Carving 13" of sick powder.

Our family friends, the Maynards, live in Vermont and Steve works at the Stratton ski area. They took Katie, Nick and I up on the mountain. Nick is a professional but Katie and I have only skied a few times.

We got on all the gear- base layers (cotton = death), snow-pants, extra warm socks, gator neck tucked into goggles, helmet (If you don't wear a helmet you'll run into a tree. And die.) and Dermatone (Vaseline like stuff to prevent frostbite and wind burn) spread on our faces- and were ready.

Katie had some graceful wipe-outs but never gave up. She's hardcore.

I fell once because the powder was so deep and hadn't been groomed yet. The toes of my skis went under and I went down. The Sarah Maynard fell when she tried to stop beside me. Nick came over and face-planted. Katie came next and wiped out. We were all dying laughing. 

Nick and I got up ok. Sarah couldn't get her ski back on so Nick resorted to picking her up and slamming her down on her ski to get it to click. One of Katie's skis got lost under the snow so we were all hitting the snow with our poles trying to locate it. Sarah dove into the snow and started digging like crazy. The snow patrol stopped by to ask if we were ok and then just kept going. 

Eventually we found it and started down the mountain again.

After a few runs down the mountain, a skate over to the Sun Bowl and a few runs there we headed inside to warm up and eat the best ski snack- FRENCH FRIES!

Nicks toe was white, Sarah Maynard's cheeks looked like white crayon on pink paper aka frostbite, and we were all cold.

Cate Maynard spilled a bucket of ketchup inside her sleeve.

Diet Coke made us feel a lot better too.

Back out to ski again.

 "I'm so dedicated to skiing. I would ski in a thunderstorm. Last weekend it was raining and I froze to the ski lift" - Sarah Maynard

Cate and Nick stuck together and skied back to the Sun Bowl after we missed the turn. Steve went back to get them and Katie, Sarah Maynard and I were, "the three best friends that anyone could have."

We went down Mike's way and Katie didn't fall once! Sarah trailed her coaching her on making big Ss and singing, "do do do da dooh, turning now, good, do do do da dooh, turning now."

The wind on the hill was crazy. It stopped us from moving on a downhill. It blew Cate Maynard over. I felt like we were skiing in a blizzard.

The Sarahs. We stuck together skiing after lunch too. She has been skiing since she was three years old. In her program right now she's learning to ski on one ski! I was so impressed with how patient she was with all of us all day. She really loves the mountain.

So my legs have lang bang and I'm sore all over but the day was wicked. We took the apex 6-pack and carved down the freshly groomed trails. We couldn't try the moguls on World Cup or we would have had a yard sale.

The five best friends that anyone could have.

Back at home we taught the Maynards to play 5 crowns, ate bear chili, and sang Potter Puppet Pals.