Winter Break is Over

Over this week, I was a little home sick throughout this trip however I will miss the wonderful time and memories I spent with my family. I am glad that we choose to get away from our everyday lives and enjoy just being with one another. Now to tell you the truth it is this time together that I will miss.
It was cold and everything was always wet, but I wouldn't have traded this time for a million bucks.
When we get home we need to remember to enjoy the moments because before you know it your children are seven and no longer need to be babied. They are the first ones down the mountain head first and loving it.

WWWWWEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ski Trip: Day 3 Last Day of Fun

Today is our last day of fun. Tomorrow we leave to go home to sunny Florida. We will miss our time off together. However we will not miss how long it takes to get all your gear on just to go outside. First we needed to get on many layers of regular clothing. Then we covered it all up with our waterproof ski pants, ski jacket, and gloves. You need to remember you accessories such as your hat, scarf, chapstick, and sunglasses for that blinding sun. After all those clothes then we must add our ski boots which are impossible to walk in. Then just to have a little fun you must carry your skis and poles. Which is not easy when you can't walk in those crazy boots.
One thing Steve won't miss is the huge blister he has from skiing. He woke up in the middle of the night to go to the car to get our first aid kit. This morning he headed back out to the slopes for a very short time because the pressure from his boot was making him really uncomfortable. Nick on the other hand has loved skiing and is begging us always to go back out.
He has had fun throwing snowballs and enjoying something that he doesn't get at home.
Snow, Snow and more snow!
I on the other hand has given up trying to ski I am just not good. For now I will remain flat on the ground and I will stick to walking.

Ski Trip: Day 2

Today we spent most of our day snow tubing. I thought this would be a lot like sledding and it would be a great experience for Nick. However for all of you who have ever been sledding you would be jealous. First when you were a kid you would try to find the biggest,and best hill, well the work was all done for you this tubing hill had five separate lanes so you don't crash into each other and the hill was 600 feet of the smoothest snow.
Now when I was a kid I would walk up a hill to enjoy about ten seconds of fun. Well they also made the experience much better. No walking up the hill. You get in a line and the hand the cord connected to your tube to the attendant and they hook it on to a pull. You are then pulled up the hill. It drops you off at the top and you just pick your lane and slide. I can not believe how fast this tube went down the hill. I felt sick to my stomach as I traveled down the hill. I just know that if I would have rolled off the tube I would have broken something. Nick on the other hand was fearless. In the beginning he was going down sitting in the tube. He then moved to laying across the tube on his belly and speeding down the hill face forward. By the end these fearless boys thought putting our tubes together would be a good idea. It went so fast. It was like going down a roller coaster on a dangerous cloud of air. We had a blast!!!
When we got back we ended up ordering pizza for dinner and warming up. Remember those four restaurants I mentioned earlier. Well we first tried these places, of course there was a three hour wait at each. Believe it or not people are willing to wait when there isn't much food on the mountain.
We ended the night with some fun games.

Ski Trip: Day 1

On day one of our ski trip we first had to stand in a huge line for rentals first we were given a paper (I'm still unsure of the reason for this paper). Once we got this very important paper we then had to get in another long line to get our ski boots. Of course Steve ended up with a pair way to small and now he has a two inch blister. After the ski boot line then you are put into another line to get your skis and then you have them adjusted to your boots. This of course took a while considering that the guy spoke very little English. I think the only word he could say was YES. Then we went around another corner and got into a another line for poles. I think this whole process would have gone a lot smoother had there not been so many lines.
One we were all suited up off we went to our beginners class. Nick had a two and half hour class and he spent most of his class time waiting for skis and boots. So he ended up with a shorter class but to tell you the truth he learned a lot more than either Steven nor I.
After my embarrassing class we went off to lunch. Now this may not sound like a big deal, but considering that there is only about four restaurants on this whole mountain. The places here cost so much you have to wait so long. Remember to take out a small loan just to have something hot around here. The one cool thing about this place is that the people who work here are from all over the world. So under their name tags then it tells you where they are from. Our waiter today was from Brazil. Snow I can't say I never meet anyone from Brazil.
I really thought that I would be cold but with a this exercise I am wishing I brought my FL shorts. By the end of our lesson we were so tired I could have gone to bed at 1pm. But this is a vacation and we have to time to rest. So back out to the slopes after we eat.
To tell you the truth I have no idea what I am doing trying to ski. For those of you who know me, I am lucky I can walk and talk at the same time and since I am always talking ... How do I get anywhere?
As I write this blogger I am sitting in the lobby in front of the huge fire. Today we had hot cocoa after lunch as went walked back to our hotel room. I am really having a wonderful winter break. This is what winter is all about.

Road Trip

Mountains Here We Come!!!
We may all have been smiles in the beginning but it didn't take long. I can't believe how much different Florida is from the places we have been today. When I first got to FL I hated everything about it. However now I expect things and people to be the way they are when at home. We drove some of the worst roads that I have ever seen. In FL when we are on a highway it looks like a highway and people come racing just so you don't forget. Here we were suppose to be on a highway and we are passing by homes and we even needed to dodge deer. When we first got into West Virginia we stopped at a gas station to buy a ice scraper because we were already bad there was ice and snow. Isn't there some who gets paid more than a teacher to clean these roads? Well guess he had the night off. While we were at the gas station the girl could not figure out the change. That is another thing, in FL we have registers that do all the thinking. I bet you thought I was going to say smart people. No way! Well after 15 hours of our 12 hour trip we pull in to the coldest place on earth.
You should see the car it is covered in dirt, snow, rock, and ice. That poor car it will be back in FL soon.

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas together. On Christmas day Nick woke up at the crack of dawn and was ready to see what the big man had left him. Steven and I got a new laptop and this wonderful trip to Snowshow Mountain. Of course I am starting to wonder if the snow clothing cost us more than the trip. Being from Florida we don't have alot of warm clothes. Nick of course got toys, toys, and more toys. He got alot of Bionicles and star wars legos. He got a few board games and some new clothes. Overall we had a wonderful holiday. I do miss my family from PA and wish that I could a have spent the holiday with them. Tomorrow first thing in the morning we leave for our trip. Off to some where colder.

Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas Eve

Christmas eve is finally here! Today we headed off to church we ended up waiting 50 minutes until mass started. We wanted to get there early and make sure we had a seat. Well most people thought the same thing. We still had half an hour to go and the place was packed. The kind of packed that if you leave to pee you may come back to another woman sitting in your spot claiming your crazy family.
When we got home we started our Christmas eve dinner. Then we all opened our one special present. I wonder what it could be... PJ's but of course every year on Christmas eve the whole family get new threads to wake up to. Check us out in our new pj's, even Dogger (pronounced Dodger) got some new clothes as we wait for Santa.
Nick isn't sure he will be able to sleep tonight. He is so excited. We have been tracking Santa on the computer. If you are way out in China or India then you will be happy to hear that your gifts should have already arrived. As Nick tells me those kids are way lucky because they are already playing with their toys.
You may be interested in watching the flight pattern of Santa...
http://www.noradsanta.org/index.php

Making Cookies

Tonight I went to the Bob Carr theater to see the New York Radio City Rockettes with my friend Kristi. What an awesome show! While I was there Nick and Steven went to Grandma and Grandpa Herod's house. Nick went over earlier and baked cookies and had fun playing with Grandpa. Later Steven showed up and they went to Avalon Park where they was a games and rides for Christmas.

Preparing for Christmas

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells!!!
Today we set up our tree. Nick and dad put the tree up. We have an artificial tree, due to allergies, so it takes a little while to get it put together and up. Once with tree was up Nick and I put on all our special family ornaments. Each year we buy Nick a new ornament to represent something from that year. This year we bought Star Wars figures for the tree. It was this year that Nick has driven us crazy with his love of Star Wars. I only wonder what interesting thing may be on the tree next year.

Christmas Lights

Tonight we went out driving around looking at Christmas lights. We bundled Nick up on this cool night and brought a blanket and cocoa along to keep him warm. We use to do this very thing when Nick was little and we were trying to get him to sleep. Old habits are hard to break we must have drove around for about 30 minutes and before you knew it Nick was complaining about being tired. I guess the car still works.
We saw some beautiful lights and can't wait until the holiday is here.