Skiing Adventure (Bedtime Story)

Bedtime with Mrs.

Honeybee Today,

In the Honeybee neighborhood,

We'll be taking a ski trip.

Aw,

Harold,

Did you put your snowshoes on all by yourself?

He was trying to.

It's tough when you've got paws,

So I gave him a hand.

Get it?

Good one,

Dear.

But what are the chopsticks for,

My dear?

Well,

I couldn't find skis in extra,

Extra,

Extra,

Extra small for Melody Bee,

So I made her some.

You turned chopsticks into skis?

Buzz,

Buzz,

Buzz.

Aren't they awesome?

Thanks,

Mr.

Honeybee.

My pleasure,

Melody Bee.

I'm so excited to see you hit the slopes.

I can imagine it already.

A little bee on skis will be quite a sight to see.

All you have to do is close your eyes,

Get cozy,

And listen to the sound of my voice.

Mrs.

Honeybee will be your guide.

Let's begin.

You are here in the Honeybee neighborhood,

Walking around the corner to our driveway.

It's cloudy and cool out today,

The perfect day to actually leave on our annual ski trip.

The clouds will bring a blanket of fresh snow to the mountains,

And we will enjoy ourselves skiing,

Snowboarding,

And sledding down them.

And just think of all the snow people we can build.

A smile comes across your face,

Thinking about all the fun we'll have as you walk up to the brightly colored front door.

Take a slow,

Deep breath in through your nose.

Feel the coolness of the chilly air coming in through your nose and rounding out your chest.

Then,

Slowly,

Breathe all the way out through your mouth and knock on the door.

You can hear Harold's distant bark from inside the house,

Like usual,

And Melody Bee following close behind.

We all answered the door in record time today because we're just so excited.

Hello,

My little Honeybee.

Ah,

You look all nice and cozy in your snow jacket and earmuffs.

Here are mine.

And here are mine.

Harold,

Do your floppy ears need earmuffs,

Or are your earmuffs kind of built in?

I think his are built in.

He's got a coat of fur on at all times.

Hello,

My little Honeybee.

We were waiting for you to get here so we could head out on our ski trip.

Or sledding trip,

If skiing ends up not going as well as I think it won't go.

Melody Bee,

You just accidentally talked yourself out of a gloomy outlook with a double negative,

And it's a good thing.

You learned how to ride a bike,

A horse.

What are a couple skis?

Wobbly.

Two skis are wobbly,

Mrs.

Honeybee.

Come on,

We can talk about this on the ride up the mountain.

Do you want to drive,

My little Honeybee?

Just kidding.

I hope you all fall asleep so I get to enjoy my tunes.

Mr.

Honeybee,

Did you make another playlist?

More importantly,

Does it have a rhyming name?

No,

What?

Why would I?

No,

Definitely not.

I definitely didn't create a snow-themed playlist.

You so did.

Let me see that thing.

There's nothing to see.

Let's see it,

Mr.

Honeybee.

Why can't you admit you love rhyming adventures,

Huh?

I will admit no such thing.

What's it called,

Melody Bee?

Oh,

You mean the ski trip musicianship playlist?

Ski trip musicianship.

Hmm,

Not bad.

Do you know how hard it is to rhyme ski trip?

Seems easier than sledding because Melody Bee is terrified of skis trip.

Harold shepherds us back out the front door and into the car so we don't delay his snow play any longer than absolutely necessary.

We hop in the car,

Squished in between all our snow stuff,

And head out to the majestic mountains.

From here,

The mountains don't seem as mammoth as we know they are.

They're dressed up with their finest snow caps,

Just like us,

And it even starts to snow as we approach.

We begin the long,

Slow incline up the side of the mountain,

Swirling around and around the winding roads.

Slowly we go higher and higher.

Your ears adjust to the altitude and continue to adjust with each turn we round,

Each turn to go higher.

Take a slow,

Deep breath in through your nose.

Feel the coolness of the fresh mountain air coming in through your nose and expanding your chest out.

Then,

Slowly,

Breathe all the way out through your mouth and feel how the warmth in your heart has transformed even the chilliest air.

Looking out your window,

Back from where we came,

You see your little chunk of the honeybee neighborhood get so small it seems to disappear.

Now you're officially on vacation,

Swept away from the schedules,

Worries,

And concerns of everyday life.

Our perspective and our spirits lift on the drive up.

By the time we arrive,

We are more than ready to enjoy the snow in all our different ways.

Harold is intent on snowshoeing and has practiced as much as he could on the grass in preparation.

Melody Bee will try skis but has pretty much already relegated herself to sledding.

I will be skiing because that's my favorite.

Mr.

Honeybee will be snowboarding like he's always done since he was a kid.

Everyone gets to choose their favorite snow day activity and we will go down the bunny hill first to get acclimated and practice on real snow.

Then we'll decide how high up we want to go.

What is your favorite?

You can do anything you like.

You help Melody Bee grab her sled and her tiny skis as you bring out what snow supplies you'll need.

Together,

We head to the chairlift,

Harold confidently leading the way in his snowshoes.

We're just going on the bunny hills first,

Right?

That's right.

We'll warm up and get adjusted.

Then the fun really begins.

Are there bunnies on the bunny hill?

I hope so.

Otherwise,

It would be false advertising.

We make our way through the soft snow up to the chairlift.

The bunny slope is nearby.

We can see it from here.

Just a little friendly hill that's easy to navigate.

But as we hop up onto the chairlift,

We see another one across the way that goes so high it looks like it lifts you right into the clouds.

That's the double black diamond lift.

Oh,

It looks really high.

They should name it something much less pretty.

Diamonds are pretty.

Maybe it could be called Beware Slope.

Or Gargoyle Slope.

Something like that.

Get ready,

Everyone.

Here's our exit.

Next stop,

Bunny hill.

We all hold our hands out to the side as the chairlift delivers us to a small,

Steep slope that lets us off the lift before it goes back down to get more passengers.

You ready yourself,

Aiming your feet for the top of the slope,

Waiting to feel the gentle push of your weight bearing down.

With our hands out,

Reaching for each other,

We get to the top of the steep slope and are flung down.

At first,

We all stay standing,

Gliding along the top of the snow.

But then a little gust of wind gets the better of us and our graceful gliding falls down into a frantic rolling until a snowbank stops us.

Harold is not slowed down,

But by the crash landing,

He pops right back up,

Proud in his snowshoes,

And continues on to the slope.

We follow him,

Inspired by his excitement and confidence.

At the top of the slope,

We look down the path we will slide down and are delighted to see there are indeed bunnies on the bunny hill.

Little,

Fluffy white bunnies that blend in with powdery snow hop all around the hill,

Helping skiers and snowboarders and sledders and snowshoers down the slope.

They are so helpful that a group of them comes right up to us to make sure we're ready to go down,

Which we are.

Take a slow,

Deep breath in through your nose.

Feel the coolness of the mountain air coming in through your nose and filling your lungs.

Then,

Slowly,

Breathe all the way out through your mouth and push off the top of the slope to glide down,

Down,

Down.

Mr.

Honeybee and I,

Harold and Melody Bee,

Follow close behind you,

Sliding down the hill with ease.

That is,

Until.

.

.

Whoa,

Whoa,

Whoa!

Pizza,

Melody Bee,

Remember?

I'm not hungry,

Mrs.

Honeybee.

No,

Pizza on the skis.

I'm falling,

I can't.

.

.

Melody Bee wobbles so much that she loses balance and rolls down the hill with her arms,

Legs,

And wings flailing in every direction.

She rolls just as fast as we glide down and meets us at the bottom of the hill,

Dizzy.

I'm sledding.

Skiing is for human legs and maybe horses.

I'm sledding.

Okay,

Melody Bee,

At least you tried.

You put in an honest effort.

I commend you for that.

Phew,

Okay,

Now that that's out of the way,

Which slope are we going on next?

There are so many lifts.

Well,

We know that one goes to the bunny hill,

Which we've already mostly mastered.

Let's try that one next.

Once again,

We stand at the spot where the chair will swoop up under us and lift us up into the sky.

We wait for it,

Looking behind us,

To watch for its approach.

Then,

It lightly pushes behind our knees and we fall back into its sturdy seat,

Situating ourselves as we lift into the sky.

The view is beautiful from up here.

The clouds in the sky are so puffy and softly colored that they somehow feel warm looking at them,

Even though the tip of your nose tells you otherwise.

Green pine trees that disappear beneath our dangling feet do their best to hold up the fallen snow on their branches.

As we ascend higher in altitude up the mountain,

It begins to snow.

You wrap your scarf around your neck and adjust your earmuffs so none of the chilly draft gets in.

Take another slow,

Deep breath in through your nose.

Feel your chest and your spirits lift as you lift up higher and higher.

Then,

Slowly breathe out through your mouth and use your strong belly muscles to breathe every last drop of air out so you can feel heavier here on this chairlift.

Our exit quickly approaches and we once again ready ourselves for the steep slope.

Holding each other's hands tight,

We glide effortlessly down the ramp for a perfect landing.

There are no bunnies on this hill,

So we wonder to ourselves which slope we're on.

That's when we see it.

Oh no!

Those are diamonds on that sign over there,

Aren't they?

Black ones.

Oh no!

The double black diamond slope?

Maybe those aren't diamonds.

Maybe they're sideways oddly shaped rectangles.

Maybe that means it's an extra easy slope?

Maybe.

I wouldn't get your hopes up if I were you,

Melody B.

Melody B stands at the top of the double black diamond slope with us,

Frozen in fear,

But Harold hops into action as if he was a bunny on the bunny hill and stays by her side,

Helping her feel more confident on her sled.

On the count of three,

Two,

One,

We all push ourselves off and glide down the hill.

A chilly but refreshing breeze blows against our cheeks as we shred the snow side to side,

Gaining speed and confidence.

You are out in front of Mr.

Honeybee and I,

Leading the way around tree trunks and jumping off of ramps on the way down.

Mr.

Honeybee picks up even more speed as he aims for an upcoming ramp.

He soars off of it and does a backflip with his snowboard.

He lands it perfectly and continues down the tall hill.

You are up next.

A ramp is quickly approaching.

You have just enough time to pick up just enough speed to fling yourself off the ramp with expert form and do not one,

But two backflips.

You land perfectly and I'm gliding right behind you.

On the next ramp,

I too do a backflip and land once again right by your side.

Together,

We make all the way down the slope before we realize we haven't heard from Harold or Melody Bee in a while.

Hey,

Where's Melody Bee and Harold?

I saw them further up.

They're on their way down,

Slowly.

By the time we see Harold and Melody Bee making their way down the rest of the slope,

We are already in the ski lodge,

Looking out the big windows,

Holding our hot cocoa with our snow gear draped over the wooden chairs.

Melody Bee's eyes are wide,

Still just as frozen in fear as she was at the top.

Harold is dutifully nosing her down the hill,

Not on her sled,

But on her bottom.

The sled went too fast for her,

So Harold and Melody Bee scooted down the entire double-black-diamond slope as slow as possible.

Harold,

Harold,

Slow down!

We walk outside of the lodge to meet Melody Bee and Harold with steaming hot cocoa,

And she is so happy to see us.

When she gets to the bottom,

She has renewed confidence because she did it.

With the help of her friend,

She actually did the whole slope.

It doesn't matter how you do it,

Just that you did it.

Always remember,

Mrs.

Honey Bee believes in you.

You are special,

And you are loved.

I can't wait to see you again.