Reclaiming winter

I think I have a post from last winter with the same title, posted after we took the girls skiing for the first time. Well, we went again this year. Actually, we went cross-country skiing one weekend and downhill two weekends later. Cross-country we did on our own and downhill was with the help of the local adaptive skiing program, which totally rocks. Both activities were so much fun and made us yearn to go again. We still need to figure out the equipment thing and we realized that at this stage, both girls are such beginners that they really just need some time to stomp around on skiis in the backyard without us shelling out a whole bunch of cash for lessons. We just need to get some gear for them. Of course for Hannah, going downhill is much easier if she has the adaptive equipment offered by the program, but even for her, just getting her on her feet on skiis is exciting for her and a good experience. It's nice that at this early stage, both girls are almost equal in their abilities (except that Hannah can't stand on her own unless her poles are firmly planted in the snow)! So there is not a great sense of someone being left behind. I love that there are so many options for Hannah especially with downhill as she gets older. If she is interested and into it, she can probably be an independent skier some day, with outriggers or a snow slider. Exciting to think that we might truly be a skiing family, despite Hannah's CP.

So if you're a snow-loving family and have a kiddo with a disability, don't despair. It's amazing what opportunities are out there. Where there's a will,there's a way!