Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Fairy Godmother

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Cousin Caitlin -- goddaughter to Elaine, godmother to Nora, and friend to all -- was in DC for a conference from Thursday 2/23 to Wednesday 2/29. At least we think she was. Caitlin's itinerary involving early morning meetings and late night networking happy hours was largely at odds with the kids' sleep schedules, social demands and Nora's fever and lingering crankiness. This meant that our actual interactions with her were severely limited, despite Caitlin staying at our place for a couple of nights. We managed to squeeze in a family brunch with Caitlin and Molly on Sunday, but still didn't get a good picture of god-mothers and daughters after a nasty fall from a too literal interpretation of London Bridges left Nora with a big bump on her forehead and emotionally overwrought. As a result, we had to settle for a post-bedtime pic before Caitlin left to meet up with her classmates in order to have some record of her visit with Nora.

But on a happier note, Caitlin, Molly and I had a lovely time over drinks and a light dinner Monday night, dishing on the family, catching up in general and trying to convince Caitlin that a summer internship in DC would be pretty awesome...

Cousins

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Don't I Look Cool?

Don't I look cool?

We were getting ready for bed, and Owen decided to wrap a slinky around his waist as a belt, stand up on his bed, and strike a pose. "Daddy don't I look cool! Quick, take a picture!" It really was quite a pose, so how could I resist?

(click here for the whole photo shoot)

Katherine on Skis!

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President's Day weekend here in DC turned out to be incredibly warm and beautiful out -- too warm, really, for winter sports -- but Owen and I wanted to get one more day of skiing in this winter, so we decided to brave the balmy weather and go to Whitetail.

Now this was no ordinary day skiing. Aunt Katherine was in town for a 10K on Saturday and didn't have to go back to Ohio until Tuesday, so we saw an opportunity. Katherine had never been on skis before, and thought she never would be, but Owen was very persuasive, and we talked her into joining us.

The lines were long, and the snow was slushy, but the weather was gorgeous and we all had a great time. Owen gave Katherine lots of pointers, and she caught on pretty quickly. Katherine even talked Uncle L into giving skiing a try sometime. Now we just have to get her on a real mountain with some real snow, and we may just have a convert.

Friday, February 10, 2012

7 Springs

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We didn't have any big ski trips out West planned for 2012, but we couldn't let the winter go by without getting in some skiing. Once we saw that Owen had a four day weekend over my birthday, we decided it was the perfect opportunity for a little East coast ski adventure, so we rented a condo right on the slopes at Seven Springs in Western Pennsylvania.  This winter has been incredibly warm, and the week leading up to our ski trip was no exception as the temperatures in DC were pushing 70 -- not exactly prime skiing weather.  We weren't surprised when our first day on the mountain brought warm weather, and just a smattering of man made snow.  But this was plenty for the kids: Owen hit the lifts in ski camp, and Nora kicked off the day with her first ski lesson.  Nora was a bit nervous at first, but she had great balance on her skis, and she did an amazing job cruising down the little slope.  The speed scared her a little bit, but not so much that she didn't want to ride the magic carpet and do it all again!



After the warm weather on our first day, a storm rolled in and it snowed all day on my birthday. The snow was heavy and wet, so we were all a little soaked after a long day of skiing, but the storm brought about five inches of snow to the mountain, along with a healthy dose of winter beauty, and of course opening up a bunch of new trails.  Nora skied with us in the morning, showing off her new skills, and Owen spent the day in ski camp before skiing with Daddy at the end of the day.  Elaine and I took advantage of our time without the kids for a little skiing on our own, and a lovely birthday lunch at Helen's.



Our last day on the slopes was Super Bowl Sunday, and the weather cleared up for a beautiful sunny day on the newly snowy mountain.  Owen spent the day skiing with us before having a private lesson in the afternoon.  He took on a few intermediate blue slopes, and started speculating about when he would be a better skier than Mommy ;-)

Hopefully we'll make it out West for a ski trip next winter, but this was a great little trip, and I have a feeling we'll be doing it again on our next 'off' year.

(click here for all the pictures)