THE PEANUT GALLERY: Paying Money to Walk Funny

I never skied growing up. My first time on skis was in high school, and I was so terrible that I almost killed myself and several other people on that otherwise lovely mountain in the Poconos. My Director, on the other hand, did grow up skiing. Every winter. Not very athletic herself, she is nonetheless as graceful as a gazelle on skis. 

We decided we want Peanut to be a skier. Or to at least know how to ski so we can go as a family a couple of times a winter and build some memories. She, on the other hand, is rarely receptive to new things:

Not loving all of the gear she has to wear.

Once she got out there, though, she loved it. And as her instructor said, "was a natural:"

Riding the magic carpet up the hill.

Look at that smile!
(And her perfect "pizza.")

And there she goes.
Fearless and loving it.

Like a foreign language, skiing is more difficult to learn as an adult than as a child. Still, I've reached a point where I no longer need supervision on the chair lift, can actually stand on my skis without fear of rolling away out of control, and I can even make it down a modest hill without falling.

Now we can race for real, since we're just about at the same skill level:

This isn't Peanut's first time skiing. She was great when she first did it two years ago too. You can read about that HERE.