It’s such a beautiful day. I hit the skatepark on my lunch break. Although I rollerblade everyday, my progress has stagnated. I have not picked up any skills. I only use the skills I already have so I won’t lose them. I no longer wanted to take the risks to advance to the next level even though I have all the protective gears. I am getting old.

I haven’t set my foot into an ice skating rink in a while. I lost all of my jumping skills. I might head back to it someday. After the kids moved on, I no longer had the reason or the motivation to keep going. Xuân is my only son who is still passionate about scootering; therefore, we still hit the skateparks together. Once he no longer wanted to go, that would be it for me. It wouldn’t feel right going to the skatepark by myself and leaving the kids with my wife even though they would be playing on their digital devices anyway.

As a parent, I have lost my battle against digital addiction. Not even bubble teas, BonChon chicken, nor sushi could get them out of the house. The only thing that might work is through forcing. It’s no longer fun if they come out with angry faces. On one hand, some parents who are too busy trying to make ends meet don’t have the time to spend with their kids. On the other hand, my kids would rather spend time on their devices than with me. It’s super sad.

We were planning on going to Seven Springs, but my wife cancelled the trip because of the rain and the warm weather. Luckily, she was right. Seven Springs is pausing its operation today and tomorrow.

At 8:00 am, I dropped my oldest son off at his school and headed to Liberty. Despite the rain and the warm weather, the trails at Liberty were snowboardable. I determined to learn short turns so I could ride the double-black-diamond slopes. When I learned to ski, I picked up short turns early on and I still use them to ski the double-black-diamond slopes.

I arrived at Liberty around 9:45 am and started off on the green trails. With the rain and the warm weather, the snow was slushy. It was not an ideal condition, but I just had to work with what they had. I tried to jump to get my board around. Because the slope was flat, I had to jump a bit higher. After four jumps alternating from heel to toe turns, I was tired and my feet were in pain. I was not in good shape to do this on snowboard.

I gave up the green slopes and went to the back side to try the blue slopes. Surprisingly, the jumps were easier on blue slopes. Because the slopes were steeper, I didn’t have to jump so high to get my board around. I slid out a few times on my toe turns because I was leaning backward instead of forward. When I fixed that, I was able to complete my turns.

After three runs of doing the jumps on the blue slopes, I was exhausted, thirsty, and hungry. I should have brought a bottle of coconut water with me, but I didn’t. I went back to the front to get lunch and a drink. I wanted to test out the jump turns on the black slope, but it was closed. I had to take the green slope back.

I ate a cold sandwich I packed. It didn’t taste too good. Luckily, I brought along a bottle of mango margarita wine to wash down the bread, turkey, cheese, and prosciutto. After lunch, I headed back to the back side. Since I was able to do the jump turns on the blue slopes, I might was well test them out on the double black. Even though I was not planning on snowboarding on the double black, I went for it once the wine kicked in.

On the first run, I fell because I didn’t commit my jumps. Unlike my previous attempts, however, I fell with my board down the slope instead of my head sliding down the slope. I could stop sliding down with my board; therefore, I was able to get up and try again. The second and third runs, I fell a bit, but I was able to get my board around. The fourth time, I finally made the commitment to jump. Unfortunately, I was too tired after that. I could barely lift my feet. Around 2:00 pm, I called it the day.

It was definitely a great learning experience and a fantastic workout. I am looking forward to doing some more to master the jump turns.

Yesterday was Whitetail’s last day for the season. Blame it on Mother Nature. She has been warm the entire winter. We hadn’t had a snowstorm. If the weather stays this way Liberty and Roundtop will be shutting down soon as well.

I took Đạo and Xuân to Liberty yesterday to test out my new Rome United bindings, which I found a good deal on Amazon for $100. The price has gone back up to $160. Since I bought the Capita board that came with the step-in Flow bindings, I just went with it. I liked the convenience of the step-in style, but the way they strapped the top of my feet made me excruciatingly uncomfortable when I turned, particularly on my toe side.

The cause for the pain was not just the old bindings but also the way I turned. I tended to initiate my turns way too late. I pivoted my back foot too much to control my speed on my toe side. As a result, I slowed myself down and burned my legs. I need to fix this habit.

The Rome United bindings only strapped my toes and ankles; therefore, they were more tolerable. I still felt a bit of a pain when I pivoted, but it was not as bad as before. I am keeping the Rome United bindings. I hope I still have a chance to continue to hone my skills before the season’s over.

On Saturday, I took Đán and Xuân to Whitetail. I wanted to learn the hop turns on the blue slopes, but they were harder than they look. I could do the toe turns, but I had a bit of a hard time getting the board around on the heel turns. Because of the rain and warm weather, Whitetail closed its double-black diamond. I encouraged Xuân to switch to snowboard. With Đán’s help, the three of us snowboarded down the long green trail. It was a fun day hanging out with my two boys. We left around 1:00 pm so we could attend the Scout party.

Because Đạo had scouting on Saturday, he didn’t go with us. Today he and I went together to Liberty. I started off skiing because I didn’t want him to wait too long for me on snowboard. We hit the double-black slope three times. It felt a bit strange at first to be skiing again. I wanted to ski moguls, but that terrain was closed. The rain and warm weather had washed away all the moguls. After lunch I switched to snowboarding. I also switched my 156-cm Capita to 143-cm Burton. The shorter board made turns easier, but it was less stable. I caught the edge a few times. Still the major issue for me was uncomfortability. I did two runs on the blues and couldn’t snowboard anymore. We headed home at 1:00 pm.

I think the Flow’s step-in bindings were the culprit. I ordered a Rome Snowboards United-G1, which was on sale for $103, to see if this will solve the issue. I am also so attempting to buy the Rossignol Circuit, which is currently on sale for $156.95. I’ll wait for the bindings first before I invest into a board.

After two days of skiing and snowboarding, I am exhausted. Getting old is catching up to me. Snowboarding alone is putting a toll on my body.

I just found the tutorials I have been looking for to snowboard down the steep slopes. Snowboard Dojo Wiz has done an excellent job of explaining and demonstrating the techniques. I am going to work on these in my basement and hopefully I will be able to execute them when I hit the slopes next time.

Đạo participated in rock climbing yesterday; therefore, he couldn’t ski with us. Today he wanted to go to Whitetail. Xuân joined us once again. Unlike yesterday, however, the double black diamond terrain was filled with high moguls. I struggled snowboarding around the moguls because I haven’t nailed down my quick turns. I tried and fell. After two runs, I was exhausted. My legs were burning. We went back down for lunch and took another blue run. Đạo was also tired from rock climbing the day before. After three days snowboarding straight, I couldn’t keep up anything. At 1 pm, we called the day. Despite the warm weather and not ideal condition, we managed to ski and snowboard.

Highlight of today was watching a snowboard patrol maneuvering around the moguls. Her quick turns were so effortless as if she was just hopping around the humps. I wanted to learn her techniques. I am going to start searching for YouTube video to teach me how to ride moguls. I was thinking of taking a private lesson, but I didn’t want to spend $200 for an hour of private lesson. Maybe I’ll try to book group lesson in advance next time or just continue to learn from watching YouTube video.

When I got home today, I gave my snowboard a tune up and a wax. I won’t be back to the mountain at least next Saturday. I need to take some rest.

I took Đán and Xuân to Whitetail. I managed to snowboard down the double black diamond terrain without falling. I did two runs with the kids then went back down for lunch. I drank some wine and went back up myself to do four more runs. I got exhausted. We left Whitetail around 2 pm.

My snowboarding is catching up with my skiing. I am so happy that I am determined to take up snowboarding this year. It is quite a learning experience and the reward is just gratifying. I didn’t think I could pull it off, but the hard work paid off.

I have to give Đán the credit for inspiring me to snowboard. Last year, he just decided to pick up snowboarding instead of skiing. We took a semi-private lesson together. I gave up and went back to skiing. He advanced at snowboarding and he is just so darn good that I have to give it another shot. I want to be young and cool too.

I encouraged him to pick up skiing again. He gave it a shot, but didn’t want to do it. He has gone to the dark side. As for me, I still love to ski. I like them both and don’t have to choose one over the other. I am trying to get Xuân to snowboard, but he is not interested. Because he’s so comfortable and confident on skis, he doesn’t have the patience to relearn snowboarding. He rather skis fast with his cousins and brothers on blues and blacks then being stuck on the greens with a snowboard. I hope he’ll give it a shot in the future.

I’ve always loved skiing down the double black diamond terrains. With short turns, I could control my speed and maneuver around the moguls. I want to get to that level with snowboarding as well.

I went to Liberty all by myself this morning. With the warm weather, the condition was a bit icy. Nevertheless, I went for the double black diamond. The first run, I fell at the top as soon as I tried to turn. I slid head first all the way down. I couldn’t stop myself. Luckily I didn’t steer off the terrain. The second time, I fell at the top, but managed to get up for the second half. The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth time, I continued to fall. I have yet to master quick turns on snowboarding. I couldn’t get the board to turn around quick enough.

By the seventh time, I decided to ride as wide as I could and find good spots to make my turns. Instead of trying to do quick turns, I let the board go straight down for half a second before I commit my turns. The speed increased, but I managed to bring my board around.

I survived the double black diamond. It was a great learning experience. I am no longer in fear of snowboarding down the steep slope. I still have to practice more to master my quick turns. Once I could snowboard down the double black without falling, I will have accomplished my goal for this winter.

Our family went to Liberty today. I skied with Vương on the green terrains and switched to snowboard on the blues and black. Liberty opened its first double black diamond this season. I attempted to try snowboarding down the double black, but I was not sure if I was ready. In addition, too many ski students were there. I switched back to my skis and went down. I also hit the moguls. It was a nice trip with the family including my wife’s mother, her brother’s, and sister’s families. Back to work and school tomorrow.

Today my wife and I went on a ski date at Liberty. It was nice to go skiing without the kids once in a while. I taught her how to turn and how to fix her skis from pizza to parallel. She is getting there. I also started to learn carving on the green terrains. Carving was the technique that I had wanted to learn on skiing, but I switched to snowboard. My goal is to learn to carve on ski this season. We haven’t had any snow day this year. I am still holding out hope that we will get some snow this winter.