snow skiing....in July

Yes.  I said snow in July.  You see, I'm still trying to catch up on blog posts and I have one more winter post to write about:  Michael snow skiing for the first time.  I'd like to think I saved this cold and snowy and bundled up post on purpose....to be written on a 95 degree hot and humid day in July to make us appreciate the differences between the two seasons.  But I didn't.  I just never got around to posting it.  We were just too darn busy and then days turned into weeks, which turned into months.  And now it's July and I couldn't not share a picture though...even if it is summer now.

I found this organization called TAASC (The Adaptive Adventure Sports Coalition) and they are a wonderful group of skilled volunteers that provide adaptive adventure sport and recreational opportunities for individuals with disabilities.  They teach people how to ski (snow and water), kayak, mountain bike, and play sled hockey...and a whole host of other adventurous things.

We have a lot of snow skiers in our family.  My sister, my b-i-l, G's brother, aunts and uncles and cousins....heck, even my mom did ski patrol for years and she's on a local race team where she consistently brings home 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place individual medals for super fast skiing, as well as skiing in France, Canada and all over the US.  Sooooo, we thought the boy should experience the slopes.

First thing was to get fitted in a bi-ski and get buckled in nice and tight.  Then off to the bunny hill to practice turning.  The volunteer (also named Gary) positioned me and G on either side of the slope and then had Michael practice leaning towards mom and dad to make those turns.  Another volunteer (Brandon) placed baby snowballs in Michael's lap and had M throw them to build up strength and accuracy in his arms, in addition to practicing left and right hand activities (this will help him later when they add the arm skis...which we didn't get to this year).

After a few trips down the bunny hill, Michael was getting a little bored.  Volunteer Gary asked if he could take him on a bigger hill and knowing that Michael loved all things fast, we said yes.

I was a little concerned how he was going to ride the ski lift while fitted in the bi-ski, but they slowed the lift down and they attached the bi-ski to the lift with a carabiner, as well as held on to Michael.  Whew, that was a little scary for me to watch.

The result of the big hill:  he LOVED it!  We could HEAR him "talking" coming down the hill and once he got to the bottom where we were, he signed "more" "go" and "bye" to us.  So funny!!

Michael enjoyed it so much that we took him back probably 5 more times.  I guess that means that Gary and I are going to have to learn how to ski now just to keep up with the boy!!!  So much for our plans to move to warmer climes.