Cowboy's New Gig

I have some very big news - well, we think it is big news - about Cowboy that I'd like to document here:

He was accepted as an apprentice patroller on the Mt. Hood Ski Patrol.

For a man who loves to ski and whose favorite show (when we had T.V.) was "Cops," this is truly a dream come true.

He printed out the application for ski patrol every year since before we got married. This was the first year he followed through with the try out. Because they only take 20% of the applicants and because everyone at the try out was - in his words - either a medic or an ex-ski racer, neither of us had much hope he would make it. And then he was drafted to slot #9 in a class of 70 apprentices for the 2010 season!

I am so proud of him.

This means a lot for our family because his being a patroller is truly a family commitment. He has to pledge to patrol 20x per season, which is a lot of Saturdays and Sundays at the mountain for us (yay!). The apprenticeship also means he is gone every Saturday from January 'til June from 5 AM until 9 PM. This is in addition to the dawn-to-dusk hours he keeps at the office during the week. Yikes. Which means momma and Missy have another extra day to adventure together. It's the rainy, snowy season here so we've gone sledding, snowshoeing and to a local indoor pool so far. Other suggestions gladly taken!

We are also hoping that we find a new mountain "family" with the patrol crew. The sports company I used to work for came with a built-in crew of like-minded skiers and snowboarders but we've scattered to the four winds in the three years since my employer moved to Utah. So far, we haven't connected with other families who are dedicated enough to hit the mountain on a frequent basis - and pay the heaping cost of daycare. It's something we miss in our lives.

Speaking of mountain daycare. Missy loves ski school (as we call it because it sounds cooler). She yells "key cool - yeeeee!" with clapping hands when we talk about it. We have her ski boots, skis and goggles out for her to play with and get used to. She will start skiing this spring, just before she turns 2. When we go to the mountain, she MUST play in the snow and skis down in Cowboy's arms to the car from the day care center with a huge grin at the end of the day. Will have to get a picture of it soon. Camera is broken.