Last week we loaded up the mini-van and took our two African born sons to the snowy mountains of West Virginia. Yared has been dying to play in snow. Sesame Street seems to be promoting cold weather and he has been watching snow and all the fun things you can do in it. I was worried it was over rated and he would be disappointed. Not so much!! He loved it.
We knew it was a 6 hour drive so we broke it up by visiting Monticello - Thomas Jefferson's home. It was well worth it for Ben and I, but the boys were a bit bored:)
We got up to our condo in time to bundle them up and take them outside in the freshly falling snow. Look at those smiles.
The first full day there was BEAUTIFUL. This was the view we woke up to.
We found out how difficult it is to get small feet in snow boots:).
Then went outside to sled down the road. This is looking back up at our condo with the ski slopes in the back ground.
We made snow angels... actually a whole family of them.
Yared discovered he loved to eat snow.. so much so that his cheeks were chapped after one morning in the snow.
Nati discovered he loved sledding
but not walking back up the hill so he had to charm us with rides by smiling.
Day two we went for a drive to see what was about in West Virginia.
We found a small town.
A City Hall with this sign...
something you would NEVER see in good old liberal California.
One of our favorite signs of all time.
Check out their hours at this store.
We were always looking for the Road Less Traveled and here it is... sign included.
The boys discovered they love lazy boy chairs!!
Yared spent an afternoon learning to Ski with Ben. He is hooked and tells everyone about skiing. It was an amazing day for it.
I knew he would be pretty tired so I met them halfway through their day to give Ben a chance to ski and Yared a chance to recover.
After a quick family shot
a quick snack... you could literally see his fuel tank filling up.
Then he was ready to hit the slopes again... on the big lift, no more bunny hills for him:). The yellow jacket is Ben with Yared on his lap.
Nati and I waited for them and entertained ourselves with the now ever present Bearbear.
Final shot of the two skiers.
Time to soak sore muscles in the hot tub. I did go in one day but skipped it on this day as I had tried to break an icicle with my hands the day before and had a nice long gash to show for my efforts.
Now on to ice skating. We found this deer that some stupid tourists had obviously been feeding. At first we thought it was fun to tempt it with grass.
Their smiling faces waiting for snack and hot chocolate. If I had a video of what happened next, I think we could win money.
The stupid deer came over and started pushing across Yared to get Nati's treat. Nati starts screaming, then Yared starts screaming. I rush back over to be the big brave mom. I yell and wave but to no effect. I grab Nati's snack and throw it far away in the snow to try to send the deer that way. It stays there pushing its wet slobbering nose in the boy's faces. They are hysterical by now. I start hitting the deer and it turns to give me stink eye to which I scream like a huge wimp and jump away. Then I realize I have left my boys to the mercy of this scavanaging beast. I finally manage to push it away from them enough to just wrap my arms around them and yell for Ben to come do something. He comes and pushes, hits and yells but this starving creature really wanted those Rice Krispy treats. We end up eating our snacks inside the ice rink:).
All was better once we got back to this...
A skating family shot.
Nati thought skating was a blast but Yared wasn't too impressed.
Time for one more family shot... ok we are nerdy but we waited so long to be a family we just can't stop ourselves.
One of the best things of their great skin and hair is you can see snow flakes on them so easily. Check out his lashes.
Our final day there we finally got snow man snow and built our family.
