After the Rain Comes the Sunshine

Our little cabin is even more cozier with all those colorful balloons and streamers. Maarten screams in excitement. Finally his 'little party' is here!



Everybody is happy since this morning we wake up with the sun.
And I mean not only that early...yeah yeah...after the rain comes the sunshine!

There is another surprise at the ski rentals.
In the French Alps we are used to renting only the skis.
Not here! They don't want to be responsible for someone using his or her own ski boots in combination with the rental bindings of course!
Rob is pretty disappointed. This was the last straw...
He is definitely going to buy new skis.

About Maarten's skiing:
For the first time I can tell he is really able to manage his skis.
He understands how to manoeuvre them by using the 'snow plow' or the 'wedge' technique, if you prefer. He can control his skis and stop where he wants to.
I should have highlighted the pronoun 'he' though...

The biggest fun is determining his own route downhill to escape his mom and dad as fast as possible.



He seems to enjoy skiing. You can tell just by looking at him. Continuous laughing and singing.
Aloud!

"Krokus Kindje"

Today it's Maarten's birthday.
I expected him to have a party this year and I was ready for that.
I had some ideas and I even tried to convince him. It would be nice to invite his friends...
But our birthday boy didn't even want to hear about it.

Right, this is his big day, so let it be his way. Maybe next year...

Usually we decorate the house with streamers and balloons to surprise him in the morning, but today we pretend this is just a ordinary Monday. (Even though this is pretty hard to pretend. At least for me.)
An ordinary Monday...except for the muffin celebration at school and going skiing afterwards.

What a shame we couldn't get the cabin one day earlier.
This is why we need to postpone the celebration for one day.

I'm happy to see the heavy rain while driving through the Sacramento Valley. Just imagine how much snow it's gonna be up the mountain!
We are driving past Emigrant Gap and Yuba Pass, but even at Soda Springs it's still raining. Pouring actually. I know I always wish for rain...but not while heading out skiing.


The romantic idea of a snow covered cabin, snow heavy trees... all this my imagination disappears of a sudden.
The only thing I don't have to worry about is how to put on tire chains.

The boys just manage to build a snowman from the snow rests on the deck.
They stubbornly try to keep their tradition.
They always build a snowman on the deck!
Will he still be there in the morning?

Donner Lake (26-30 January)

My body hurts all over but I feel content.

Maarten finally understands the 'wedge' technique, he does some turning now and then and he agrees that learning to stop may be useful occasionally. One can call this a huge step forwards. Last year speed was all that mattered.


Even now he still gets upset if I try to control his speed but there is some awareness rising in our little man, even it is still a very slight one. Besides that he likes to impress girls with his ski style and he definitely hates to fall when they're watching!

PS: Please turn off the PC - speaker!!!

Donner Lake (7–10 February)

It’s been a while since I last skied, maybe even 5 years?! Maarten is almost 3 and I just couldn’t wait any longer to put him on skis as well.
Here in the Bay Area we don't get snow but I told him that he is going to ski like Krteček (Little Mole from his favorite cartoon) and he got very excited.

We rent a cabin at Donner Lake. It is a nice little cottage overlooking the lake. Like nearby Lake Tahoe there are hundreds of cabins hidden by the pine trees all around the lake. The cabin is very cozy a homey furnished. Very romantic though unfortunately it is not quite pristine because of the highway noise.
We all can’t wait to go to the nearby ski resort. Maarten wants to ski immediately. He screams with joy as he goes up on the ski lift. But then we have to ski down the hill again.
It seems Maarten didn't realize that.

After a few meters he falls and loses his ski boot. I try to put it on and I fail again and again. Maarten is already out of patience and I’m trying to keep calm. I always say Maarten never cries much but now he roars so loud that we get a lot of attention from other skiers. Well, not of our dad who skis down untroubled...
Later he doesn’t even succeed in putting the boot on and he rushes down again to get a bigger size. Maarten keeps on screaming all the time. We couldn’t wish for a ‘better’ start!
Bigger ski boots make a big difference and we can begin again.


On the way up, we are both aware of the absence of the safety bars on the lifts. I’ve already heard that the lifts in the U.S. are not equipped with the safety bars. We don’t even dare to look down and we hold Maarten firmly the whole time. I would like Maarten to attend ski school but just can’t imagine him on the ski lift by himself with other toddlers! Or am I being hysterical?

We ski at Donner Ski Ranch and there isn't any (toddler) ski school anyway. And besides that it has always been my dream to teach my own child to ski.
To be honest, Rob has to remind me of that all the time now.

Even though Maarten is doing so well, it is a really difficult task to explain things to such a little one.

As soon as he manages to stand on his skis he would bomb down the hill no matter where without controlling his speed or knowing how to stop. He doesn’t care about any dangers. He visualizes whales!, counts potatoes (rocks), is fascinated by the snow going so fast under his skis and tries to touch it while rushing down the hill.
There is no consciousness of fear in our little guy. (Does this sound familiar, mom?!)


You would understand that the helmet is not an unnecessary luxury equipment in Maarten’s case.

I agree that a parent should not be the one to teach his or her child but we still did pretty well.

Anyway besides all the hard work, we had a lot of fun ...
Honestly I only hope there is a suitable ski school for Maarten next time.