Snow hit

We were in serious need for some snow fun. It has been a long time since we had been in a snowy wonderland. The girls were treated with their own snowshoes from dear 'ol Mom and Dad for Christmas and it was high time for the girls to give 'em a spin. We packed up the van and left early for the mountains of West Virginia. After a few hours of "Are we there yet?" and "Where are we going?" and "I need something to eat" the snow was in sight. This trip we tried a different location. We went to WhiteGrass XC ski to play.

The girls were soooo excited. They have been driving us crazy asking when they could try their snowshoes. We get them geared up pay for our passes get about 20 feet from the lodge then they both throw themselves to the ground and say "This is too hard I don't want to do this!"

Arrgggh! Like the excellent parents we are, we forced our children to have a great time.

Yes. A good time.

Remember this is all in the name of fun.

We made them hike through the snow covered forest for 3 hours as we endured the endless string of complaints. And you know what? We were not going to drive 3 hours to get there and NOT go out and get into the snow for at least 3 hours. The girls tolerated our encouragement. They fell. So much falling. Mostly when they fell is was for 2 reasons 1.) they tripped or 2.) they were protesting and bringing forth their drama. All of the drama was ignored. We had moments of "Well if you want to lay there fine. But, you see, we're moving on and if you don't mind being out here all by yourself then stay where you are." There comes a point where the situation becomes a battle of weakness. So naturally being parents we were not going to lose this game of who can drive who insane while snowshoeing.

Yes. We are THAT cruel to our children. We had to make it clear to the girls we were serious about keep on keeping on. With the cold temperatures and slight wind sitting still for too long will bring the chill. Those of you with children are aware of the string of complaints that surface when children are tired and cold.

Anyhow our finest moment was our initial ascent of the mountain. Daddy thought "Oh yeah, we can go up that hill no problem." Except that the hill was practically straight up and not really well snow covered and it ended up being quite a task. I am certain there are people telling our story. Telling their friends about the idiots that tried to climb up the vertical hill. With little kids. Yeah those idiots. That was us.

Daddy took the lead making great progress and conquering the hill finely. Us girls, well, we had some issues. I held up the rear as a sort of goalie. If a little girl fell and slid down I put them back into play up the hill. We got about two thirds of the way up when the girls decided to have spaghetti legs paired with DRAMA. By this time we had removed all of the snow underneath us leaving us to keep balance on wet leaves. I fell several times after each girl came crashing into me. It took us 15 minutes to get past this 10 feet of hill. Daddy, frustrated with our pathetic progress, ended up taking each little girl by the nape of the coat and dragging her up to a flat landing. It was classic.

Thankfully the rest of the day was easy after that hill. We meandered through the trees making our own trail. Daddy in the lead breaking the trail. After a while Olivia decided that she was going to break her own trail and insisted on NOT walking behind Daddy. Oh no. She was going on her own. At least she was walking without complaint.

I had fun. He had fun. We hope they had fun. Once we removed our gear and were on our way home the girls went on and on about how much fun they had. They asked to go again.

Sigh.

You would have thought that during the middle of our expedition that they were NEVER going to go again without a fight. A bloody fight.