griffin and his proud Grandpa and his proud Mama...



It was not easy getting him to hold still to pose. Not that that is any different from any other activity. He kept saying, "No, my ski!" I was a little nervous about sending Griffin up on the lift. I'm not sure why, I've ridden lifts a million times. I guess it's a little different when you send your own little two year old up into the air. But, in true Griffin style, he loved it!

The funniest thing was Griffin and his tongue! Apparently, this is a Lindsay trait, because my Grandpa does it, my dad, my cousin Lindsay, and myself, all stick out tongues out when we're concentrating or working hard on something. Oh, I think Alex does it too. Maybe it's a genius trait. Or, it could be that it felt cool in the wind. Either way, it was cracking me up!

You can tell my dad is a great ski instructor, because he was very good and natural with Griffin. He knew all the right things to keep Griff moving and happy. It is not as easy as you might think. I was most impressed with his skiing backwards skills. He helped Griffin a lot, but he also let Griffin do a lot on his own. Griffin did two runs, (that means two times up the lift and down, for those of you who don't know) and we decided to take a little break. That was a lot of work for the little guy! Plus, it was still shady and pretty damn cold! Griffin was none-to-pleased as we veered away from the lift towards the lodge. He kept saying, "No break! No break!" He did not want to stop, but I think he was entertained enough just walking in his ski boots, which is kinda tricky, that we were able to get him into the lodge to sit down. He kept pointing out the window at the other skiers saying, "Ski, ski!" He sat long enough to eat (well, crush to pieces) most of a muffin, and a sip or two of hot chocolate. Then, he decided the break was over, he put on his helmet and his sunglasses and he was out the door. In the little video, you can hear Griffin say, "Go ski." As he wriggles out of the chair. I tried to get a few pictures, but he was not having it. We were wasting precious ski time!

So, off we went again. Griffin was amazing! I mean, I figured he'd love it, but I did not expect him to take to it so well. He was very balanced, and comfortable. He did fall some, because his legs were tired and he was skiing all on his own for the second half of the day. Well, my dad was right next to him the whole time, but he would go on his own down the hill in stretches.

He did two more runs after our break, and we decided to call it a day. Of course, Griffin wasn't totally crazy about that decision, but he was so beat. And his silly gloves wouldn't stay on. We ended on a great note, even though Griffin was saying, "No bye-bye ski" the whole way out of the parking lot. He (surprisingly) made it all the way down the mountain before he zonked out completely. It was an awesome day, so much fun! You could just see how proud my dad was as he showed him off around the resort to his co-workers, and told everybody that this was his two year old grandson. I look forward to the many more ski trips we have ahead of us. If Griffin could have his way, it would probably be tomorrow. Sorry for the extra long post, but I am so proud of my boy! I couldn't put all the video clips on this post, so I uploaded them onto Youtube. Go to http://www.youtube.com/lizarrington80 to see them all.