Liam's first ski

Liam had another exciting first experience today - downhill skiing! (on a first-time, toddler, scale of course). We spent the day at Hermon Mountain near Bangor. Mountain is being rather generous, it's a big hill with one lift, a t-bar and 7 or 8 trails. Not where you want to go for thrilling downhill, but great family skiing. Liam got a free ticket because of his age, and we rented him some tiny downhill skis. He seemed to do OK in the lodge while we worked on his boots, but for some reason, as soon as we went outside, it was an utter meltdown, which we're sure was boot related. So, off went the downhill ski boots and back on when his snow boots. Luckily, our friends brought a small pair of skis with a softer, strap-style, binding that worked well over his boots. That seemed to do the trick because we went right back outside and he commenced to 'ski' for a good couple of hours.

For a while, I just let him shuffle around in his skis so he could get the sensation of having them on his feet. Tara and I took turns hanging with Liam while the other did a couple runs, then we would swap. Both of us would fish-scale up a tiny grade, either holding Liam or pushing him up the hill. Then we would put him between our legs and ski back down to the bottom. Tara, who is the pro ski instructor for kids, skied backwards in front of him while he more or less skied down , facing Tara on his own power. The hill was so shallow and he's so light, that sometimes he needed a little push or tug to keep his momentum.

So, aside from the real ski equipment, he had a great time. It was a kick to get him out on skis. It was hard not to think about him becoming a confident little skier in just a few years, trying to keep up with his older cousins and friends and leaving his parents in the dust.

Little video below - you can hear Liam mistake the snowboard instructor for daddy.