Back at the end of 2010, we heard about a program called Wasatch Adaptive Sports. It is a program that takes different types of sports and makes the accommodations necessary for kids and adults with special needs to be able to participate. We thought that skiing would be something that Grant would just love. He is the type of kid that is a thrill seeker! I have even said before that if he hadn't started out in a wheelchair, he probably would have ended up in one because of some crazy trick he would have tried. He loves speed, bumps, and anything wild and crazy! So for Christmas we got him everything that he would need to be able to go skiing. We scheduled his first time skiing for the Saturday after his birthday, but it was canceled because of weather. It was rescheduled for the following Saturday, February 12th. And we are so glad we switched days! The weather was absolutely perfect! We even had to strip some of the extra layers we had put on him because it was so warm. Once we got him all checked in, we met our instructor Cary. I wish I would have gotten a better picture of her with him. She was so patient with him and he loved working with her! As we were getting him all strapped in he wasn't too sure about what was happening, but he was still pretty excited. We had been talking about it for a while, so I think he kind of knew what was going on.
You can kind of see his smile under all the ski gear!
Up on the lift...
It was so cool to see how everything worked. He never had to get out of the sled once he was harnessed in. The ski part on the bottom of the sled just pops off and the sled is sat on the ski lift ad belted in. Pretty cool!
As they came down the mountain the first time you could just see the grins and hear the squeals from him! I loved being able to see him having such a "normal" experience. The instructor just skis behind the sled with some tethers and helps him go in a typical zig zag pattern that you would normally ski in. So he was able to feel the motions of tilting left and right as the sled moved across the mountainside.
The resort was a little busy since it was such a beautiful day to be up on the slopes, but he was still able to go down quite a few times in the 2 hour time slot that they give us. We definitely knew that it is something that we would have to do again soon!
Since we were taking Grant, we thought we'd take Mikkele as well. She had never really shown an interest in wanting to learn, so we had never taken her. But we thought it was time she learned. We asked her if she wanted to try skiing or snowboarding and she chose to try snowboarding. We called Adam and Jessie to come down and join us and help to teach her how to board. They were great teachers! Since she is a beginner, we just got her the bunny hill pass, which is where Grant did his runs, so they were able to go down the hill together quite a few times.
After a few runs she was able to go up on the lift and down the mountain by herself.
Adam helping guide her down the mountain.
She spent a little bit of time on her bum, but she picked it up pretty fast! And she looked pretty cute :)
And let's not forget Hallie May! She had a great time playing in the snow and Aunt Jessie even took her for a few small rides.
It was a great day!
2 comments:
That's so awesome!! I love it. I can't believe you took Hallie, too - you guys are brave. Looks like the perfect day.
How cool is that! Looks like a blast!
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