Cece learns to ski

One of the parts of living in another country is feeling like there will be things that my kids will miss out on. That is, for sure, a glass half empty way of looking at things, and the truth of how much they will experience is often on the forefront of my mind. However, I would be lying if I said I am never sad when I think about raising my kids far from what I know.

When I was little, I learned how to ski. Granted it was a tiny little ski place called Ski Gull in Northern Minnesota, so we're not talking expert here. Every year from first grade to ninth grade, I would go with my school for the "learn to ski" day (or week, I can't remember). As I got older, I went skiing a few times a year. Then, I met Brian who lived in Denver at the time, and he wanted to take me skiing in the mountains. He kept asking me if I wanted to take lessons. I was like, "No! I know how to ski." He was a little nervous about the Minnesota girl hitting the "real" slopes. I will never forget my first run in the Colorado mountains. It was like heaven. We got to the bottom, and needless to say Brian was a tad impressed. I was like, "this is so easy; I'm used to skiing on ice! This is like skiing on real snow." Anyway, Brian and I took a few skiing/snowboarding vacations in our early years of marriage (are we really at a place where I can say "early years of marriage"?).

Well, this week was a glass full week for me because Cece got to learn how to ski. She went every afternoon with her preschool (normally, she is home napping). Both Brian and I drove up to see her on different days. She's not hitting the black diamonds yet, but she's standing up, learning how to do the pizza, and she's even smiling, sometimes!






(This is Cece's friend Lia!)






The cool part about Cece's experience learning to ski in another country is that she's saying things in Czech. She came home putting her hands on her knees saying some Czech words. So glass overflowing--she's learning to ski and speak Czech!