April Break

This year we had such a great plan for April break.  It included meeting up with 7 other families in Pisgah.  We reserved sites and we were fired up.  But sometimes the best laid plans...... are just that.  Plans ..... and we needed to be flexible because sometimes they need to change.  As it turn out, the weeks leading up to our trip were cold and rainy here in VT.  Weather forecasts showed the same exact weather holding on strong over the Asheville/Pisgah area.  Families started dropping out on the plan in the days leading up to it.... One family decided to go to the caribbean, another decided to stay here, and another headed to Florida.  So, the rest of us decided to head south to Harrisonburg, Virginia and see how the weather panned out.  We packed bikes and camping stuff and headed south as we normally do.  First stop was Nana and Grandpa's.  

Next we stopped at Hester and Hudnell's for a night.  The weather was beautiful, so we left early on Sunday morning and made it to Harrisonburg by 10am.  John and I got to join some of the guys for a great ride.  We also rode the next day, but then the rain began.  At the last moment, we decided to change plans entirely and head to Hilton Head.  Sherry and George are wonderful about always making us feel welcome,so we jumped on the opportunity to be in warm sunshine and play with them:

Within an hour of being there, we were on our bikes at Pinkney Island.  We saw crocodiles and sand crabs.  John even saw a five foot long rat snake in a tree!

viewing alligators

A corn snake that John climbed upon

searching for crabs

The following day, George arranged for us to borrow kayaks from his friend George in Beaufort, SC.  We saw crabs and sharks!  We even got fresh oysters:

It was wonderful to be at the beach!

And Sherry took the time to go shark tooth hunting with us:

We also loved hearing my Grandfather's story that Sherry is working hard to transcribe:

On our way home, we stopped through Charleston to have lunch with Izzy Johnston and then had a wonderful night at Lindsay and Silas' house north of Charleston in Cross.

Exploring Charleston

Biking with Kai

Easter

John and I have mixed feelings about Easter.  We aren't really into the whole religious part of the holiday-- which is kind of what the whole day is about, but it is fun to carry on some of the non-religious customs associated with the holiday.  This year, we tried a few different egg dying techniques. One that Sherry recommended involved Cool Whip (instead of shaving cream because I feel weird about eating an egg that has sat in a soap like substance) and food dye. 

We love being able to ski on Easter weekend.  Saturday was a perfect afternoon.  The snow "corned up" and the sun was shining.

The Easter Bunny still manages to come to our house.  He drops off very nice gifts, but no candy.  He used to hide the dyed Easter eggs, but after Zephy went on her own hunt before us and ate most of them, we requested that he not do that. The kids were okay with that because we found another hunt to partake in.

Years ago, before I had kids, I was at Mad River when they had an Easter Egg hunt on the slopes.  I pretty much hate what Easter eggs promote.... in terms of competition and greed, but if we were going to have our kids do an Easter egg hunt, this was the kind of hunt I knew we could all embrace.

We got to the start, just in time.  The first half of the event involved following a giant bunny down the trail called Bunny.

Once the kids got to the Sunny Side double, they split them up according to age and sent them down the slopes to find plastic eggs.

The kids loved, even though the choice of using a basket instead of a bag was questionable.

We spent the rest of the afternoon skiing with friends, looking for corn snow.  The temps were a bit too cold for that, but we had a ball none-the-less.

We capped off the day with another egg hunt at the Mahoney's (with more candy) and lots of great food with fun friends.

Free Ski Comp

John read an article about how Norwegians train their Olympic winners.  The fact is, they don't train kids to be Olympians.  They actually don't let kids compete in ski sports until they are teenagers.   Until then, they just expose kids to all sorts of sports and the number one goal is to have fun and enjoy it.  So, when the kids caught wind of a friendly free ski (extreme ski) competition happening at Smuggs, we were conflicted. Like the ski race, they really hadn't had any instruction on how to compete in a competition such as this, but they were excited to give it a try.   Plus, it was a gorgeous day and conditions were perfect. 

Cally went in the first group.  She skied a great line and had great form with a lot of flow.  Hazen was in the second group.  He skied an aggressive line and took way more risk than the rest of the kids. He never actually fell, but he also didn't land some of his jumps with the smoothness and flow that they were looking for.  But, both kids had a ball. 

Peter Hawkes, the father of a young man who lost his life in a free ski competition out west when he was at his prime, started the Flyin' Ryan organization.  He is all about promoting following Ryan's core principles.  He spoke to all the participants of the contest at the awards ceremony.  He told the kids that they are all winners today because they challenged themselves and followed his son's core principles:

Live every day, all day
Never stop exploring life
Never lose my adventuresome spirit
Be the best friend I can be
Be the best brother, son, uncle I can be
Play like I am 13
Look out for others
Look out for myself
Look out for our surroundings
Be self-sufficient
Don’t be afraid to ask for help
Work hard
Live easy
Live simply

The top five finishers from each age group were called up to the podium.  Cally placed 4th!  To see the smile on her face was one of the greatest gifts.  She was not expecting it and was so proud of herself.  She beamed from ear to ear.   She is not the competitive one in our family, but I could tell that she felt the sweet feeling of success.  

Hazey was a bit disappointed by his results (he was 13th out of 18 U10 boys).  He didn't really understand why he didn't get a better score because he felt like he skied well.  There might have been a few tears, but one of the free ski coaches saw what was happening and promptly gave Hazen a bunch of compliments about his skiing and he bounced back pretty quickly.  That said, I think it was a good lesson for all.  Hazey steals the spotlight sometimes, because he goes big and that strokes his ego-- sometimes too much.  I hate to see him disappointed, but I hope he learned a little through the experience.  Before the scores came in, he felt good about his race.  Ultimately, that is what really matters-- Feeling good and having fun.  He certainly has drive.  He just needs to reign it in a little and make sure he uses it to his advantage.  Then he'll be able to do anything. 

Meanwhile, Mansfield Nordic ended with an awards ceremony.  Cally got the "Brazen Downhiller" award and Hazen got the "Young and Determined" award.  I think that sums both of them up pretty well.

Enjoying dad being back in town!

Another highlight of the week was getting out to ski a new part of the backcountry with John.  He arrived back from Idaho at midnight on Sunday and we've been passing like ships in the night since his return.  But, heading into the woods with a ton of snow ans fresh tracks to be had made for a happy day.

When the Husband is away....... The snow falls

It's like clockwork...... When John takes off for his spring break trip to Idaho with UVM students, the snow starts falling in Vermont.  We got 16 inches in the mountains in the three days before he left.  Then we got 11 inches of snow over the weekend and then 52 inches over the next four days!  Aside from the joy of getting all this snow to ski upon, there is a lot of stress associated with the snow blowing, moving of the car around, and everything else that comes along with being a single mom who loves to ski.  

Fortunately, this kid is a super snow helper.  He even helps me find lost beer when it gets buried by a "roof-alanch".

 And these two are pretty darn good at keeping themselves entertained while I am out snowblowing, moving the car, and snow blowing some more (before finally calling in the plow for mercy).

These two are awesome ski buddies.  They love snow days and they really do like to get after it.  But with that much snow, it's hard for little people.  Falling in such deep stuff is tough to get out of for an adult, let alone a 4 foot tall pip squeek.

But with so much soft snow, it makes for some really fun launches. It is so fun to watch these guys go for it!