Snowboarders

The boys finally got to snowboard today. After a week off school because of snow, it was time to make the most of the 50 plus inches that were dumped in the area of our closest ski resort - Liberty, just over the Maryland line in Pennsylvania. It's about 70 miles from our house and took an hour and a half to get there. I was amazed at how clear the roads were today, especially since people couldn't get to the resort yesterday as Route 15 in Thurmont, MD was closed as road crews worked to remove all the abandoned cars from Wednesday, when the area got 23 inches of snow on top of the 30 they already had.

Aside from losing a lane every now and then, which required some looking ahead (!), the roads were nice and clear. Joshua marveled at the huge walls of snow on either side of us, and wondered how the horses could stand out in the snow as we drove through the countryside. Emmitsburg, MD, is a quaint little historic town that you drive through just before you cross the state line and enter the ski resort. One day we will actually stop there!

I had signed up Daniel for a 2 hour snowboarding lesson in advance, but Joshua wasn't sure if he really wanted to do it, so I hadn't signed him up. On the way there he decided he did want to try it, and luckily they had an extra spot in the lesson. Kids are supposed to be 6 to snowboard, so I just "forgot" to fill out Joshua's birthdate on the form...we were all signed up and ready to go and then the guy at the counter asked me for Joshua's birthdate...I couldn't lie with him right there so I just told him 6/20/04 and hoped he would let it slide! Thankfully he just said, "that's my birthday!" and that was that. I don't know if he didn't care, or let him go because he's tall for his age, or because he's almost 6, but I certainly didn't bother to ask!

The boys had a great time - they fell a LOT but always got back up and tried again. They loved the magic carpet that led them back up the hill, and the snacks that they got halfway through the lesson. Here are a couple of pics taken with my phone, since I forgot my camera!

Snowmageddon - The Aftermath

We got somewhere between 25 and 30 inches...I've been meaning to stick a tape measure in the ground but have been too busy photographing kids, running 15 miles (yesterday, in the nicely ploughed streets!), and chilling the wine in the snow!!!

Here are our snowmageddon pictures.

Snowmageddon

Another Ski Trip!

We're really getting into this skiing thing. We enjoy it, the boys love it (except now they want to learn to - shock - snowboard!) and it's generally a nice weekend. Unfortunately it started snowing earlier than predicted last Saturday, so our usual 3 hr drive turned into a 4+ hr nightmare as we had to slow down in the very cold (saw 10 degrees on the thermometer at one point) and slick conditions. We had to crank up the heat to keep the snow on the windshield from freezing - and then Daniel threw up. After eating a pink frosted donut. Not a pretty sight (or smell)!!

Anyway, we eventually made it, and after that had a good time, with the boys progressing rapidly on their skis - good enough to do some blue runs now - and Stuart and I happy to hang out with them...well, except when Joshua decided to ski off through the trees and we all followed...an incident we don't plan to repeat!

Snowmaggeddon

Virginia has declared a state of emergency. Schools are closed today. All weekend events have been cancelled. I was about to say "it's not snowing" because it wasn't when I looked about 5 mins ago, but I just looked out the window and it has officially started snowing! 9:49am! And I have to run 7 miles today...hmmm. We're supposed to get up to 24 inches over the next 2 days. Should be interesting. We have lots of food and movies so should be fine for about a week or so! Will post updates!