Winter Sports

Canberra winter has it's disadvantages, but lately we've been trying to take advantage of the cold we endure here -- that is, that we can introduce the kids to some real winter sports.

Activity #1 was a few weeks ago -- actually, when Grandad was in town, and we took both girls to the open air ice skating rink in town. Katy got in for free, but even so she didn't get her money's worth, and she was off the ice after 2 minutes. But Ella stuck it out for the whole (90 minute) session. At first she was clinging to the railing around the edge, but after a while I started skating behind her, attempting to catch her every time she fell (I probably got her about 75% of the time). By the end she was quick enough that I couldn't get close enough to catch her, so she was on her own.

 We had planned to go skating again last weekend, but Aunty Cathy rang up with a better offer -- leading to Activity #2: X-C skiing. Cathy & I drove up with her kids and Ella, Katy once again missing out. When we got to Perisher we found that parking was pretty scarce, and  had to park closer to Smiggins. But we eventually found some flat (slightly icy) snow for the 3 kids to learn to ski on. Ella did much better than I expected -- lots of falls, but also lots of times when she skied along looking semi-coordinated. It was a bright sunny day, not too much wind and we managed lunch in the snow, a few hours skiing, several runs on the toboggan and a snow man before we had to head for home. A long day, but very worthwhile.