Welcome to ski season 2010

Welcome 2010! Time for another ski season and we're starting off great. We kicked off the season bringing my sister, Joni, to the mountains with us to christen the slopes after being off of skis for nearly 15 years. And, it's probably more like 30 years away from skiing in New England. Joni, you rocked!

We brought in New Year's with the Welch family, but unfortunately I missed the big moment ringing in the New Year as I lay in bed with a nasty cold. However, plenty of others took care of my champagne quota so all was not lost. I'm just glad to have recovered so quickly, thanks in part to Kurt's margaritas. I was back on my feet, or skis, within a day.

The other big news is the new ski house. After renting for two years we fell in love with the North Conway area and the variety of year round activities available. We knew we wanted to continue with our ski season routine that's become such a part of our family life. So, with prompting from my mom, we joined forces and bought this wonderful chalet together. With lots of room for family and friends, it's such a relaxing place to release the stresses of the week. Plus, the kids get to see their seasonal friends, as do we, when all of us meet up on the slopes at Attitash. The house is located in a great neighborhood called Linderhof. It sits up on the hill just behind Storyland in Glen, NH, 2 miles from Jackson and about 5 miles from downtown North Conway.

So stay tuned as we take you through another adventurous season of hard water cruising.

It's a dog's life...well, Bonnie's anyway

The princess has landed. Have you ever seen a dog with a better life than this one? I know you can't tell easily, but she is lounging on the deck, with cushions and pillow to make her extra comfy. I'm sure she's not going to be very happy when we head out on the cruise without her...15 days and counting down.

Please do your part and pray to the weather gods for lots of sun and warm weather. We need to work together to move this front out!

Brandon takes the helm

Well Howlin' is back in the water and Brandon, the cool dude in the shades, took to the helm right before heading off to Camp Bournedale in Plymouth for the month of July. Word is he's having lots of fun...even with the rain. Unfortunately the same can't be said for us, well, on the water at least. We spend lots of time watching the boat float as it gets its daily washing from the rain. Oh well, at least it cleans the seagull poop off of the decks. Perhaps we're not supposed to go sailing without our entire crew. Can't wait for Brandon to return home. It's amazing how lonely we all get without him.

Counting down the days until we head out on the cruise. We depart Marblehead on 7/31 heading to Scituate or Cohasset to meet up with some good friends for the night. I'll post the itinery as we get closer to the launch date.

It's almost that time again...

Bottom painted-check! Engine running-working on it. Topsides cleaned-happening this weekend. Delivery set-June 2nd!

It's almost time to start blogging about sailing again so stay tuned as the adventure begins. The flotilla is in final prep stages and will be on the water soon. The float goes in the water this weekend which is the kick off to summer fun.

See you soon on the high seas...or in the harbor.

Spring skiing...or is it?

It was starting to look like spring...but wait, this weekend it was 18 degrees on the mountain. Oh, then it was 40, then 18 again, and 40. Yep, that's spring in New England. As you can see, the boys took advantage of the heat and donned the slopes in only a fleece. I, on the other hand, maintained my 4 layer minimum. Why? I don't know. I'm always cold. Whether it's -8 or 48, riding the lift puts a chill inside that doesn't seem to disappear until the end of the day when we hit Ptarmigan's for margaritas and beer.

Conditions were beautiful for most of the day both Friday and Saturday this week. No school on Friday gave us the extra day on the slopes. So on Sunday, we treated ourselves to breakfast at Peach's, our favorite little breakfast stop, before heading home and back to reality.

Brandon's end of the season ski bash was loads of fun...video and all. You'll have to see it but I can't post it here. I'll pass it along shortly...no worries. After that, lots of food and fun with new and old friends. Talk of next season is already in process but the consensus is we're ready for spring and sailing season.

Welcome to New England

Where else but New England can you ski on ice one Saturday, seven days later ski in slush, then two days later be in a blizzard again? Very weird, but typical for this time of year. The impending spring trying to break out brings surprises every day. Even the birds are confused. And don't get me started on the squirrels.



As you can see they're giving Bonnie a headache. Poor thing. She's just itching to get out there to snag a few. But I digress...

Skiing this weekend was actually quite a bit of fun. Yes, it was 50 degrees on Saturday with bright sunshine and the snow melted to a nice slushy consistency. There were kids skiing on the half pipe in shorts and no shirts. Show offs! Sunday froze up a bit as the sun stayed behind the clouds most of the day making it a really nice spring ski day for all.

We came home to waterfront property in the afternoon. Merrymeeting Road will have to be renamed Merrymeeting Lake. At the rate it's going, visitors to Echo Lake will end up in the wrong place. Sorry folks, the real lake is around the corner. The novelty was just what the boys needed after a full day of skiing.

One more week and the ski program is officially over. The mountain is expected to stay open until around April 13th so we have another month of skiing...in the slush. Woo hoo!

Spring is upon us

Spring is certainly upon us. Just take a look at our skating rink, er, driveway! No, I'm not ice skating. I'm simply balancing to make it to the car without landing on my butt.

The melt then freeze made skiing very interesting this past weekend. But we all took it in stride. Cam always smiling as we head out to the slopes. Brandon back with his buddies in the ski group blazing down the mountain; his final journey with cast on wrist. I, on the other hand, gritted my teeth, chattered across the frozen corduroy, and landed at Bear Peak for much needed hot cocoa. Then, I chattered my way back to Attitash after a few short runs at Bear for coffee. Lodge to lodge. That was the kind of day it was. Sunday improved as the groomers did their thing Sat. night with support from the environment.

Keeping our fingers crossed for snow, not rain tonight!