Jackie’s First Ski Trip!

It’s been an exciting Winter season for Jackie. She went ice skating for the first time (or the first time in a long time) and now she has gone skiing for the very first time! Let me tell you, she is a natural!. Jackie had a great time skiing for the first time.

The second week in January we went on a day long ski trip to White Tail with our friends, Ana and Fred. Everyone had a great time and enjoyed hitting the slopes!

During her ski lesson they taught her everything she needed to know. She learned how to get in and out of her ski’s, what to do with her poles, and how to steer down the hill. 

Jackie's first time skiing-

After only about 30 minutes Jackie was hitting the slopes with all of us

It was a great day with great friends. Jackie is already excited to go back to do some more skiing. 

Extra pictures of the view-

Christmas 2012

Christmas is a great time of year, and it is Jackie’s favorite! Early in the Christmas season the “Elf on a Shelf” came to play around our house. Its a great way to warm-up to the holidays by arranging him on, in, and around certain things throughout our home.


This Christmas we had a great time with family and friends! Just like every holiday there are many things to do. We first went down for a Christmas morning celebration with my family on December 24, 2012. My sister was kind enough to host a Christmas brunch for the whole family!

Much like Thanksgiving, Owen was the star of the show! Jackie and I were very excited to give Owen his gifts!

It was a great morning with the family and everyone had a great time. Jackie and I had to leave a little early, because we had to setup Christmas Eve dinner for her family. This was an important dinner, because it was the first dinner we would be hosting at our new house!

The dinner was amazing and Jackie did a great job with the food and the decorations. It was a great evening that was going to lead into a great day of Christmas fun!

Merry Christmas! It was finally Christmas day. Jackie and I decided to spend the night at her parents house so that we wouldn't have to wake up early and drive over there. Jackie’s whole family came to her parents house to celebrate the Christmas season.

It was a wonderful day. I want to stress day, because it took us almost the entire day to open presents. This is also because you are not allowed to simply rip through all of your presents instantly. Each person get a turn to open on present at a time. It takes a little bit longer, but it is a much nicer way to go about opening gifts. Lets not forget, if Jackie gets clothes she has to try them on before we can move on.

It was a wonderful day full of family, food, and gifts.

Twas A (few) Night(s) Before Christmas...

The Christmas holiday is always an exciting time. Its a time full of family, friends, and great adventures. This holiday season (December 2012) I had the great pleasure of teaching Jackie how to ice skate at the ice skating rink in Reston Town Center. 

Early on during Jackie’s first ice skating experience (in the past 10 years) I noticed that she was only using one of her legs to gain speed while the other leg was just used to glide her along. When I noticed her skateboard like style of ice skating I tried to fix it. All of the pushing coming from her left leg and the constant weight of her body on the right leg made her get tired quickly. I started to evaluate her technique as we went around the ice rink. She attempted to use both feet but was now used to her unique technique. We had lots of fun skating together! It was first quite hard for her, but she is a very fast learner. After the ice skating, we ended the evening at Clyde's in Reston Town Center with her family.

About one week after our first ice skating adventure together, we were invited out to on of our favorite restaurants. Katerina's is a Greek restaurant located in Manassas, VA (you have to order the gyro). We had a great dinner there with some great friends. We all decided it would be best to keep moving after such a large meal.

Following dinner, we all decided to go ice skating across the street. It was a nice ice skating rink that seemed to be a very popular teen-aged kids. This gave Jackie a chance to perfect her new skill! 

Jackie first started off pushing only with one leg like she had taught herself before. This still unique technique made her tire quickly. She then asked me, “How do I push with both feet?”. I tried to explain the best I could. I told her to use both feet to push to the side so that you would use the edge of the skate as traction. Being the athlete she is, she quickly mastered the skill! She was zipping around the rink like a pro!

But the night was not over yet and the best was yet to come!

A quick stop at 7-11 got each of us a big cup of hot coco (thank you Cory). With the sweet taste in our mouths we were ready to set off on our journey. Jackie was navigating us to our first destination. We had multiple destinations that night all of them were heavily decorated houses full of Christmas lights.

Some lights were more creative than others. Some looked like they were more centered around Easter (the death of Jesus) rather than Christmas (Jesus’s birth). Great effort though.

After driving about 50 miles we had finally seen enough and everyone was ready to call a quits. It was a great evening with great friends, food, ice skating, and Christmas decor!