Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Women's March (Plus a Few Good Men)

Women’s March 2018
We were going to skip the Women's March this year -- it was hard to come up with one overriding issue to protest, there was a shut down and there wasn't a whole lot of information available beforehand. But then Friday afternoon I had to skip a conference session I really wanted to attend in order to do shutdown prep and then as I left work in a flurry to make Nora's play performance (it took place on another planet in a different galaxy that has all different animals -- I wasn't completely clear on the plot but Nora was a dog that becomes partially human), I had to navigate past all the "March for Life Protestors" who quite frankly, aren't particular considerate of the "born."

Anyway, I was frustrated and announced that I felt we should participate in the Women's March as a family. Nora announced she didn't want to and was then conveniently invited to her friend Violet's for a playdate. Which given she's less of a marcher and more of a complainer, we decided that might not be a bad thing.

The rest of us went ahead and made our signs, changed into comfortable shoes and prepared to join the throngs. Unfortunately, since I thought the march started at 11 am and it ended up happening closer to 1:30, we missed most of the throngs. But we still got to have our voices heard, see a lot of people that shared our frustration with the current state of our union and Owen even got to stand on ice.

Hopefully next year, it won't even be necessary.

Women’s March 2018


Tuesday, January 16, 2018

7 Winters

Seven Springs 2018
A Cluster contingency has used the MLK Weekend for the past few years to enjoy family skiing at Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Pennsylvania (though we didn't join until last year). Now the last time we went skiing at Seven Springs it was a balmy 60 degrees, and given it was 70 degrees in DC at two o-clock when we left, we thought this trip might be a repeat. However, the temperature dropped 40 degrees en route, which meant that while the driving was stressful, the skiing outlook was improving.

It was freezing cold MLK weekend (the highs were between 8 and 11 degrees) and the visibility was challenging given some low cloud coverage, precipitation, and the resort's decision to continually make snow to mitigate any melt (and cover up the ice), but given the kids had just gotten skis (and helmets) for Christmas, nothing was going to keep them off the slopes. Fortunately, Owen had just inherited a neon green skiing ensemble from my boss's son, so we pretty much just followed him down the hill.

Owen, -- who's become a pretty good skier -- was off with his friends for the most part (Allen occasionally joined them, especially for a night skiing adventure), but Nora, aside from a brief lesson on the first morning, stuck with us and her friend Mirabel. Both kids did great and managed two full days of skiing and probably could have done a third morning, but Allen and I balked and decided we should spend the morning sleeping, packing and de-icing the car before bidding the mountain adieu.

Fortunately, we'll be back on the slopes in February (and Utah has finally gotten some snow)!

Seven Springs 2018

(To see all the pictures, click here.)