Skis by a Different Name

This weekend I learned that:

1. The only thing harder than getting 4 kids ready for church on time(ish) is getting all four geared up in their skiwear
2. It's totally worth the effort

On Saturday we (I) decided that it was totally unacceptable that the boys hadn't yet tried out their cross country equipment, so we took advantage of a beautiful bluebird afternoon and hit the Sundance Nordic Center.

It was great!  The boys quickly got the hang of free-heeling it (hmm... maybe it's time to try tele?) and before I knew it they were trekking up the mountain together while I huffed and puffed behind them (I'll blame that on the 2 girls I was dragging instead of my total lack of regular physical activity).

First we all tooled around the base together, since there was no way that the girls were going to sit peacefully in a pulk until they had gotten a chance to ski.  WanYing continues to amaze me with her ski-sense, she has great balance.  For a girl who's always complaining that she's cold, she sure enjoys strapping planks to her feet and shuffling around in the snow!

By the time I had the girls strapped in, the boys had all but completed their first loop and were coming around for more.  Well, truth be told, half of the boys were ready for more - Sam was feeling crummy and headed inside.

So Ben and I headed up together for a few more quick loops.  Don't worry, he took pity on me and slowed down so I could keep up with him.  Kind soul.  Ben did 4 loops in all, probably 2 miles all told.  Not bad for his first day on nordic gear!

Ben agreed that cross country skiing is pretty fun, although he repeatedly emphasized that going down was far better than going up.  It's hard to argue with that logic - although I have to say that any skiing with my family (regardless of style or direction) is a-ok by me.