Ringing in 2012!

We spent the final day of 2011 up at Mt. Hood Meadows for the final (race) day of the MAC ski camp. It was a beautiful day - clear skies, no real wind - with pretty good snow after ~16 inches the day before. Much better than the start of the camp, which was just warm enough to be raining on the mountain, but windy and cold once everyone's gloves got totally soaked. They even cancelled the second day of the camp (it rained 5+ inches at the mtn. that day).

J and D were much more comfortable on their skis after a couple of days under their belt and both did a good job with their races (2 runs). I went with them for the first run before lunch, while Annabel was with Ty on the magic carpet and buttercup. We then switched for the afternoon.

In terms of results, the boys came in at the end of the pack for the MAC team, given that most of the other participants are much more active skiers. That said, they are much closer in terms of time to then next group of kids in their age group ... if they got 10-15% faster (from a race time of ~43 seconds to 37-38) they would be in the middle of the next ~6 kids above them. I think they could make that kind of improvement over the course of another 8-10 days on the mountain. [as comparison to the really good kids - who have skiied a ton - that are doing the course in the 30-32 sec range]

Ty had a good time, although he was driving both A and i a bit crazy. he really needed to stay on the magic carpet and just practice staying balanced and making a wedge, but he insisted on heading over to Buttercup after a few carpet runs each session. He showed some signs of improvement/comfort though - even over a few short runs.

A great quote he had to Annabel that highlights his current independent streak ... after she told him to stop eating snow, he replied: "I WILL eat snow! You are not the boss of what I eat and don't eat. End of story." Classic Ty right now.

After we got back, our wild and crazy new year's celebration consisted of A falling asleep on the couch while the boys and I played Ticket to Ride on the ipad. Nick and Elise and kids got home a bit before 9, and we all toasted the new year, Eastern time zone, before getting the kids to bed around 9:15.