Skiing season has just ended and I am feeling nostalgic already. I still want to ski and snowboard. My wife already bought Epic passes for all of us for the next season. Eight more months should pass by quick.

We are now heading back to the skate parks for rollerblading and scootering. Đạo still blades a bit. Đán just stops and he’s the best one out of all of us. What a waste of talent. Xuân is still very active with scooting. He progresses each day. I hope he keeps going and not losing momentum. He and I are the only two in the family who are still interested in going to the skate parks.

My blading has peaked. I haven’t learn any new techniques and I have been hesitated to take risks. I still enjoy blading though. I am thinking of giving skateboarding a try since I really love snowboarding. I haven’t been to an ice rink for months. I probably forget all of my figure-skating techniques. I’ll try to get back to it in a bit, but the weather is so nice out and the skate parks are always free. A public ice skating session costs $15 an hour. An hour on ice is nothing.

Đán is also giving up on piano. He no longer wants to practice. He doesn’t value the cost of private lessons we give him. I wanted to give piano a try, but I don’t want to spend $90 an hour for private lessons.

On December 21, 2021, I took a semi-private, two-hour snowboarding lesson with my son Đán for the first time at Attitash. Our instructor was a young man in his 20s. In our conversation, he told me that he had taught snowboard and ski. I was in awe.

In our lesson, I could barely keep up with Đán. I fell on my ass so many times. My legs were burned and my feet were in pain. The worst part was when I lost my balance on the magic carpet. I tried to push my left hand again the snow, but I landed on the mechanical part of the conveyor belt. My fingers didn’t get chopped off, but my thumb bruised and I was in pain for months afterward.

After our lesson, our instructor told us to keep practicing on the bunny slope, but Đán went on the lift to the green slope. He fell, got back up, and kept snowboarding. He advanced to blue and black, and double-black terrains on his own. As for me, I gave up on snowboarding and focused on skiing. I eventually advanced to blue, black, and double-black terrains on skiing. I was a happy skier, but I was not completely satisfied. Maybe it was my own egotistical, but I felt as if I had failed to learn snowboarding. Then the instructor’s words came to mind. If he could teach skiing and snowboarding, I could learn both. I set out a challenge for myself.

Exactly one year later, December 21, 2022, I took another snowboarding lesson at Okemo. Even though I signed up for a group lesson, the students were just me and another young lady. We had the instructor to ourselves for the entire day. She and I were around the same level. The lesson was also tough. We fell over and over again. Once we were on the green slope, I skated on one foot on a flat terrain, but I couldn’t stop as I picked up the speed. I fell and twisted my ankle. It was a weird twist, but somehow I didn’t sprain anything.

After the lesson, I practiced on my own and continued to fall until I couldn’t feel the pain anymore. I could not skate off the chairlift without falling, but I determined to push forward. It took me a couple of days to stop falling and to control my speed. I watched YouTube lessons to advance to blue, black, and double-black terrains. It was not the right way to learn. I should have taken my time to learn to ride smoothly on the green slopes first before progressing to the next level. After having survived the double-black slopes, I went back to learn proper riding techniques on the green and blue slopes. Because I survived black and double-black slopes, focusing on the techniques was easier.

Skiing and snowboarding are great winter sports. They get me out of the house and off my digital devices. I used to hate the winter because I was afraid of the cold and I kept getting sick. Now I love the winter and I hadn’t been sick during the winter in the last two years I started skiing and snowboarding. If you never tried skiing or snowboarding, you should definitely give it a shot. You can start at any age. I wished I started earlier, but I got into these sports in my 40s. You can choose skiing or snowboarding or both.

I am glad that I have learn both skiing and snowboarding. Even though they share the same playing field, they are two completely different sports. I had to switch my brain from one to another. I still have more techniques to learn in both sports, but I am happy with my journey. I have achieved my personal goals. Now that I know I can do anything when I put my mind to it.

Today is our last day skiing and snowboarding for this year. I woke up around 6:00 am, put dishes in the dishwasher, made a sandwich, and brewed a cup of coffee. I left the condo around 8:00 am. I snowboarded down Long John, but my legs hadn’t recovered. I took 45 minutes to snowboard down the green trail.

I went back to the condo around 9:00 am. The kids were up and playing on their digital devices. We had brunch and said goodbye to my brother-in-law and nephew. Around 10:30 am, we headed back to the mountains. My kids and I went back to Long John. One of Vương’s ski popped off when we got on the lift. The lifty handed to another skier behind us. I told Vương to ski with one foot when we get off the lift. He lifted his ski-free leg really high as we skied off the lift together. He looked so cute.

After Long John, Vương wanted a eight-dollar waffle as usual. We bought two so the four brothers could share. After that my wife drove Vương back to the condo to relax. I skied on the black terrains with Đạo, Đán, and Xuân. They were a bit icy, but fun. We did three runs on the three black trails that were opened.

After that we skied back to the main base to load our gears, snacks, and drinks so my wife could take them to the condo. I switched to snowboard, we went back up the lift, and skied and snowboarded back to our rental condo. We were done around 2:00 pm. My legs were too tired and I ran out of energy after skiing and snowboarding for six days.

The trip was definitely worthwhile. My wife and my brother-in-law could get off the chair lift themselves and skied on the green slope. Vương had a fantastic time even though he only skied one long trail a day. Đạo, Đán, Xuân, and Hân spent quality time together on the slopes and digital devices. I picked up snowboarding skills—early edge changes and knee steerings—I needed.

In retrospect, I learned snowboarding the wrong way. I tried to advanced from green slopes all the way to surviving double-black-diamond slopes, and yet I didn’t get the basic riding down. I had to go back to learn those quick turns. Thanks to Long John, I was able to accomplish what I needed to learn. Since I could already handle blue and black terrains, I had more confidence in my riding.

As we close out the season, I still have more techniques to learn next year, but I have reached my goal for learning snowboarding this year. Even though I still love skiing, I am glad that took on the challenge to learn a new sport. Although skiing and snowboarding share the same slopes, they are completely different sports. Switching from one to another requires rewiring my brain, but that’s the beauty of each sport and I like them both.

Đán, our second son, learned skiing, but decided to switch to snowboarding and he is doing good; therefore, he doesn’t want to switch back to skiing. Xuân, our third son, wanted to learn snowboarding this year with me. We got him his gears. We even signed him up for a full-day lesson, but he couldn’t make the switch. He has advanced in skiing; he doesn’t have the patience to learn snowboarding from the beginning. I was also in his situation, but I had the patience and determination to take myself on a new challenge.

Before I learned snowboarding, I heard the rivalry from both sides. Older skiers dissed snowboarding and younger snowboarders dissed skiing. Having learned both sports, I still have my reservations. Ski boots are still a pain to wear and strapping up snowboard binding every time is also annoying, but I have embraced them both. I like switching between them and I will keep up with both sports for as long as I can. I met more skiers than snowboarder in their 70s. I wonder if I will be able to ski or snowboard when I reach 70.

This trip has been fantastic. Mad props to my wife for making it happened. She is always my rock. I love her so much for showering me with all these luxuries. I do not take these privileges for granted. These sports aren’t cheap to get into, but they are worthwhile if we devoted our time into them as a family. I hope my kids will appreciate them when they grow older later.

I headed over the mountains around 7:50 am before the lifts open at 8:00 am. I went to Long John trying to learn carving on snowboard. I didn’t do too well. I tried on the blue run, but I ended up doing short turns and knee steerings. I hit the blue trails twice before the rest of the family came over.

I switched to ski to take Long John with Vương. He let me use the harness. He skied well with the strings. I only held him close to me on steeper slopes. We made it down to the main base and my legs were burning. I had to take a break.

After lunch I went over to the discovery area to teach my wife and her brother skiing. I was able to get them to ski off the lift on their own. They still need to learn their turns, but they are getting there.

We wrapped up around 3:30 pm. I switched back to snowboarding and took on the blue slopes. I was able to take the last lift at 3:50 pm. I took Long John home and I was the only one on the entire mountain. It was nice to be able to snowboard back to the condo.

I am completely exhausted, but I loved every moment of it. What more can I say? I love skiing and snowboarding.

My wife’s brother and his son joined us last night. I woke early and hit the mountains around 8:30 am. The lift opened at 9:00 am and the line was longer than previous days.

I continued to work on early edge changes. I also moved on to the blue terrains and had lots of fun. I wanted to incorporate carving into my turns, but I am not quite there yet.

Around 10:30 am, the rest of the family arrived. I switched to ski to take Vương on Long John. Skiing with him made to switch to pizza. Now I am having a hard time switching back to parallel. While skiing down Long John, I saw my nephew skiing backward. I challenged Đạo, Xuân, and my nephew to backward skiing. I also ready switch back to snowboarding.

Today is our fourth day at Mount Snow and I am exhausted. The legs are giving out at the end of the day, but I always get up the next day and do it again. I love skiing and snowboarding life.

I woke up around 7:00 am and threw bacons in the oven for breakfast. I made myself a ham, bacons, eggs, and cheese sandwich. I went over to the resort around 8:30 am. Around 8:50 am, I stood in line with a handful of senior skiers. I was the only early snowboarder.

I determined to learn short turns and knee steerings on snowboard. I hit one green and one blue terrain. I headed back around 10:00 am to pick up everyone. We didn’t leave the condo until 11:00 am. When we arrived, Vương wanted to take the bubble lift so I skied with him on Long John. Pizzing all the way down with him still burned my legs.

We got back down at noon. We took a break and it started to rain. Đạo, Đán, Xuân, and I went back on the lift to ski in the rain. With heavy fog and light rain, I suggested we take it easy on the green terrain. It was quite an experience skiing in the rain.

Around 2:00 pm, my wife took the younger boys home to go swimming. I went back up with the older boys, but they wanted to hit the blue terrains. I stuck with Long John to learn short turns and knee steerings on snowboard and I made some progress. I longer pivoted my back foot; therefore, my ride was much smoother. I also were able to steer with my knees. I practiced three runs on Long John. At 3:45 pm, I decided to hit one more time before the lift closed. When I got on the lift, it started to rain. I was the only one left on the green terrain. I snowboarded in the rain and it was quite an experience. Today was a great day.

Last night Đán was sharing a pull-out bed with me. Around midnight, he told me he couldn’t sleep. I held him and fell back to sleep. Around 1:40 am, he said he still couldn’t sleep. I sent him in to sleep with my mother-in-law. Then I couldn’t get back to sleep. I continued to read The Tale of Kiều hoping to fall back to sleep. Then I found a few errors in the translation so I turned on my laptop and fixed them. I went back to sleep around 4:00 am. I slept until 7:00 am. I had a feeling that it wouldn’t be a good day for skiing.

Around 10:30 am, all the boys and I went to Long John to warm up. Skiing with Vương inside my lap was such a challenge. I had to pizza the whole way down. My legs were burning. I then realized that I was so exhausted yesterday because I skied for almost an hour with Vương between my skis. I wished he would go back to using the harness.

Around 12:30 pm, I took my wife to the learning zone. She continued to work on her turns and she got better. She only fell twice because she was leaning back. After she leaned forward and trusted her skis to do the turns, she didn’t fall anymore. She was also able to get off the lift by herself without falling. I was so happy to see she was improving.

Around 2:30 pm, I switched to snowboarding. I went back to Long John to learn how to do turns with Tommie Bennett’s instructions. I didn’t quite get there yet, but I had a great run. Then I meet up with Đạo, Đán, and Xuân to ride back to our condo.

It was a great day. I am bit better at skiing than snowboarding, but I like snowboarding a bit better.

The kids are on spring break this week and what better to do than go skiing. We drove to Vermont yesterday. We’re staying at a condo that has a trail that we can ski to Mount Snow. We went to Mount Snow once last year and liked it enough to go back.

This morning it started to rain. I thought we couldn’t ski at all, but the rain went away round 10:00 am. We headed over and I took Vương skiing on Long John, which is a long green trail. It took us an hour or more to finish. By the time we got back, it was lunch time. We had pizza and I took my wife to the learning center to learning skiing. I was able to get her onto the lift. We held on to our ski poles and got of the lift safely. She is still working on her turns.

Around 2:30 pm, I hit the black terrains with Đạo, Đán, and Xuân. The condition was icy and I tripped several times on the black mogul terrains. My skis kept caught in the ice. I was exhausted by 4:00 pm, when the resort closed. The kids enjoyed skiing and snowboarding their way back to the rental condo.

The weather forecasts to be raining tomorrow as well as Thursday. I am not sure if we will be able to ski. I am looking forward to snowboarding.

The weather has been so beautiful. I have made visiting the skatepark part of my lunch routine at work. I skate around the ramps and drop into the bowls, but I haven’t done anything new. I don’t have the motivation to learn new skills any more.

My six-year-old Xuân, on the other hand, has been improving his scootering chops. He jumps down the ramps instead of just dropping in. He rides around the bowls with effortlessness. He pumps and lifts himself onto the coping and drops into another ramp.

Watching him trying and pulling off new techniques makes me happy. Because of his improvements, he still enjoys going to the skatepark and hanging out with this old man. I don’t have to force him to go out with me . Here are a few clips of him scootering: part 1 & part 2.

Yesterday was the last day of the season at Roundtop. With rain and warm temperatures, Roundtop held on as long as it could. The trails were brown and slushy, but they were still skiable. I was snowboarding fine. I was disappointed with Mother Nature more than the resorts.

It doesn’t seem like we will get any snow this year. On top of that, the temperatures had risen as high as 70 degrees (Fahrenheit). The artificial snow was melting fast. Despite the terrible conditions, I managed to make the most out of my Epic pass this year. I hit the trails as many times as I could. I set out to learn snowboarding and I achieved my goal.

Learning to snowboard was a steep challenge for skiers who wanted to make the transition. I fell so many times and my feet were so uncomfortable, but I stuck with it. I progressed from the bunny slope to the double black diamond terrain in one season.

In retrospect, I tried to advance too quickly. I didn’t spend enough time on the green trails to get better with my turns. I started to learn quick turns so I could go down the double black. I pivoted my back foot to control my speed and it became a habit I needed to break on my heel side. Even on mellow terrains, I kept kicking my foot forward to slow myself down before I could make my toe turns. I had done as much as I could and I had progressed to where I wanted to be, but I wish I could spend more time on the trials to learn to ride better.

My focus for this season has been on snowboarding. I skied less and didn’t pick up any new skills. I still wanted to learn carving on skis, but couldn’t get to it. I encouraged Đạo and Xuân to learn carving as well, but I was not on my skis to work with them. As a result, they skied with the skills they already have and not picking up any new techniques. I am fine with them enjoying themselves, but they seemed to get a bit bored. Once they could reach the double black diamond slope, they had nowhere else to go. If they don’t learn new skills, they just ski down hill again and again.

I encouraged Xuân to learn snowboarding together with me, but he stayed with skiing so he could go fast with his brothers and cousins. He ended up not getting past the point where he stopped falling. Snowboarding is no longer a passion for Đán. He is already bored with it. He is good and no longer feeling the challenge. He didn’t bother learning anything new.

Will this be the last seasonal Epic pass for us? If the boys are no longer interested in skiing or snowboarding, I don’t want to waste almost $3,000 for all of us. It is only worthwhile if they wanted to go on their own instead of his mother forcing him to go. Skiing and snowboarding are great exercises for the winter and they are so lucky that we are offering the opportunity for them.

One of the benefits of skiing and snowboarding was that we didn’t catch any winter sickness. Our body got used to the cold before we could get a cold. If we were sitting around the house all day on our digital devices, I am sure we would have caught all kinds of winter sickness. Furthermore, I hadn’t had a gout attack despite my increase in drinking alcohol and consuming beef. I think because I put my feet to work all the time.

I wanted to hit the slopes every opportunity I got. My wife was not too happy with my obsession. Since we paid so much for the Epic passes, I might as well take advantage of them. I hope we can make one more trip to Vermont in the first week of April when the kids have their spring break. We also need to decide as a family if we should get Epic passes for next year. I hope we do, but we should make it our priority over other hobbies during the winter.