Family Skiing

We started taking the boys up skiing consistently starting in 2018 I believe. That was the first year they started lessons and they both were able to ski down the hill on their own by the end of the season. Since then we have committed to skiing every winter season together. We love that it gets us outside and doing something active during the winter months. And it's been important to us as parents to help the boys build skiing skills as it's a sport they can do all their lives and it's much easier to learn at a young age (I can attest to that since I learned in 8th grade and it was really hard by that point!). 

For a few years the boys did lessons--either private when they were younger or group when they got older. Starting last year we let go of forcing them to do lessons because the boys felt anxious about them and they really weren't getting a lot of ski time since the groups were so large.  Plus then COVID happened and we didn't feel comfortable putting them in lessons. So the past two seasons we've just skiied together as a family and it has been heavenly. It's one of my favorite activities to do as a family. We commit to going every weekend usually on Saturday starting the first week in January (we usually warm up with a ski day during winter break first) and go all the way through February. This season we got about 7 ski days in.

Every year it's so fun to watch the boys get better and better.  Thankfully they have their Papa as an instructor who is basically a pro. The boys' technique is looking really good and they're getting more confident all the time. In fact this year we spent a lot more time on black diamond runs. Some were very steep and I was so proud of the boys for working through their fears and just taking it one turn at a time to get down the mountain. It was a major lesson in "I can do hard things" and then once they conquered a difficult run, they wanted to do it again!  The challenging runs were more interesting and fun to them this year so they gravitated to them. I'm trying really hard to keep up--we'll see how long that lasts!  I also noticed this year that along with the skill improvement and growth in courage came a much stronger love and joy for the sport. Nathan even mentioned a couple weeks ago that skiing is one of his favorite activities! So that's exciting for us as parents. Looking forward to many more years skiing together and maybe soon starting to go on family ski trips!

Here's a look at the progression of our ski adventures through the years:

2018:

2019:

2020:

2021:

2022:

And here's just a little snippet of their progress by the end of the season.  

Holiday Season 2021

The holiday season is so fun--especially with the boys being at the ages they are. They still believe and everything is magical.  Although COVID was still present this year, it felt a little more back to normal which was nice.  I wanted to make sure to capture all the fun memories on here via photos.

We wasted no time getting into the Christmas spirit--even cheating a bit and starting it before the Thanksgiving holiday with a visit to Molbaks.  And then it was non-stop from there doing all the fun traditions with some surprises thrown in like Zoo Lanterns and the winter break snowstorm.

Annual Visit to Molbaks

Zoo Lanterns with Cousins

Getting the Christmas Tree (Keith & Scott Tree Farm)

Santa Visit and Snowflake Lane with grandparents

Nate Choir Concert & Snoqualmie Tree Lighting

Decorating Gingerbread Houses with Gramma

Christmas Cookies with Nana & Pops & Cousins

Santa Train

Nutcracker with grandparents

Christmas Eve

Christmas Morning

Christmas Day

Winter Break Snowstorm

It's been a couple months now since the holiday season and it's so fun to go through all the photos and relive it all again!  Such a special year and so many memories to be grateful for.  Can't wait for next year!