Our neighbor Mike, who is a crazy, good skier, set us up with a sweet deal of room, ski lift, and rentals for the weekend, if we just drove up to Swiss Valley Ski Resort in Michigan. An offer we couldn't refuse.
Five out of six Hamby's turned out to be darn, fine skiers. The kids LOVED it. Already, Ike and Ava said that all they want for their birthday next year is to go skiing. This displays a great desire in a seven-year-old to forgo gifts to spend a day on the slopes. All four of the kids and Brant took to it like they'd done it before. They zipped through the bunny hill, moved on to the bumpy hill, passed the smaller, speed hill, AND then went on this huge, insane Triples slope. I could not believe my kids were zooming down this impossible looking hill after only one day. They were on such an adrenaline high and totally in love with skiing. Paige and Claire are already thinking of ways to earn money to get their own skies, boots, and helmets.
Did you catch the the fraction of 5/6ths of the Hamby family were good at this? Yeah, I'm that 1/6th that sucked it up. I fell three times in the first five minutes. The third fall (on the frickin' rope pull -- not even a good crash-and-burn story here) felt like someone smacked me in the back with a shovel making every fall after all the more painful and embarrassing. Oiy. And then when you fall, it's darn near impossible to get back up in skies. I wallered around on the ground like Randy from A Christmas Story ("I can't get up!). I haven't felt so handicapped since I was 9 months pregnant with twins.
