The future Picabo and Lindsey

I spent much of the last week organizing my first family ski trip. Now, we've gone on plenty of family ski trips, but they've all been organized by someone else, usually my parents. This time around I've gotten the "joy" of choosing the resort, sorting out housing, finding equipment, organizing travel (still working on that one...). And the whole process has gotten me really excited about getting out on the snow. Even more, I'm excited about getting the girls out on the snow - I learned to ski at a very early age (3? 4? Something like that), and I have now-fond memories of freezing my butt off and hauling extraordinarily heavy skis and poles up a hill and falling in the snow on my face. And whining, oh the whining!

Since it was so much fun when I did it, I've decided to share the joy with my own children. 'Cause I don't hear enough whining already of course. Since Devil is quite reluctant about new experiences where she might not be perfect at the alloted task, I took the girls to their first ski lesson last weekend. The rationale being that it would be a good idea for Dev to try skiing before we take her to a house in the French Alpes for nine days.

You may be wondering where on earth you can go skiing in London in January. The short answer is: nowhere (in London). The closest ski resorts are in the Cairngorms in Scotland, but there is a surprising (to me) number of indoor ski venues relatively close by. Some of them even have "real" snow! So the girls and I hopped in the car and drove to the northwest side of London to go to the Snow Centre.

I will skip over the negotiations that were required to get Dev into her gear and onto the snow. Just know that it was a struggle, but once she went out the door, she was fine. They didn't get a whole much done in their 30 minute lesson, but I think the seed has been planted...

Putting on one ski

Walking with one ski

This is a snowplow. It looks like a piece of pizza.

Devil's snowplow

Boo's snowplow (or lack thereof)

One good student paying attention, one hellion wandering off up the slope and sliding down on her bum.

See? Serious hellion.

I'll leave it to Grandpa's tender imagination to predict the skiing future for these two, but for one of them, I suspect it will involve traction. And the skiing equivalent of road rash. Perhaps a broken bone or two. Lovely...