Wow, what a fantastic ski trip! I’ve just been so busy since we got back I haven’t had time to write until now. Anyway, I guess when I last posted I hadn’t yet decided where we would go. It wasn’t easy, but I found a ski resort with something for everyone!

The problem, of course, was always going to be Cassidy. We never want her disability to keep her from any family fun, and she’s really enjoyed riding our new horses along with the rest of the family. But skiing – this was something new for us to do as a whole family. You’d think that, living in Colorado, we’d ski all the time, and Matthew has gone on a number of ski trips with his school, but I wasn’t ever sure how to get Cassidy skiing. Finally I went on the internet and did a bunch of research and found some websites about skiers with disabilities and some special equipment that they use. Seems there’s some sort of “outrigger ski” thing, kind of like a crutch with a ski on the bottom, perfect for Cassidy. After all, they say the ski lift takes you up, and all you need is gravity to take you back down again!

Anyway, I called around and I finally found a ski resort not too far away (just a few hours’ drive) where they had this type of crutch ski for rent, and they also had special classes for skiers with disabilities. Perfect! Even better, they also had snowboarding – I knew Matthew would be thrilled. The one thing they didn’t have was ski classes for 2-year-olds. 6-year-olds, yes, so Jake finally had his first ski lesson, just like a real Colorado kid. But they did have a daycare center for Rachel at the resort so I could hit the bunny slopes. (I’m not a Colorado native, my husband always laughs at my lack of skiing ability.)

Once again I enlisted the help of the neighbors to take care of the horses – we only went away for a little more than a week, but you never know about that traffic on I-70…and we were pretty tired when we got back, so it was good to know the horses had been fed and exercised. I have really GOT to get our wonderful neighbors something extra special to say thank you! Hmmmm, wonder what would be a good present? Oh well, no time to think about that now, the kids are starting to wake up. I’ll post more about our trip later