Winter Play Land

Well for three months we have tried to take Cleis snow skiing and the weather has not worked in our favor. This past Friday was our last chance to take advantage of the Retro pricing at Paoli Peaks. We figured take her when the price is right that way if she doesn't like it, no big deal we're not out a bunch of and it's okay if we don't get to ski.

Well once again the weather was not in our favor but Tony was determined we were going. So we made the plans, dropped Chloe off to Mimi Cheri and Papaw Jerry's, got all our gear out and loaded and headed off for a good nights sleep. We woke Friday morning expecting the weather to be here and there was nothing - good but disappointing. Everyone got ready and we started out the door and the snow started. We went on as planned. Once we got onto Hwy 150 things went from fair to worse and the further west we went the worse the roads became. We took it slow and all turned out well.

Once we arrived we suited up and headed to the slopes with our gear. Because we had to purchase rental for Cleis her admission included a group lesson. We arrive at the lesson and learn that she must be 6 years old. We explain the news to Cleis and she's okay with it, she just wants to go down the hill. We step aside and plan to listen to take some pointers from the instructor and the instructor must have felt sorry for us and gave up one of his instructors to give Cleis a private lesson for about 45 minutes. We stayed with Cleis a couple of times down the hill to see how she was doing and to make sure she was comfortable. Once we felt comfortable, Tony and I headed off on our own to take a couple of runs.

After her lesson we took a break and Cleis needed to get warm. So we headed in to the lodge and shared a couple of cups of our Williams-Sonoma hot chocolate (best stuff ever). Then it was back out to the slopes and Cleis said she was ready to do the big hill. So down we went and never looked back. Cleis was ready to cover all the slopes and so that is what we did.

Even with the extra element of the weather, the wind was a bit strong, overall the day was great. Cleis had a great time. Tony and I squeezed in some good runs and we're planning for next year. Oh yeah, while we were there we ran into a family that had a 2 1/2 year old and he was already out on the slopes. We'll be starting earlier with Chloe and who knows we may be back to our annual Snowshoe trip before we know it. I can't wait!!!!