XC skiing great today ... with one snafu

We went cross country skiing with our ski club today during the snow storm. Only my crew and one other family actually showed up (they're from Canada and we can always count on them to meet up with us to ski no matter the weather) but it was an enjoyable, albeit a wet and windy, hour and a half out on the trail. We did however run in to a bit of trouble with the snow at home (more on that in a minute).

Instead of <a href=http://maineoutdoorjournal.mainetoday.com/blogentry.html?id=4117 target=new>playing our usual games in the open field</a> as we usually do with the ski club, the blowing wind and snow had us heading to the shelter of trees on the trail.

We decided the short trek to the <a href=http://maineoutdoorjournal.mainetoday.com/blogentry.html?id=4103 target=new>favorite hill</a> (about 1/2 mile from the trail head) would be our adventure for the day so we could all take a few runs skiing through the hula hoop there.

And as G. requested (complete with "post it on the blog"), I skied through the hula hoop for the picture proof that indeed it is possible for a not-so-thin, tall mom to ski through it (and really, it's fun).

Mom

L. loves the hoop

L.'s caption, "Look I'm going so fast through the hoop I'm a blur!" (I believe the blur action actually had more to do with the camera fogging up in the wet snow.)

By the time we got back to the trail head, everyone was covered with inches of snow. But even in our snowman state, we all stayed outside for a few extra minutes to eat some of G.'s M&M brownies (one of her specialties and quite tasty) before packing up our cold, wet gear (and bodies) and heading home.

When we arrived at our driveway, we were greeted with a snow wall at the entrance thanks to the town plow. Instead of taking my suggestion to park on the side of the road, Fino decided to "pack it (snow) down" with the van's tires. I offered to get a shovel to clear things out a bit before he tried his packing method but I got the, "it's no problem, I do this all the time."

Ooookay.

So with total silence from the females in the car (I could tell the girls were as skeptical as I was about the lone male's plan), he started "packing down" a few inches of the snow. This included rolling the tires a few inches in to the driveway then backing out and attempting to add a bit more distance with the next round.

After the forth pass of the packing method, the minivan became stranded.

I took a bite of a left-over brownie in an attempt to keep my mouth shut and prevent the I-told-you-so from leaking out (it worked). When I was done chewing I told the girls to climb out of the van and head in to the house.

I offered to help shovel out the tires but was ignored by Fino as he headed to the shed for the snow blower.

So as I write this, my husband is outside with his snow blower (and shovel) digging out the van so it's back end is not hanging out in to the street.

The cross country skiing was fun today; the getting back home, not so much.