This is what you get when you live in Vermont, and approximately 5000 pounds of snow accumulates on your roof, and then the temperature rises and said snow decides it would rather be in your front yard.

At which point it comes down in an unexpected roar of catapulting ice chunks and squashes flat as a pancake whatever happened to be under it. Thankfully those of us who have experienced this phenomenon have lived to tell the tale - but only because a fast dash saved our heads!!!

The other day I came out the front door, glanced up, and saw this heavy pack silently ooching out into space:

But happily, this kind of snow is also ideal for packing!

I managed to score three direct hits with carefully aimed snowballs and then I became the victim of a terrific barrage.

I'll end with a picture of these lovely people, who are some of the few Vermont Christians we know:

Good times, y'all!!

A day at Mad River Glen

There are six epic ski resorts within half an hour of our home. I think Vermonters have realized that if you are going to survive - and stay sane - through the winter here, you have to find a way of enjoying it to the fullest.

Read: Skiing!!!

Thankfully for us, one of those six resorts is an extremely, amazingly, wonderfully, totally, dirt-cheap establishment that makes it possible for cash-strapped Missionary Kids to avail themselves of the mountain air.

The other five are brutally expensive. Mad River Glen is one example: boasting the most challenging terrain in all of the Northeast, its motto is "Ski it if you can," and the prices relegate it to the stuff of dreams for said cash-strapped people. Until the resort is celebrating its anniversary, and offers everyone the golden chance of a day pass for only $3!!!

Yes. Um, yes. Definitely YES.

And so we found ourselves happily skiing at a world-renowned mountain for nearly nothing, riding the historic single chair lift (the only one of its kind in the world), and drinking in the awesome views. Also getting sore legs. It was an AMAZING day!

It started out as a bluebird day - clear skies and frigid temps, with a thick blanket of snow weighing down all the trees and creating a beautiful muffled scene that this picture does nothing to capture.

That's slightly more like it.

Now add to this picture the delumptious smoothness of gliding on fresh powder, the heart-racing moments of skittering across ice patches, and the exhilarating feeling of pounding through fields of moguls. Oh, and free Ben and Jerry's ice cream!!!!

I didn't object.

Curtis and I took a run together that started out as a lazy sort of meander down the mountain; however, this only lasted for approximately fifty feet. At which point we spied an intriguing snowy path into the woods, and dove enthusiastically into a world of deep powder, giant unexpected drops over rocks, stumps, and waterfalls, and brushy trees with about two inches of room between them. Suddenly we were very, very awake.

This is me, deliberating before taking the plunge...

And here is Northeastern tree skiing at its best! That little tiny spot of yellow far below represents Curtis' jacket.

In the afternoon, snow-filled storm clouds rolled in, and the early sunset was blanketed in a thick cover of fresh snow coming down.

By the way: is it just me, or does that tree look like flailing frog legs??

One of the last runs of the day!

Already looking forward to Mad River Glen's $3 anniversary next year...