The blog is woefully out of date now, so I am going to do a big "winter update" post. My last post was at Christmas! Yikes! So here is a run-down of some recent events.Skiing in Canaan, round 1
For MLK weekend, we rented a house with some friends in Canaan valley. The winter had already been cold and snowy for a month by that point, and we managed to arrive on the first mild weekend since the winter started. There was plenty of snow, and ski conditions were decent on Saturday. Things turned "south" on Sunday, with rain and temps above 40 - so we stayed inside and played games most of the time. I went for a long run through slushy gravel roads in Old Timberline, where we were staying. I did not get many photos because of the weather, but I did create a map of the various places that we tend to visit in Canaan valley.
Calista's Birthday
Believe it or not, Calista turned 2 years old on January 28th. We had 4 birthday celebrations - with Tatiana's dad the weekend before; with just the three of us on her birthday; with church friends including Bella Bouman, whose birthday is two years earlier; and then with both of Tatiana's parents. Calista keeps growing and changing every day, it seems - she has changed a lot even in the 6 weeks since her birthday. She is very talkative and interactive, loves to read and play and tell you what she is thinking. She likes to look at pictures of animals, and the latest thing is to listen to recorded bird calls - after she and Tatiana heard an owl one afternoon. There are some photos here.
Lake Placid
We had 4 days off for President's weekend, which followed the two major storms that hit the mid-Atlantic in February. Tatiana was in Atlanta for a Smithsonian event during the first storm, and her return was delayed because of the snow. She snuck into town between storms, and as things were clearing back out we drove north to the snowy wonderland of Lake Placid. The snow conditions were perfect there - not a huge snowpack, but plenty for good skiing, and temps in the low 20s. Calista was on skis for her first time, on a pair of beginner skis borrowed from someone we met. We skiied at Mount VanHoevenburg, home of the 1980 Olympic competition, and also on part of the 40+ mile Jackrabbit Trail, which runs right past the cabin where we stayed. It was fun to be there during the Olympics, partly because the olympic torch in Lake Placid was lit.
Pictures are here.
Blackwater Falls
We had our final ski trip for the season about 10 days ago. We were still on the tail end of a cold snap, and Canaan had 5 feet of snowpack in places! We stayed at Blackwater Falls, and skied both in the park and at Whitegrass. Wonderful conditions and fun times. Pics are here.
On into spring
Since our Blackwater Trip, we have suddenly launched into spring. We have already experienced several beautiful early spring days, with temps in the 60s and sunny blue skies. We also had a rainy weekend, accompanied by some serious flooding in places. I am getting ready for the Boston Marathon, which goes off in just over a month.
