We headed to WV a little bit before lunch the day after Xmas (after all the fudge was eaten and the head of the family went to work).  We spent the nite in a hotel and woke up to a few more hours of driving to a ski area called Canaan Valley.

We got there at 11 am and bought lift tickets for 12 and we got on the slope around 12:45! Yeap! It took us that long to get everybody boots, skis, rent a few snowpants for the people who grew out of the ones I found in the shed in KY (Mihai, of course and ...me... well, I never had one). We were all wiped out by the time we got our gear and were sweating up a storm by the time we walked out to the slopes. When we got up the steep slope with skis and dressed with everything we had on we thought that was the worst waste of money we ever invested into! What is all the fun everyone is talking about? That was torture. There was a cold rain pelting our faces and clothes soaking them faster than we cared to get wet.  That place needed some steps to the point from where one can get a head start. I thought I was stuck with the little kids and almost felt doomed into not even trying skiing! But, after 30 min of figuring out how to keep our feet and skis together and being pointed into which direction to go for beginners we were off! We were most impressed by our least athletic child! Dd2 (8) couldn't be stopped. She rarely fell so I was lucky to get a pic of her. The only one.  Oops! But she figured out how to get up so fast! I never did! I had to take off one ski in order to get up!  She was funny getting up but she was off in a sec down the slope! I had a hard time keeping up with the kid! She continually had to wait for me at the lift!  One time dd1 and dd2 got tired of waiting for my husband (he had them at the time while I was still figuring how to ski with my dd3 (6)) and decided to take a left onto a pro slope!  I got on the lift and was enjoying the scenery when I spot 3 dots walking down on the grass of the steep slope. It was my husband walking 2 reckless girls!  He couldn't make the slope and didn't think they could either.  The girls were very disapointed.  I was glad he was there to catch them!  Youth, thoughtlessness... I tell ya!

I had to stop 30 min before our lift tickets expired (just 4 hours) and get my camera from the lockers just to take these only shots. It was raining for the first few hours and my jacket was soaking wet within an hour, so it wasn't smart to ruin any camera.  SO, I tried just to ski, not fall and have fun.. DD1 (10 today)  isn't in any pics because she was too tired after a few hours and went to sleep by the lockers. The ones who persevered and couldn't be pulled off the slope got to be captured in these only memories. I wanted to save some downloading time so I made a quick collage.  I almost gave up though cuz even though it's a quick one it was still threatening my posting by another week!. But I persevered too and voila!  I am off bowling for dd1 10th BD.  Hope to get some pics posted later!   

 To be continued in P3- Maryland, cousins and friends collages.