Birthday Snow

I mentioned to Delaney a few days ago that I’d take him snowboarding on his birthday if he wanted. He seemed excited, and asked me again yesterday if we could go. He even talked to his teachers on Tuesday, telling them he wouldn’t be at school Wednesday, and asking them to give him his work ahead of time. He told me when he got home Tuesday night that he was set for snowboarding.

So I slept in a little, got Kendall to school, and then Delaney and I headed out to Keystone mountain for our first day of snowboarding this season. Actually his first day, my second.

We got to Keystone just about 10, having left the house about 8:20. The roads were fine, and I started my conference call as we parked. We dressed and get ready, me using the mute and speakerphone functions to get through the call and still be productive. We ended up walking to the gondola, with my finishing up as we went through the village.

It was a beautiful day, about 40F, sunny, and not much wind. We headed up to the top and checked the big trail map board. I was a little worried that only blues were open, and just 3 or 4 near the gondola, but Delaney didn’t seem worried. He needed a few runs to get comfortable last year, but he was ready to go this year.

We headed down Spring Dipper and he did fine, as you can see above. There was one steep part that had him nervous briefly, but he got through it, and then did fine the next time. We had 3 or 4 runs before taking a break for lunch.

The lodge was almost deserted at 1:00 on a Wednesday in November, so we enjoyed a quiet lunch, not having to fight for space, and then went out for 3 more runs. We could see more and more shadows falling across the runs, and so we were trying to be careful. It gets really hard to see for me, and even with Delaney’s glasses, he was a little worried.

We headed home, getting back in time to get Kendall to tutoring and then have a family birthday dinner at Olive Garden.

A good birthday day for my 11 year old.