Monday, February 16

Ski trip!

Tonight, Sarah and I returned home from a ski trip to Killington Ski Resort in Vermont.  We drove up with four other friends from Jefferson--Will, Michelle, Krista, and Adina.  The trip took about 6 hours. 

Going in, I wasn't too sure what to expect.  Sarah is the ski expert in our family, and this would be my third time skiing--and first in the last two years.  Plus we were going to stay with a family who has kids with basically built-in skis.  My main source of comfort was Will, who had never skied before. 

The slopes were gorgeous!  We had a beautiful day to ski.  My first few moments on the skis were less than flattering.  Thankfully, I had some great teachers in Sarah, Adina, and Michelle.  After some warm-ups on green circles, I moved onto blue squares...and eventually onto two black diamonds (note: I did not say double black diamonds...I did two separate runs on different, single-black diamond slopes).  I was so proud of myself!  Sarah said I looked far more comfortable on my skis than last time.  Both Krista and Adina had strong visual memories of how I skied last time (picture the Hunchback of Notre Dame on skis), and I was much more relaxed this time. 

Here's a picture of us on the top of Killington's slopes:



My friend Will and I played some NHL 2007 on Sunday morning while the rest of the crew went skiiing.  It reminded me how long it's been since I played "real" video games (Wii not included).  We had fun!  A bit later, Sarah and I hiked along a snowmobile trail that kept us looking for snowmobilers along the path. 

The rest of our time was spent playing bunches of games, eating, talking, eating, and giggling like middle schoolers during a sleep over (the six of us were in one room).  A wonderful way to spend President's Day weekend!

Thursday, February 12

Valentine's Day at school

Spruce Hill doesn't have school tomorrow (teacher in-service day), which means that we celebrated Valentine's Day today!  Here are some pictures from our mini-party:



This weekend, Sarah and I are driving up to Vermont for a skiing weekend with Will, Michelle, Krista, and Adina (Jefferson friends).  We're looking forward to the long weekend and outdoor adventures!!  I'll be sure to put pictures up after the fact.

Wednesday, February 4

Snow day!

The snow days gods have smiled on Spruce Hill this year.  After going all of last year without a snow day, we have had snow days on the last two Wednesdays!  This morning, I got a call at 5:19AM saying that school was cancelled.  Like last week, I had a hard time returning to sleep due to excitement and mental analysis of how I was going to shift our schedule around to compensate. 

There are few joys in life that rival those early morning calls announcing the cancellation of school.  However deep the inner child is hidden in one's adult life, it springs to life when that news is heard!

We had several inches of snow last night, with icy conditions.  Whenever we have a snow day, I immediately think of West Michigan and try to decide of this amount of snowfall would have canceled Holland Public Schools where my dad and sister work.  Gauging from my 3rd story window, I don't think this would have been a snow day in Holland...but I'll take what I can!  (Philly is certainly less able to cope with snow than Holland.  There isn't any space to begin with--especially when snow is added to the mix!)

Last week, Sarah and I had some friends over for Trivial Pursuit and speed Scrabble (our latest game addiction...similar to Facebook's Word Twist).  Home group was at our house, so we never ended up leaving our apartment the whole day!  I think we'll go for a walk or something today to enjoy the sunshine and quiet city.