Ski Lessons!

Ben and I headed over to Mt. Pisgah, Saranac Lake's own ski hill, this afternoon for Ben's first ski lesson...


He was very excited to finally use his new gear on a ski hill with other kids...and also quite proud of his lift-ticket/season-pass...


His teacher, Linda gave him a hand while he was getting used to the feel of the skis...


Ben ended up skiing for about an hour, including a couple of short runs down a very gentle hill with Linda helping him work on his form and confidence...we went in for some hot cocoa and a snack before heading home...we'll be back next week for a couple more lessons each week until the snow is gone...

Ben Goes Skating for the 1st Time!!!

As promised, we went skating today to help Ben check out his new hockey skates...because the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival has just begun, we were not able to get in for open skating inside the civic center in town, but there is an oval of ice laid down just outside the center for just such an occasion...we had a great time skating out in the open, and then went over to watch a hockey tournament people by little people for a while...

Ben's new skates are the coolest things ever...they are made up of comfy slipper-like booties that hug his feet encased in a rigid plastic case secured by one easy-to-operate buckle...Mommy took a bit longer to get her skates on, but we waited {mostly} patiently in the gently falling snow...

I walked with Ben a bit wile he got used to the feel of the skates, and difference between walking on blades and rubber soles...

Gail skated with Ben and talked about how to push off and use the blade-edges...

Ben fell a bunch of times, but was a good sport about it, and liked lounging (and even rolling) on the ice once he got used to it...


When we were done with skating for the day, Ben had me harvest a few ripe icicles from the roof-line of the skate-shack {you can really taste the roofing shingles!} before we headed inside to warmup and watch little kids play hockey for a while...all in all, a nice outing and introduction to another winter sport for Ben...

Ben gets outfitted!!!

Ben and I headed up to Plattsburgh today to do some shopping...we hit Lowes, Walmart, and the petstore, but the highlight was a trip to Play it Again Sports for Winter sports gear...we got downhill boots, ski-blades/snow-blades, helmet, goggles, and hockey skates...we ate lunch at Ben's new favorite restaurant in town (where he had his own personal pizza), and then drove home to try out the new gear...one of us had a nap on the way home...

Here you can see us putting on the skis in the driveway, which turned out to be an excellent training ground for Ben's first downhill skiing lesson...

We started out with skis perpendicular to the slope and then Ben turned into the hill and skied fearlessly down the small incline...

He understood about leaning forward into his shins, and rotating the skis with his legs...a bit...

We did a couple of runs down the driveway, and he actually got going pretty fast...he even tried "skating" a little to get himself going, or to aim himself towards Gail or I...


We had a great time, and then headed in before he got tired of it...we'll be heading to Mt. Pisgah (Saranac Lake's in-town hill) for lessons in the coming weeks, and maybe even over to Whiteface before the end of the season...tomorrow we may head out for some skating, more pics to come...

Ben's First Snowman!!!

We built Ben's first snowman last weekend, when we still had snow, now it's in the 40's and raining...blecccch...

Geocaching with La La

We went to Maine for a couple of days after Christmas, and one day went geocaching with La La. It's amazing how many fun geocaches there are out there...we found one less than 2 miles from La La and Steve's house...during the course of the day we found 4 geocaches (3 physical containers and 1 virtual geocache...explained at the bottom of this post)...



We used my new GPS and the little one that Ben likes to find out way from the parking spot into the woods, and found a gorgeous spot that we never would have visited without geocaching to help us get out of the house...


Beautiful rockfaces and a deep channel of water make this spot a must-visit when we come back in the warm months of the year (picnic and swimming...maybe even cliff-jumping)...


La La and Ben had to confer once we got within the GPS error circle, and had to use our collective geo-sense to find the container...we did, of course...


This is the view from right next to the hiding spot of the geocache, I almost took an inadvertent swin when the needles slid away towards the cliff...

Our next 2 geocaches were on Bradbury Mountain, a short but steep climb with a disproportionately nice view ( for the effort needed to reach the top, you get an amazing view)...nonetheless, we were all impressed with our ability to summit Bradbury Mountain, given the over-feasting we had all engaged in in the last few days...


La La and Ben pose for the victory-shot atop the mountain after having found the geocache near the top...


Ben and I getting a shot with the USGS summit-marker, "benchmarking" is an offshoot activity associated with geocaching in which you find and report on the condition of these markers...I know...I know...


Here you can see Ben posing with a trade-item from the 3rd geocache of the day and his favored GPS unit, the Garmin Foretrex, it's hands-free (read also drop-free)...


Farmers built cattle corrals out of these huge stones all over this part of Maine a long time ago...long enough ago for this lichen to have grown to ridiculous proportions...


Here the entire geocaching team can be seen posing for the "money-shot"...scenic old corral in the background, smiles all around, retro-fitted ammo-can in hand...


Our next, and final, geocache of the day was a virtual...meaning that there is no container...to get "credit" for this type of geocache, you need to email the geocache owner the answer to some questions about the location...in this case the worldwide headquarters of DeLorme, a map and navigation company...and also home to the largest globe in the known universe...it's a geocacher's Graceland...


La La and Ben and I can here be seen assuming the traditional "inside DeLorme...looking at the really big globe" look...it's really...really...really...big...it's tilted like the Earth, and rotates like the Earth, and has mountains and trenches, and WOW, is the Pacific Ocean a long way across...

(NERD NOTE: the Earth rotates around it's axis, and revolves around the Sun...the difference is apparently important)

Ben loved running around, looking at the different parts of the planet and asking us what "THAT!" was...he stopped for a picture as the Galapagos Islands slowly moved past him (you can see them about 2 feet above his right shoulder)...DeLorme was a blast, and a great way to end a fun day of geocaching (which may be a tautology)...Thanks La La!