A Day Well Spent

"Darn it!" was the first thing I thought when I reached for my iPad this morning (Sunday 3/2.) I forgot to publish the blip I took yesterday. That would mean that it only took one week for me to miss a journal entry. Well, I did take the photo on 3/1, I might as well see if blip app will let me publish it a day late.

So then, how could I forget to publish it even though I took it? Was I in a stupor from a spirited evening out? Not exactly. I was in a stupor from skiing, as was my entire family. We had never skied 8 hours straight through before. We were squeezing in another day of late-season skiing after a week of sub-freezing temperatures in the DC area. That kind of cold means the ski areas can make tons of snow and not lose any of it.

We started the day at 6am at our hotel in nearby Hagerstown. We hit the slopes at 8:30 (my family isn't fast at anything, hence the 2.5 hour gap between waking and skiing) and had a fantastic time. This was our first time back at Whitetail Mountain since our 4-day skiing excursion to Timberline in West Virginia a few weeks ago. Whitetail is where all of our 2 seasons of skiing experience were spent, so it was a bit of a homecoming but also a chance to gauge our progress against trails that had challenged us before our long trip to WV.

My boys, 10 and 13, went off skiing on their own which was new thing for them. Sure, it's scary to have them completely out of sight but satisfying to them and me that they're competent and responsible enough to handle it. That left my wife and my 6-year-old (pictured here) to ski together (another first) while I shuttled between the 2 parties all day.

Many "firsts" happened this day including many challenging new slopes that required a lot more energy than before. It takes a lot of muscle to fling your bodyweight down a steep hill and slow it down in a rhythmic cycle every 5-10 seconds-- all day. Everyone made great progress though and was happy to be done and get their boots off.

We sat down to dinner at restaurant in Frederick, MD and it began to hit us one by one just how tired we were. We must have looked quite the sight with our droopy eyes and helmet-hair. We unanimously skipped dessert in favor of the promise of an earlier bedtime. The children went unconscious one-by-one on the short ride home. My wife tried to fall asleep too but I forbid it as I needed some stimulation to keep me focused on driving. What time was it? It was 8pm!

I barely remember what happened after we pulled in the driveway. I remember carrying my daughter to bed while she cried about being woken up. I don't think I cried at any point, but I didn't brush my teeth and I didn't publish my blip.