Switzerland 2007 and Brittney

Now Brittney was a natural when it comes to skiing. She is her dad's little girl so I'm not sure why I was so surprised. After the first 2 days of reviewing the skiing basics with her dad and playing in the snow a little more than skiing, she was ready to hit the slopes full force. My fondest memory is of skiing all day Thursday with her. We would take turns leading the way down the slopes - she would follow me sometimes and I would follow her other times. Now make no bones about it, she was very comfortable on those skis and fear was just NOT a factor. She mastered stopping on command and soon was a force to be recognized on the slopes. It became a game to see who could get down the slope the fastest and with the fewest falls (she usually won). By the end of the week she was even doing jumps on the slopes ~ mom wasn't as impressed with that idea as dad was.

On Thursday we were skiing as a family (minus Sophie) down a slope multiple times. We had gotten very familiar with it, so we weren't staying as close together and stopping as much on it as earlier in the day. Well my heart stopped at one point when Brittney goes zooming by me and I realize she is going too fast to make the turn to stay on our slope and is about to enter the "intermediate" slope (in Switzerland, the beginner slopes are like the intermediate slopes in the states and the intermediate slopes in Switzerland are even more advanced...). I turned to Kevin to say you better get her! Once Kevin catches up with her, they take a mini rest, and I continued down on the easier slope to watch them from the bottom of the huge drop. I was very glad to see Dad came to his senses & made her take off her skis and slide down to me. Brittney, was NOT very fond of this idea. She gave us both an ear full, even after looking back up the vertical drop she would have had to ski. She was convinced she could have done it and if the truth be told, she might could have (but remember we are just coming off of 2 broken arms). She quickly told us that did NOT count as a fall and she would see us at the bottom of the slope. She put her skis on, pointed her skis down the slope, and never looked back. You know, I think we might have created a monster.