Trying to Keep Up!

Wow, I haven't had time to post much over the last couple of weeks. There's been so much going on around here.

Family
Last week we left Friday after work and went to my parents house for the weekend to visit with them and to take the boys skiing. On Thursday Mike signed Charlie and James up for NASTAR Racing at Roundtop on Saturday. This is recreational racing for skiers and snowboarders of all ages. He talked to Charlie & James about it and they seemed excited to race and try and get some medals. It's pretty awesome that my parents only live 15 minutes from Roundtop Mountain Resort. On Saturday morning we got up and took the 2 older boys skiing. We were having lots of fun and stopped after awhile to have a snack. Once we started skiing again Mike took Charlie off to race and he ended up getting 4 bronze medals. He was so excited about the medals and didn't let them out of his sight! It was fun watching him ski as fast as he could between the flags. Mike was laughing because at one point he said Charlie was on one ski with his other leg up in the air and he thought Charlie was going to wipe out but he didn't, he managed to get control and finish. The other exciting thing was seeing Will on his skiis for the first time! Mike took him out and skied down with him between his legs. He seemed to really like it. Finally, when Charlie was done racing he came into the lodge and passed out! he had done 9 races and was trying to get a platinum medal! Here are some photos from our day out.

On Monday we ended up getting the boys a bunk bed. We didn't know until we got home just how many pieces there were to put together! We managed to do it without killing each other and it looks great. The boys love it!

Tuesday we found out that Charlie qualified for the Nature Valley NASTAR National Championships held at Winter Park Resort, CO next month! He would get to race with kids from across the country. Needless to say it didn't take Mike long to book the tickets and hotel. He's going to take some days off and fly out there with Charlie and watch him race. What an experience this is going to be for a 5 year old...he gets to ride on a plane for the first time and he will be able to see the U.S. Ski Team and Olympians. I think he'll be excited to get his goody bag too. I'm counting on Mike to take lots of photos and videos of our little guy since I won't be there to watch.

Exercise
I've been doing pretty good with my workouts and even got a new DVD so I can do some stuff with weights at home. My shins haven't been hurting and I'm so glad about that. My next race is on March 19 and it's a 5 mile race, I can't wait.
Here's what my week looks like as far as exercise:
Monday - Off
Tuesday - Off
Wednesday - 4 mile run/15 min. bike
Thursday - 40 min. bike/Shred it with Weights
Friday - 4 mile run/Core workout
Saturday - 40 min. bike/Shred it with Weights
Sunday - 6 mile run/Core workout

Eating/Health
I've been eating my oatmeal, fruit & nuts every morning. I made a big salad this morning that I took to work for lunch. I used spinach, red/yellow/orange peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, cilantro and black beans and it was tasty. I only wish I had some avocado to add to it, then it would have been perfect.
I've been wanting to improve my overall health and really start thinking about what I'm eating and how it affects me. There are lots of changes that I want to make but I want to be educated about it and do what's right for me and my family. I'm really excited about a new book that I ordered, it's called Crazy, Sexy, Diet and it should be here soon. I've heard a lot of good things about this book and I think I will get a lot out of it.

The Last Week of January

The week started out fine and then something normal happened that somehow made things crazy around here....it snowed. Wednesday around 12:30 there was an email sent out to everyone at my workplace. This is part of the actual email:

"The U.S. National Weather Service has issued a winter weather advisory through 4 a.m. ET on Thursday, Jan. 27, for the D.C. Metro area. Latest reports indicate that snowfall will begin this afternoon and continue into the evening with accumulation of three to six inches possible overnight. Locations north and west of the city may see as much as 10 inches of accumulation.

Employees in the D.C. Metro area working at office locations impacted by the onset of severe weather may depart early today and take work home, where appropriate, following the early dismissal guidelines in the Inclement Weather Policy...

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management has issued a two-hour early dismissal for government employees today. So, those working at government client sites should plan to follow the guidance of the client.

As always, the safety of our employees is paramount and you are encouraged to use your best judgment regarding your commute."

Once I heard the ice rain on my office window I decided to leave. It was around 2:30 when I left and it ended up taking me an hour to get home. It usually takes me 30 -40 minutes to get home but the snow was coming down fast. I didn't think my commute was bad. The snow had fallen so fast over the next few hours that they ended up closing the schools on Thursday and Friday. The other interesting thing was the "Thundersnow"...I didn't experience it but some other people that I work with did. They said the sky was dark and there was thunder, lightening and snow mixed with ice rain!

Thursday we went skiing and had a blast. The conditions were great, there was lots of powder-ery snow and no lines for the lifts! We'd ski for a bit then take a cookie break....


ski for a bit then take a snack break...

On Saturday we took the boys to the Washington Auto Show and they had lots of fun running around, getting in all the cars and scoring free stuff. Here's a photo of the boys on the drive there.

The car in the background was the one from the movie "Back to the Future". James is doing his best to protest having his picture taken....if he closes his eyes no one is there.

When I got to work on Monday I began to hear all of the horror stories people had of driving home from work on Wednesday. There were some people that left work and ended up being stuck in traffic for 9 hours!! People that normally get home in 15 minutes were stuck in traffic for 3 hours!! These were the people that didn't leave work early for whatever reason. There were jokes on Facebook about not picking up to-go cups off the side off the roads...I can only imagine what people have to do when they are stuck in traffic for 9 hours and need to go to the bathroom!

So, now it's Tuesday and the schools are closed again because of ice rain and we're supposed to get more tonight! We'll see how this all plays out. I'm glad that I can at least ride the bike on the trainer if I can't run outside or the gym is closed. I am thankful that it's not that cold outside compared to some other places I've been hearing about. It's about 36 degrees out right now and no sign of rain or snow.

Stay safe and stay warm!

I Love Winter!

New skis!

I love living in a place where I get to experience all of the seasons. I love winter. It takes a bit to transition from fall to winter, but once I figure out what I need to wear to keep me warm I am good to go. I am looking forward to the snow and the holidays. This is such a wonderful time of the year. We are getting ready for ski season around here and I'm so excited!! Charlie just got his new skis and boots in the mail today and he was happy. The skis are pretty cool too, I'm jealous. I can not wait to take some vacation over the holidays and not go to work! We will be skiing and having lots of fun. I'm also looking forward to the New Year's Eve 10k that is happening in my neighborhood...only about 2 blocks away!

Bring on the snow!

Here are some photos from the best places I've ever skied. They were both fun and beautiful!! I will tell you that the people in Austria know how to ski, party & have fun!!!

The first set of photos are from a ski trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. This was one of my favorite trips. This place is beautiful any time of the year!

This photo was taken in the summer and it's just as beautiful then too!These next set of photos are from our ski trip to Sölden, Austria. This was the most amazing ski trip I've ever been on!! There was music playing all over the mountain! The red building is a place to warm up and get drinks! Seriously, they have these little huts blasting music and serving drinks all over the mountain! They serve Glühwein, which is a hot, spicy wine...really good.

Getting Ready for Ski Season!!

We went to Ski Liberty on Sunday and had so much fun! The boys got their photos taken for their season passes and they are ready to go! Every year around this time they have a Fall Festival where you can pick up your season passes and they provide free activities for the kids and a BBQ. They also had a ski swap where we picked up a helmet for James.

The boys had lots of fun decorating pumpkins and making a scarecrow, which turned out to be great decorations for our front door. They also had the ski lift open so we all rode up and then walked down. We had a great day!!

We first took Charlie skiing when he was 2 yrs. old. He didn't really do much the first time other than walk around in his boots and lay in t he snow, but it helped him get familiar with the whole environment. Last year he really enjoyed skiing and looked forward to going each weekend! For a 4 year old he did great! James did a bit of skiing too.

Here are some videos from last year. The first one is of Charlie skiing the moguls, the second on is James skiing when he was 2 and the last one is of the big boy (hubby) road skiing in our neighborhood during Snowmaggedon:

February Fun

The boys had a great weekend. On Saturday Mike got them up early and went to Grammy & Pappy's house in PA. The boys played for a bit and then Mike took Charlie skiing to Ski Roundtop, while James stayed with Grammy and played. Later in the day Grammy, Pappy and James drove up to Roundtop to watch Charlie ski. After a while the boys switched places and James skiied for awhile with Mike.

Yesterday we decided to take the boys to the National Museum of Natural History. Charlie and James had watched the movie "Night at the Museum" on Saturday night and we thought they'd have fun going to the museum the next day! It was a wonderful day out. We drove to Vienna and took the Metro into D.C. The boys did great and enjoyed the museum. They expecially liked the Butterfly Exhibit. Mike took some great photos.

Here's the latest video of Charlie skiing the half pipe and the moguls for Grammy and Pappy to see. He was so excited.