Today only my oldest son, Đạo, and I went skiing at Liberty Resort. My wife thought it was too cold, but the weather turned out perfect. The sunshine made the temperature felt warmer. Since today is still a weekday, the resort was not too crowded. We were able to get on the lifts quickly.

We skied down all the green and blue slopes. They were fun. We skied down the black slope twice. I could control my speed much better with short turns. I attempted to try the double black, but it looked too steep. I backed out.

I am still trying to learn carvings. They were trickier than I thought, but I’ll get them. I just need more practice. We skied for about four hours and were exhausted. We headed home early before the sun went down. We had a great time together. I rarely got to spend time alone with one of my kids; therefore, I treasured every moment. Đạo is just a wonderful kid, especially when his siblings weren’t around. He acted much more mature.

I wish Đán, Xuân, and Vương joined us, but we’ll go again tomorrow. I bet Saturday will be extremely crowded though. We’ll see.

My cousin, Duy, who was a snowboarding instructor, insisted that I should give snowboarding another shot. Yesterday, we went back to Roundtop to take some snowboarding lessons from him.

Đán had already mastered his snowboarding skills and he could do the black slope at Roundtop. Đạo, Xuân, and I were still new. Duy taught us to keep our knees bent and our body constant in a strong position. We just needed to turn our shoulders from left to right to turn. Unfortunately, it was more difficult and it sounded. I kept falling. Đạo and I didn’t make it too far before switching back to skiing. Xuân stuck to snowboarding and did quite well. He liked taking one-on-one lessons with Duy; therefore, I left them on the bunny slope and went on the black slope with Đán.

I loved the thrill of skiing down the black slopes. My parallel turns and hockey stops allowed me to navigate around the steep slopes and moguls. My next goal is to learn carvings. The kids will have a four-day weekend this week. I can’t wait to get back to skiing, which is my focus for now. I might get back to snowboarding one day, but not this season.

Yesterday, we went back to the Liberty resort for the second time. The first time we skied at Liberty was two years ago and we didn’t have Epic passes. We bought packages that included lift tickets, rentals, and group lessons. Đạo and Đán didn’t want to take their lessons; therefore, I used them. I took three lessons on the same day. The instructors knew me. One of them took me on the green terrain and I was scared. Now it feels so easy.

Today I spent half a day skiing with Vương. Using a harness, I took him on the ski lift. The harness also allowed me to help him turn. He enjoyed the “magic seat” as well as skiing with me. It took us almost two hour to stand in line for the lift. It was super crowded.

After Vương didn’t want to ski anymore, I went alone on the blue terrain. The single line moved much faster. I went down three times and it was time to go home. I tried carving and fell on the green slope. I guess I was leaning too far to the side. I need more practice.

I spent three sessions learning the salchow jump and I still haven’t nailed it. Although the salchow has not clicked, something else has. I went back to the power pulls and I was able to move on one foot for each leg. I have been working on and off on the power pulls for almost a year and they only started to make sense last night. I was so happy about that. I will continued to pull more to gain more power. I will take my time on the backward pulls.

I might switch to the toe loop jump before returning to the salchow. The toe loop jump looks a bit easier, but I am not so sure. Learning on my own is harder than I thought, but I am working at my own pace rather than having to keep up with my classmates. That was stressful about taking group lesson. I don’t want to be the only incompetent skater.

I can’t wait to get back to skiing this weekend. I discovered the carving technique and had been watching several videos on it. Instead of paralleling on my flat skis, I will use my edges by bending my knees and leaning from side to side. Carving will give me more control on steeper slopes. I can’t wait to try it out.

Now that the kids are back to school and I am back to work, I am picking ice skating again. Instead of taking group lesson for Freestyle 3, I am learning on my own with Coach Julia’s YouTube channel.

I can complete one revolution for backward outside pivot. I just need an additional half revolution. Backward inside pivot is a bit tricky, but I also could do one revolution. I can do back arabesques on both feet. I just need more refinements. I am starting to learn the salchow jump. It’s a bit harder than I had imagined, but I am getting there. I haven’t explore the toe loop jump or the toe walley jump. I’ll work on those after the salchow.

The only moves I will be missing are change foot spin and dance step sequence for Freestyle 3. I can’t find any instruction for the dance step sequence on YouTube. I am going to skip the change foot spin altogether since I am not a spinner.

Today at lunch, I went to the Pentagon Row outside ice rink to practice. Unfortunately the ice was hard and clear due to the cold temperature. The surface was also bumpy; therefore, I only skated for 15 minutes and left. I didn’t want to take any risk to practice my salchow jump. I needed an indoor rink to practice. I’ll return to either Fairfax Ice Arena or MedStar Capitals Iceplex.

We went back to Groundtop for the second time on Saturday. When we arrived around noon, the resort was already crowded. People broke out their grill to make hamburgers, hot dogs, and burritos right in the parking lot. They must be local skiers.

The lines for the lifts were long; therefore, I took Vương to the magic carpet. He skied for three rounds and didn’t want to do it anymore. I went with the older boys on the blue terrain. After Đạo and Đán took off, I paralleled down the first deep slope and waited for Xuân. He came down for a bit, but hesitated to continue. Luckily, I spotted two ski patrols rescuing someone else and asked for help. One of them called other patrols and two more came to guide Xuân down to me. After that we skied together all the way down.

Later on I went to the black trail with Đán. He only started snowboarding not too long ago and he could already get around the black slope. With more snow, the black slopes were more difficult than before. There were more hills and holes. The first time I navigated my way down, I fell into a deep hole. The second time, I avoided it and made my way down. It was so much fun. I wanted to do more, but the kids were tired, especially Vương.

We canceled today’s trip because of freezing rain. The kids also needed to get some rest to return to school tomorrow after three weeks off. I also needed to get back to work after three and a half weeks off. It had been a joyful winter break thanks to the snow.

We went back to Whitetail reopening yesterday. It was crowded. I only skied three times yesterday on the green slope with Đạo, Đán, and Xuân. The rest of the time, I spent running along with Vương on the bunny slope.

He was using a used pair of skis I bought for $20. When I brought it to the ski store to have it tuned up, the technician insisted that he could not work on the binding and insisted that we should replace it. The new binding cost $90—plus $30 for the tune up. After the service, the skis still looked in good condition.

The length of the skis is 90 cm, which is a bit too long for Vương. It is perfect for Xuân, but he is already using a set we rented for him for the entire season. When Vương first tried out skiing for the first time at Attitash in New Hampshire, we rented a pair that was only 78-cm long. In addition, the bunny slope at Attitash was much smaller than the one in Whitetail. As a result, he was using a longer pair of skis and on a faster slope, but he didn’t know how to stop. Instead of plowing down the slope in a zigzag path, he paralleled straight down the slopes. I had to run alongside him and hold his jacket to slow him down or I had to run ahead of him to catch him when he sped up. It was exhausting for me, but he enjoyed it. He loved riding the magic carpet.

Next time, maybe today, I will try to ski along with him to see if it is better. We’re planning on going skiing again today and tomorrow before the kids go back to school and I go back to work. After three weeks of winter break, it will be difficult for all of us to go back.

I took Xuân to ice skating because he was the only one who wanted to join me. I no longer made my kids come along if they didn’t want to. Even though Xuân hadn’t skated for a month, he still had his chops. We worked on his outside 3-turns, inside mohawks, and hockey stops, but he could do higher-level moves like spirals, lounges, and bunny hops. He will finish with Gamma class in three weeks. I wish he would continue into Delta, but he already wanted to quit.

I didn’t do much with Freestyle 3 on my own. Instead of learning new techniques, I returned to the power pulls, something I hadn’t been able to accomplish on one foot. As I was practicing the power pulls, I connected the dots to short turns for skiing. I realized that the parallels, the edges, and the movements were exactly the same. The postures were a bit different; therefore, I imagined holding the poles in my hands instead of moving my arms side to side. I also envisioned myself skiing down a bunny slope instead of an ice skating rink. I kept my feet parallel, bent my knees, and pulled from left to right. I did that for half an hour straight and I could feel the burn on my legs. I can’t wait to apply the techniques to skiing.

Skiing and skating are starting to make sense to me how they can be related. I love these three sports (skiing, figure skating, and rollerblading) and I hope to keep pushing myself to stay active. These sports have saved me from depression, stress, and addiction. They keep my mind strong, creative, and clear. These sports have brought the athletic side out of me that I thought I didn’t have. I might have discovered them too late, but better late than never.

Sunday evening, as we wrapped up our winter break and prepared for the kids to return to schools, we were notified that schools would be closed on Monday due to inclement weather. The kids jumped and screamed for joy.

We woke up on Monday morning with a blanket of snow covering our ground. We dressed the kids in ski outfits and made a bunny slope in our backyard. We skied and snowboarded until lunchtime. After a quick lunch, which was around 1 pm, the snow stopped falling.

With the kids’ help, I shoveled our minivans and the front porch. After the kids went inside to play video games, my wife and I continued to shovel the sidewalk and driveway. We finished around 5pm and were alerted that schools would be closed again on Tuesday. The kids jumped and screamed for joy again as I announced that we would go skiing on Tuesday.

I woke up early on Tuesday to prepare for our ski trip at Bryce Resort. Because the weather was still cold, my wife backed out. She stayed home with Vương. I took Đạo, Đán, and Xuân with me. The drive was two hours and we didn’t arrive until 11:30 am. There was still plenty of time for us to ski. Đạo and Đán took off on their own. I went with Xuân. We started out on the green terrain, which Xuân could plow down with ease. Then all four of us tried out the blue terrain. To my surprise, Xuân didn’t fall at all on the blue slopes. He even skied faster than me.

I started to work on my short turns. I could do fine on the green slopes, but still needed to make wider turns on the blue slopes. My goal is to master my short turns by the end of this winter. Bryce Resort is a perfect place to practice. Its green terrain was long and its blue terrain was not too difficult. Kids under six years old didn’t need a lift ticket; therefore, Xuân was free. I just had to pay for Đạo, Đán, and myself since Bryce is not part of the Epic pass.

As we were skiing and snowboarding, I checked the time and it was already 3:40pm. The last lift would be 4:30pm. Four of us took one lift together. Then the kids decided to play with the snow so I went by myself on the blue slopes. Đạo and I took the last lift together.

As we were about to head back home around 5pm, I received another text message that schools will be closed again tomorrow. The kids jumped and screamed for joy again. We might head back tomorrow for another ski day. What can I say? I love skiing.

Last night, my wife pointed out that I am obsessed with skiing. I looked up the weather forecast to see if it would be cold enough for the resorts to make snow. I searched for ski levels to plan out my lessons. I watched quite a bit of YouTube skiing tutorials.

My wife is correct. I have the tendency to be obsessive. When I get into something, I go all in or as much as I possibly can. From ice skating to rollerblading to skiing, I find these sports fascinating. These sports changed my perspective on physical activities. For the most part of my life, I never thought I could be athletic. I was just a lazy bum. In grade school, I tried to play football and basketball with American kids, but I sucked at them both. I didn’t even understand the rules. Asian kids I hung out with were good at volleyball, but I was just average.

I was decent at soccer, but I never excelled at it. I made it to the JV team in high school as a right forward striker, but I was too lazy to run or to hustle. I avoided getting into contact with my opponents. I waited for my teammates to pass the ball to me. As a result, I didn’t get to play much. In retrospect, why the hell was I even on the team? I didn’t contribute anything.

For a long time, I didn’t do any sports. To keep myself healthy, I started jogging and that didn’t last too long. Waking up early in the morning to go for a run is more miserable, especially in the winter, than enjoyable.

When I introduced my kids to ice skating, I picked it up myself. My goal was to skate around the rink, but when I saw other skaters doing some impressive moves on the ice, I wanted to learn more. I didn’t even know lessons were offered until a mom of Xuân’s friend pointed out to me. I enrolled Đạo, Đán, and myself. Taking lessons opened up a whole new world for me. In ice skating, levels have been established to guide you through your progression. I started out from all the basics and then moved into jumps, spins, and step sequences. The Fairfax Ice Arena used the Ice Sport Industry (ISI) program in its curriculum so I just followed it. I wrapped up my Freestyle 2 group lessons last December. I am at the point where I can learn on my own with Coach Julia’s YouTube videos. I wanted to focus on jumps and step sequences instead of spins.

During the pandemic lockdown, we needed some form of outdoor activities. We biked, but I got bored quickly. Biking up the hills was not that much fun. I resisted rollerblading because it seemed like a dangerous sport. Falling on concrete appeared to be painful. Then my wife bought us rollerblades, helmets, and protective gears for our knees, elbows, and wrists. We rollerbladed around basketball courts and bike trails, but the skate parks changed our game. I can’t remember how I discovered skate parks, but I was so glad when I learned such places existed for free. They were intimidated at first, especially those deep bowls, but they were fun as we made the progressions. I learned and built up my skills from watching YouTube videos. So far, rollerblading is the most dangerous out of the three sports. I hurt myself a few times; therefore, I took extra precautions.

With skiing, my wife brought us Epic passes for the entire season. With a week-long trip in New Hampshire and two days in Pennsylvania, the passes paid for themselves. From now on, our ski trips are free. With unlimited access, I wanted to develop more skiing skills than just plowing down the hills for fun. I planned on taking group lessons, but so far the resorts were short of staff. As a result, I learned through YouTube videos. I wanted to make some skiing progress to allow me to enjoy the blue, maybe even black, terrains.

I am loving ice skating, rollerblading, and skiing because they are similar in a way that each sport gives me the opportunity to develop my skills at my own pace. I don’t have to compete against anyone else. I don’t have to prove to anyone that I am better—something I also wanted to teach my kids. These are the sports we learn together to improve ourselves instead of to compete against each other.

I have been obsessed with practicing because I don’t want to lose all the skills I have gained. If I don’t rollerblade regularly, stepping up on the coping to drop in could be quite intimidating. I wanted to incorporate these sports into my life so I can stay healthy and become more adventurous.