I listened to a TED talk recently (like 30 seconds of it on Facebook but that’s about all I can take) that said the strongest predictor of a child’s success is grit–which Webster’s defines as an “indomitable spirit”. Jackson Hole gave the Benander’s a chance to demonstrate some. (BTW the presenter’s name was Angela Lee Duckworth if you want to Google it. I’m just not skilled enough to make a link here.)

We rolled in late at night and in the morning rode our bikes into the adorable town area of Jackson. Like a mix of ski bum + cowboy, it’s really just adorable. Looking around town Morgan remarks, “Yeah, I could live here one day.” Which I love. We’ll come back to that…

Many moons ago I learned to ski in Jackson Hole–I was 4 years old at the time and don’t remember it but I’ve been told. No skiing this time, although the Tetons were no less majestic in the summertime.

Our adventure this time was at a different ski area called Snow King, a short bike ride away from our RV park. A chair lift takes you about halfway up the mountain to a kids’ rope course and then you can ride the mountain slide down–similar to our trip down from the Great Wall, which was probably the #1 highlight of that trip for the kids. Ancient treasures be damned.

We get up to the ropes course and the kids are stoked (this was their first) for only about 15 minutes, then we’re called down for a squall blowing in.

The chair lift was closed so our best bet was to wait to out–imagine the surprise my island babies had when tiny ice cubes fell from the sky. They’d never seen hail. Morgan capitalized on the moment to build a snowman which she named Hail Mary. ❤️

But here’s where the fun started: After every other family trekked down the mountain my little chargers waited over an hour to get back on the course. By now the storm had stopped but the temperature had dropped and the lines/connections were so cold it was hard for island fingers to operate them. We offered them an out but tiny Benander’s refused to quit. Like literally wouldn’t come down. Morgan and Noah tapped into their indomitable spirits to finish the course which took a long time but they gutted it out. And then Morgan cried because she’s Morgan and that’s pretty hard stuff when you’re 7.

As a reward we got to ride the Cowboy Coaster down the hill–here’s a video if you would like to see, the yelling is definitely Mommy although those are not my adorable pink feet. ❤️

Clearly I’m proud of them sticking something out but a cold ropes course is pretty minimal consequentially–what I thought was really cool was Morgan’s thought about living in Jackson. I’m not so concerned about where she lives, but I LOVE that she looked at a new place not as a wistful longing but as something she could do someday if she really wanted it. GRIT.

The travel education continues…