Last Weekend

It was the last weekend of the season that the ski farm was open, so of course, all 6 of us went out for one last ski all together.  I’m sure there are some boys in the household who will make any use of the snow left around our house, but this was with everybody.

As you can see, Silje and David were on their own skis, although David asked me to hold his poles half way through the first trail because he thought they were getting in his way.  He does much better without them, as most kids do.  Elias was in the pulk, zipped in and pulled by Knut.  Although he loves being on skis, he’s not quite up to going out on trails yet, and more plays with Daddy in the yard there.  He loves being pulled by Knut though, and we often hear his squeals of delight.  Knut also had Solveig in the Ergo carrier under his jacket.  She however, got bored and fell asleep.  Bob, the black lab that lives at the ski farm, joined us on the trails as we seemed to be the only ones out there in the morning.

It’s handy to have 2 kids hanging on Knut while we ski.  It slows him down for the rest of us.

Did I tell you that he made it into wave 1 for the Birke next year?  That was one of his goals, and he made it.  He said if he didn’t make it, he’d do the Birke skate style next year, and if he did, he would do it classic style one more time, since he couldn’t pass up an opportunity to ski with the elites.  I know, I didn’t realize there were different types of cross country skiing either.  It’s kind of like swimming, where there are different races to get across the pool using a specific method.  Classic style is what most people think about when picturing cross country skiing.  Skating is more like roller blading with really stiff, long skis on.  It’s much faster which makes it more popular.  I haven’t tried that style yet, and don’t have any big intention to as I enjoy classic so much.

I felt the most confident on my skis this time.  It’s my 3rd time out there since Solveig was born.  I’ve been really shaky on skis this year, as I haven’t been certain which muscles of mine I could depend on.  However, this weekend I had such good glide that it was really fun.  Well, going with the kids is always a bit pokey.  Mostly because I don’t really know how to stop on skis yet, and this time I was in the back of the group to insure no one was left behind.  I would have to wait quite a while at the top of the hills to make sure the kids were far enough ahead that when I started going down, I wouldn’t plow them over at the bottom. 

Knut said simply, that I just need to step out of the track if I feel like I’m going to run over them.  I wish my body would do what I wanted at times like that, but mostly it just stands there in terror.  There was a very icy hill on the second trail we went on.  I nearly lost control about 7 different times but I didn’t fall down.  I focused, and was chanting to myself all of the things my body was supposed to do.  “Bend the knees.  Stay loose.  Maintain control.  Don’t fall.  Don’t fall.  Don’t fall.  Don’t fall.”  All of this, of course as my hands holding the poles were waving wildly in the air, which I’m pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to do. 

So I made it down the whole way without falling, but gained too much speed and ran into David at the bottom and we both fell down.  Knut gave me the “why didn’t you just step out of the track?” look, and I explained that he should be congratulating me for actually making it down and not picking at details.  David was a good sport about it, though, and thought I was pretty funny to run into him.  I was just so grateful that Knut was wearing Solveig and not me.  He’s got a bit more experience!

After we were back at the hut, or house, or lodge, I’m not sure what the ski term is, Knut took my camera out on the trail to take some pictures as you’ve seen in this post.  It was truly a gorgeous day to be out there.