More skiing

We went skiing last weekend, and it definitely went better than last time.  We took the older two kids.  Benjamin went to full day ski school.  Well... not quite full day, as there was a car accident on the pass on the way there.  It wasn't a fatality, thank goodness,  though the rumors passed along  by the waiting line of cars thought it was.  It took a full 2 hours to be cleared away and for the road to be opened.  Several potential skiers turned their cars around and headed home.  Plus, there was almost no cell phone coverage.  Fortunately the ski school held our reservation and we got Benjamin to class around 10am.  Not having to wait for rentals meant the first run or two down went well.  Jeannine hasn't been skiing in a year, and she was a beginner on a very easy slope.  Washington's runs are a bit more challenging.  After much trial and error, and lunch and a few tears, David left to do the backside of the mountain and Jeannine and I were in line for the "Daisy" lift, the one major green slope.  We got into it at 2:45, and it was a bit crowded, so we got to the front at 2:55, leaving us 5 minutes to take the lift and get back down the slope to pick up Ben at 3 pm.  Oh, and Jeannine's runs down the mountain had been averaging 20 minutes to that point.  Nevertheless, after waiting 10 minutes in line, we decided to try it out.  And, at the top, I had an inspiration.  Jeannine's main problems were slowing down/ stopping/ and feeling out of control.  She had turning down pretty well, but didn't have the feel for where to initiate a turn.  So, I let her go first, and let her hold the end of one of my ski poles.  I suggested the fastest route down, and I provided the braking for both of us, and we made it down in a record 11 minutes. Benjamin wasn't feeling too keen on skiing after ski school, but we made him do one real run with David, and he liked it! So we stayed until 6.