Skiing & Snowboarding at Cannonsburg

The whole family (and Nate's friend) went skiing/snowboarding at Cannonsburg today. We arrived at opening (9am) and were on the slopes until a little after 3pm with the exception of a quick lunch. It was a perfect day... the snow was good (though a bit slushy) and it wasn't too cold or too crowded. I actually got to use the snowboard I got for Christmas last year and really got the hang of carving. After a few times down the beginner hill (including Ally going through the slalom course, we headed to the chair lift and the terrain park. We even did our fair share of jumps. Nathan's friend Jonas joined us today and we spent the majority of the day going down the intermediate and terrain park runs. They have all sorts and sizes of rails, boxes, and jumps. The courage award goes to Ally for refusing to leave until she went over the "barrel jump". That's about a 6 foot high jump at the end of the terrain park with a couple barrels stacked on top of it. She tried to go over it about three times and kept getting scared and slowing down too much so she'd get just about to the top of it and slide back down. That happened on our last run of the day and she was a "bit upset" so we took our ski's/snowboard off and walked back up the hill a ways so she could try it one last time. This time she was determined and didn't slow down at all... I'd explain it all but Heidi had the camera rolling so we'll let the video do the talking. I say she landed it and then got her ski sideways... you be the judge. After the video ends, she looked over at me... I was expecting a trademark Allison McDaid scream of terror. Instead she was screaming "I DID IT!!!!" What a fun day...

Ally's Huge Ski Jump


Nathan's Snowboard Jump


Ally and Dad at the chair lift
Nate & Jonas...
Nate & Jonas...
Troy at end of run...

Our Ice Rink

It must have been cold this winter...because the pond behind our house froze solid enough to make a rink. Our rink was approx. 40'x70'... perfect size for a good 3-on-3 game. We were able to skate about three weeks before Christmas and we skated on it a TON until just over a week ago. That's a pretty good run. I even went the extra mile and made my own DIY Zamboni that hooks to our hose to put a thin layer of new ice down after we skated. It made the surface super smooth (see the pictures below). But I did have to buy a couple hoses to reach down to the rink from our house. I'm sure the neighbors thought I was nuts to be out there at 10pm at night making ice....but everyone used it so who's crazy now?!! We had some fun 3-on-3 games with the neighbor kids. Nathan, Ally, and I also spent countless afternoons and evenings over at the Dood's (family from Nate's hockey team) house on their backyard rink. Ally's nickname is now Olie the Goalie thanks to Mr. Dood and she's skating really well now. Nathan is wrapping up his hockey season (4 games and 2 tournaments left). As much as I'm bummed the ice is melting I'm looking forward to spring, green, and a little baseball!

The beginnings of our rink...Nathan playing snow plow.
Couldn't wait long enough to clear the snow so they just started skating on what ice was clear...
After using my new toy for a couple cold nights, the ice was excellent!
Nate stick-handling...

Ally's Dances

Here are some videos from our new camera of Allison at some recent rehersals for the upcoming competition season. They're not all complete but coming along nicely:

Large Group Tap - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtwCANoqSBU (check out those facial expressions!)

Large Group Jazz - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhwwfDydp9w

Tap Solo - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcAfP4EHp9A (too cute!)

Been awhile?

Yeah, I know I haven't updated the blog in some time. Too much going on. I've missed lots of hockey updates, deer camp, the holidays, etc. Maybe I'll cycle back to those but we'll begin with a quick post just to get back in the swing of things...