Skiing, Day 3 of 4

When we last saw our intrepid hero on skis, things were looking up. He'd made it down the slope 6 times in three hours which was a 600% improvement over the previous time when he'd made it down the hill not once. Let's check in with him tonight. From the interview:

Mom: So you started with a lesson . . .
Max: No [Mom thinks, "Shoot, did he not know that he was scheduled for a les--"] I went down once before the lesson. Then we started the lesson. We did some snow plows and then we learned how to turn. Only I didn't really LEARN how to turn since I already KNEW how to turn. [manly hair flip]
Mom: Ah. You practiced how to turn.
Max: Right! I practiced how to turn. So then we played kind of a red-light, green-light style game.
Mom: Lemme guess, you were "out" if you ran into the back of the ski instructor.
Max: [giggles] No, he used his poles to signal you which way to go and you had stop when he crossed his poles behind him. So we did that twice and then the lesson was over. I went to eat, played some video games--well, arcade games, and then went out and skiied some more. Remind me to tell Grandma** that I only fell down seven times in 13 total trips down.
Mom: Okay. [Is glad it's dark so she doesn't look like a shmuck for getty teary-eyed over this. Mental note to maybe get some more sleep.] So, did you run into anyone?
Max: No--oh! You mean, did I make any friends? Yeah, I did! Actually it was one of my old friends! [Mom chokes and nearly dies of asphyxiation from stiffled laughter] I knew him from football. [Mom does NOT respond, "ooh, yeah, football, I remember the good old days . . . three months ago."] Actually, I think Conrad was kind of jealous.
Mom: Conrad?
Max: Yeah, he's on my basketball team and he kept saying "hi!" really loudly everytime he saw me. I think he kind of wanted to ski with us.
Mom: You can ski in threes. It's just someone has to go by themselves in the lift.
Max: Oh! [this had not occurred to my little homeschooled genius] Well, next week I'll invite him then!
Mom: So you had a good time.
Max: I had a great time! Oh! My biggest fall?
Mom: Mmmm? [thinks she's maybe going to hear how he got mud on his back from hip to ankle]
Max: I really thought I was going to stop in time, but I got to the edge of the snow and kept going. As soon as I ran out of snow I came to a sudden stop and would have fallen forward except that, you know, I had skis attached to my feet. So instead they kind of bowed up and I ended up doing a full flip!
Mom: Um, cool? [is guessing]
Max: Yeah, it was, otherwise it was like a normal fall, only, with my head. But it was okay

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::::wait for it::::

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nothing broken except my concentration.

[Mom laughs. out. loud!]

My firstborn is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo worth all the trouble. [His brothers are too, but this entry isn't about them.]


**This would be Grandma Gaye, who gave him gloves and a hat specifically for skiing for Christmas with the understanding that he was to email her with his progress. I think he's upstairs emailing now.