snowboarding lesson

This morning was Ethan's first snowboarding lesson. Elliott went to spend the morning with Andrea (she's a life saver!). 

Ethan was so excited he didn't stop talking all the way to the ski area (good thing it's pretty close). He thought it was funny that his helmet, goggles and hair all had the same blue/teal color. Ha. 

His instructor was awesome. She was so patient with him, but when she realized how quickly he was catching on, she didn't hold him back.  

This was the first of many falls, but the smile on his face never faded. 

Only about 5 minutes of the technical stuff and they headed up the hill. I was pretty nervous. I could just see him pointing downhill and speeding out of her reach and smashing into the building (dramatic huh?).  

He did SO good. He never lost control, and he was already using his edges on his first trip down. 

You will notice something in pretty much every picture. The determination on his face, well really it's his open mouth and/or tongue sticking out, but I'm calling it determination. :)  

And the smile. He loved every second of it. 

His second trip down, he was turning and stopping. 

After 4-5 times with his instructor, he was on his own. Here he is heading up by himself. 

Then here is his first solo run. Look how proud his instructor was. She couldn't get over how quick he caught on.  

He even did the cones. 

Impressive huh?  

He did awesome for a while....... 

Then he face-planted. :) 

Of course it didn't phase him, and he spent the next 45 minutes going up and down all by himself. 

With his tongue hanging out. 

Then there was this!!! I thought he was going to crash into this 3 year old girl.......... 

but he didn't............ 

he totally saved it. Whew. 

And here is a video of him going all by himself. 

He didn't want to leave, and honestly neither did I. It was so fun to watch him. Lesson 2 is on Saturday, the instructor said they will head up the ski lift to the big hill, not sure if I'm ready for that, but Ethan's excited.