Billing Family Blog

*Update: Some of my text edits didn't stick...hopefully the post is good now...

I finally downloaded our pictures from Tahoe last month! I apologize in advance for the wordy post - I want to remember everything about Ryder's 1st ski trip!

Flying with just Ryder was a piece of cake! Typically, I spend a fair amount of time preparing activities for a flight with the kids in order to minimize stress. This time I did it to maximize fun!! Ryder loved the build-your-own-airplane kit and logged many hours with them on this trip. He played so well on the plane that I was able to read like 100 pages in my book!

He was also sooo excited just to get on the airplane. He was standing at the gate saying "Is it time to get on yet? As I was taking pictures, he was saying "C'mon, c'mon, mom!"

As I stood looking at him with his backpack on in line at the gate, I had a quick little vision of him as a young adult in the same spot....no doubt I'll be sending him off on some school trip before I'm ready...he is all about the adventure of traveling - just like Shawn and I :)

Friday morning (after dad made some office visits), we met up with Martina and hung out in the Northstar village for the afternoon. We rented some skates and put some laps in at the rink. To make the skating even more awesome, there was a band playing at one end of the rink (behind Martina in the photo below)! Skating was much tougher for Ry & I than I expected, but he seemed to have a great time "walking" the perimeter, holding onto the guardrail :)

It was so great to see Martina!! She and Ryder were best buds right away! He hardly left her side the entire trip :)

Saturday morning, before riding Squaw, Shawn and Chris got up to early for a sunrise session at Sunrise Bowl. It's a 5 minute drive from Martina / Chris' house. They skinned up and skied down :) Looked like some great powder turns :)

Beautiful scenery!! And...no lift lines :)

It's unreal that Martina & Chris get to do this all the time before work...So jealous...

(Thankful Chris took all these awesome shots of Shawn that morning!)

...Shawn & Chris...

After their morning warm-up session, we all geared up to ride Squaw for the day. My first time at Squaw!

Ryder was so excited to go skiing. As soon as we got to Martina's, Ry was like "Lets go skiing, c'mon, lets go!" And after finishing his lesson at Squaw, he asked to go to another resort and keep skiing! He just loved it! In the parking lot as we were walking into the village for class, Ry was so giddy and bubbly that he was talking to strangers saying "Hi, I'm going skiing!" Lol!

On day 1, he practiced stopping and turning.

He would fall and get right back up and get in line for the magic carpet.

After dropping Ry off, it was like a typical ski vacation! I was actually a little worried we'd forget to go pick him up! Had a great time riding with Shawn, Martina & Chris :)

Chris, Martina & Shawn

Shawn & Chris (above)

Mom & Ry after ski class - day 1 :) Perfect warm weather for being outside all day!

Ryder got to ride the Funitel (gondola) to the Gold Coast chalet where we met Shawn and Chris for drinks & lunch outside! Winter is so much cooler when it's not below zero all the time...

Lunch at the mid mountain chalet (Gold Coast Chalet). I'll have to go back when their ski-thru Starbuck's is open ;) Since it's early season, not all runs / activities / restaurants were open yet.

Hehe....Ry's tiny skis and my board :)

After our great day on the mountain, we hit up the Chamois for some more outdoor chill time. Ry did so great at the restaurants. Probably helped that he burned so much energy on the mountain :) But here specifically, he could wander around in the snowy areas while we hung out :) In the pic above, you can see Ryder, Shawn and Chris on the far left.

Ryder being completely spoiled by Martina :)

Day 2 of ski class...here's a video still of him giving his teacher knuckles after Ry's '360'. He was instructed to ski through the hoops, but caught a ski on one and ended up doing a surface spin / 360. All day he was saying 'Did you see my 360?!" :) His teacher said he was the best in the class (we tried to call him on it, but he seemed genuine) and said that he had no fear. If we were to go again, they said they would be taking him on the chairlift to work on some real runs :)

I think I was more excited for Ryder to do ski school than I was to ride myself! And I love snowboarding, so that says a lot! So it was icing on the cake that he was so stoked about it.

Day 2 post riding lunch outside! These two are in their element.

Flip followed us out to Tahoe ;)

Playtime on the way home.

As mentioned in my previous post, we were also able to see Ryan, Alison & Reese's new home near San Francisco. Ryder was so in love with baby Reese...okay, so was I ;)

Huge thank you for Martina and Chris (and Alison & Ryan) for having us out!! Ryder is already requesting another trip :) Also a huge thank you to mom, Craig & Mikayla for watching Logan while we were away!!

Ryder [on Squaw Valley], "Yah, that's the best place in the world."