Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to meet her as she passed the year before I started dating J. I did however, get a chance to be apart of this wonderful fundraising opportunity.
The Ski and Snowboard Fun Day had well know people from the skiing world such as Rob Butler and Steve Young. J got a change to ski with Steve Young and he was raving about the tips he gave him. The instructor I had was Dave, he broke down the our lesson going from a very basic level to a more advanced level. I noticed a huge improvement in my skiing (better than any instruction I have received from my hill).
The morning started off with registration where we got our bib numbers (Marcus stole my number 8 and so I took 88), neck warmers, lunch vouchers, a complementary Ski Canada magazine and a letter from Sick Kids thanking us for participating in the event.
At 9:00 the lifts opened for free ski although I did not get to take advantage of it. Lil' Man wanted to explore the new place and play with the other kids (H & C which he knew from the cottage last summer).
At 10:00 the group lessons started. As mentioned before I had Dave. Maybe because he is younger but he has a great teaching style and gave constructive criticism very well. Lessons went until about 11:30-11:45 when we all broke for lunch.
Lunch was to be between 11:30-1:30 - whenever you got around to it. Despite the fact that I wanted to take a couple more runs before lunch, Lil' Man was hungry so I had to go in and eat.
The races started at 1:30 and with a little bit of confusion the little tykes had their own race course on the tow rope located at Awesome. The only part that I had a problem with for the whole day. Not many people were sure exactly the younger children were going to have their race. The older kids (8+) and adults raced on Staircase, a black run. Lil' Man tied for first along with H & C for his very first race. :) There might have been one more kid but I am not sure.
Lil' Man and I after his first ski "race".The Silent Auction and raffles were held around 3:30. Shortly after that there was a very touching video put together by a friend of Melodina's that put the whole room into tears. I was holding Lil' Man so tightly so I wouldn't make a noise while I was crying. I had to explain to him all over again why we were there.
After all of the tears and a heartfelt Thank You from the event chair/sister of Melodina (J's cousin) Harmony and her father James, there was a young woman that came from Sick Kids that spoke. She received a lesson from James and mentioned that it has been three years since she has been able to ski. Allowing us to hear from someone who is currently under treatment at Sick Kids was wonderful although, I can't imagine how much energy that took for her to be out there skiing.
After all was said and done, there was cake. Yummy, yummy cake. The cake topper was a fondant figure of Melodina.
It is never too late to donate money to Sick Kids in Melodina's honour (despite the fact that most of my readers are from Ottawa and we have CHEO). You can visit the Melodina Tribute website and click on Donate to donate in her name.
Happy Birthday Melodina!
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