Giggles the great... skier, that is!

On the provincial Family Day (Feb 18) I took Giggles for a "Mommy Day" while Poppet stayed home with Laolao and Laoye. The activity of choice was ... skiing! I am NOT a skier, but I paid for an hour of private lessons. Then she was to practice on the bunny hill - but that wasn't exciting enough for speed demon Giggles, especially as she had to walk up to the top of the hill, so I paid for a second hour of lessons so she could go up the big hill with adult accompaniment (and get a few more skiing tips to boot).

Both of the instructors who worked with her said she was "a natural" and "very talented." In fact, the second instructor said in her many years of teaching, this was only the second time she'd had such a good student for a first-time skier.

They start the kids off snow-ploughing to keep from going too fast while they learn to keep their balance, but by the end of the second hour, Giggles was already doing a few turns with parallel skis, which means faster speed and harder to balance while turning. She said she fell down only a few times.

(Anybody out there interested in accompanying a 7-year-old on the hill for a day or two sometime?!?)

I think regular skiing lessons will be on the books for next winter.