Staff Do & First Ski Lesson

The staff do: X country skiing to a log cabin in the woods over looking the frozen creek, accompanied by my fantastic colleges and friends, and a roaring fire. It was hilarious hiking there on extremely thin ski that only your toes were attached to! There were many spills from everyone and all in all it was a great time and a work out!

We cooked hotdog and marshmallows and drank into the twilight. Then skied back in the dark!

Had my first ski lesson today! A level 2 lesson with 5 six year olds with the assistance of Tom, thank goodness I could just shadow him in the beginning. I did notice that his teaching style was very serious compared to me! It was a great day nonetheless, learnt a tonne of things you only get by working on the job. For example how to untangle pretzeled kids when they fall over! Or for me especially it was great to see them so mobile so quick - which made me want to speed off everywhere. Tom fedback to me that I should slow up and keep everyone close and controlled.

It was pretty hilarious at time - particularly when travelling down the mustashe trail. The first time was smooth, surprisingly so.. which must have been a fluke, because in round two both our little boys lost a ski on the same stump! So I was left to sort them out independently. With a bit of manhandling and coordination we got them both going again, happily flying round the course. Which left me to get my own skis back on, using a tree for balance, which left me covered in snow from the branches. I felt so goofy.

Round 3 was contained even more shenanigans! A little one got stuck in a ditch/snonwbank and was immobile, but laughing hysterically. And I joined him, in both respects! It took me so long that Tom came back to find us. He swooped in with his skis on, lifted the boy up in cradled in his arms and threw him back onto the trail like some sort of mountain rescue god! It was epic.

Saturday equals free kids lunches for everyone! Chicken burgers and fries was a great shout today. Then in the afternoon I even got to use an edgie-wedgie for the first time. (Felt like a true ski instructor.) Edgie-wedgies are two clamps attached by stretchy tubing that fixes kids skis together at the front/tip, forcing them to snowplow/pizza if they don't have enough muscle support to maintain. We call these kids noodles - legs as firm as a wet noodle. With the initial support of the girl advanced enough to do a snowplow all by herself which was great to see, and really important for her development as a skier.

When the day of instructing ended, work did not! I volunteered to help out activities staff with kids carnival following the big ski race today. I.e. Parents partying, kids going wild on sugar and pizza. Our station was tobogganing down the bunny hill using purpose made plastic sheets and foam blocks as speed management crash pads. It was a hit! Other activities included carnival games, hockey, sack races, parachute games and a movie. Love the organised-ish chaos.

It ended with a kick about with the under 14s race team who helped us out tonight. It felt so good to play footy again that I may have gotten too into it.. one thing lead to another and let's just say that one of my batman shoes now resides on a roof.. it was a screamer though!

Until next time! Xxx