Littleskatersmom: Coming up for air again

These past two months have been absolutely NUTS! At the beginning of the year a person in my office was let go and since then two of us have been trying to cover the work. In the accounting world, the first quarter of a year is NEVER the quietest time... staying at the office until midnight is not my idea of fun. But as a coworker of mine likes to say - it is what it is.

Let's see... what have we done? Went to New York to see Legally Blonde the Musical, had a new (Juvenile) program choreographed, went skiing, knitted a pair of leg warmers while sitting at the various rinks, already had one competition, visited the Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg, spent more time at rinks, traipsed through Old Town Alexandria for their St Patricks Parade, oh yeah, spent MORE time in rinks. Best of all, I got a new camera - Merry Christmas to me!

Legally Blonde was wonderful!

We just spent the day in the city, but was good. Can't believe how crowded it got at night - guess that week between Christmas and New Years is not the best time to visit. Loved the Juicy dog ads.

The new program - 2.5 hours with Audrey, very expensive, but very worth it. I'm sure the year will start off slow, but could be a good year, depending on DD's ever changing moods. First competition was good - 2nd out of 3. Next competition is this coming weekend, 12 competitiors, so I'm hoping for top 1/2 (fingers crossed).

Skiing at Canaan Valley has become a tradition with us.

DD refuses to ski elsewhere. She loves the instructor she gets there - Ray. This time we brought a friend of hers. I believe they both had a blast. I know I froze my bum off. Didn't plan on skiing, so didn't bring ski clothing. It wasn't too cold, so I just skiied in sweatpants. Thank goodness I didn't fall, but even so, I still got wet enough to freeze!

Fortunately we got there right after a snow storm, so the girls had fresh snow to play in. This idea of bringing a friend is wonderful! It meant I didn't have to go out and freeze in the snow!

Yes, I know, don't feed the wildlife... I remember our first visit there, our room was on the ground level. We had just dropped off our bags, reopened the door to go to dinner, and there was a deer standing at our door. I shrieked and closed the door again.

Coming home was probably the WORST experience of my life. The GPS is always trying to get me to go a different way, but I ignore it. This time, we were in no hurry, so I said, why not? Why not indeed! Long and windy road... and just when you've gotten to the point of NO RETURN... (or at least, no turn around) there's a sign - impassable in winter. Never really thought about what that means. I mean, how "impassable" can it be? The snow had almost completely melted, so it wasn't really wintery... right? WRONG! Little Passat has forgotten her German roots, obviously. Had a little trouble getting to the top, but slow and easy got us there. Just as we had crested the mountain (after we got home I looked up the stats on the mountain, the summit is only 4000') we came across a Land Rover coming the other way. The 3 guys in it had pitched a tent the night before because they couldn't get any further. Found this out AFTER I almost slid into one of them. They decided to get between me and their car, figuring at the speed I was going, if I were heading for the car, they could push me away. I knew at this point it was going to be rough. I believe myself to be a fairly good driver, and I have never been this afraid before. I truly believe it's because I had the two girls in the car with me. One lane road, ditch on the upside, cliff on the downside, and road covered in ice. After being positive we weren't going to make it all the way down, we did. As we got to the bottom I told the girls, "all I need now is for a deer to run in front of me", and BAM! no more than 2 seconds later - Bambi came leaping out of the woods, across the road. It was just the PERFECT ending to this drive.

Williamsburg, Jamestown and the Great Wolf Lodge.

I believe these two pictures say it all! I absolutely detest this hotel, DD absolutely loves it. I can honestly say they have the worst customer service I've ever run across. For the prices of their rooms, the LEAST they can do is be polite.
DD talked me into going down the Howling Tornado. BIG mistake. Good thing I don't have a heart condition. Okay, it was DD, my brother, his wife and me. I sat in the seat headed down the tube first - as we were sitting down, I fell back, almost went down the slide without the tube. Not a good start. Should have known then to get out and walk BACK down the stairs! But no, being the brave mom I am (ha!) I sat down. I thought that tube would NEVER end. As we got off we were laughing so hard people were asking if it was happy laughter, or terrified laughter. Let's just say, I didn't go on that slide again - DD went MANY times.

Jamestown was a blast. I've always loved it, very interactive, perfect for young children.

Irish Dance... stressful, in a way. DD is a perfectionist. Doesn't like making mistakes - works VERY hard to not make any, but when she does, she's very hard on herself. Heaven help anyone around her that makes a mistake, especially if it makes her look bad.