For Family Reasons

I live an easy drive away from some of the best ski slopes east of the Mississippi. I live a crazy long drive away from some of the most mediocre ski slopes in the foothills of Pennsylvania. Guess which slopes we hit this past week?

Yep. Pennsylvania, baby!

But I have a good reason. A VERY good reason for enduring highway hades.

His name is Max.
We joined our dear friends Max and Becky for an afternoon of skiing, during which Caed and Dani both stepped into skis for the first time. (Again, I know. This is our third winter in northern New England, and I go to Pennsylvania to put them on skis. I'm sure it makes sense in some alternate universe.)

Caed was old enough to do an afternoon camp with Max.

But Dani, having just turned three, had to settle for a private lesson. She smiled with the first click of the boot, and literally didn't stop laughing and smiling for the entire hour.

Her instructor reported after the lesson that she had taken a spill early on and came up cackling. "She's fearless," he told me. Yeah. Ya think?

After wearing ourselves out on the bunny slopes, Becky and I took our crazy kids to dinner, where I'm quite certain the waitress felt sorry for us. The whole "oh they'll just crash after skiing" theory didn't quite pan out. Unless by "crash" we meant into things. Like glasses. And condiments. And plates. You know, things that aren't at all breakable or messy.

We made our way down to Virginia that evening, and woke up the next morning ready for an action-packed day with Max. As we walked out of our hotel, Caed remarked, "Oh it's so good to be back in Virginia." Yes, indeed, Bud. Makes you nostalgic for those lazy, train-obsessed days you spent as a 2 year old, doesn't it?

He also wished out loud that Max could be his brother and Becky could be my mom, so we could be like one big family.

But we don't need DNA to decide whether we're family. I think this picture serves as proof enough that we are.
So really, driving all this way to ski Mount Rinky Dink (no offense to Pennsylvania), makes perfect sense. We did it for family reasons.

Today I'm unwrapping the gift of new experiences with old friends, and sharing it with the Tuesdays Unwrapped community, hosted by Emily of Chatting at the Sky.