The conditions were great. The crowd was spared. We headed to Mount Snow around 10 am. We went to Long John first with Vương, my wife, and others. Although Vương enjoyed it, he was done after 2 runs.

I went to the back side with the older kids and my brother-in-law. I led them to the mogul terrain. The kids navigated their way down. My brother-in-law was struggling so I decided to cut to the blue trail. Unfortunately, it led us into a bigger mogul terrain. He had to slide down on his butt while I side-slipped my way down.

I did a few more runs on black and blue trails and it was already 4 pm. We headed back to the rental house to relax. We’ll do it again tomorrow.

I planned to drive to Mount Snow at 1 am on Saturday so we could get an extra skiing day, but it didn’t go too well. My wife was working until midnight and I wanted her to get some sleep. As a result we didn’t leave our house until 4 am. The rain was pouring almost the entire trip. As we were getting closer to Mount Snow, rain turned to icy rain.

Our Toyota Sienna LE couldn’t make it to the top of the hill. A local man drove by and offered to help. He reversed the minivan to the top then asked us where we were heading. He told us our car wouldn’t make it through the road we were on. He suggested that we headed back to the flatter road. We were doing fine until we had to take the small road to our rental place. Once again our minivan got stuck. A very nice couple helped us push through. I love Vermont people.

We arrived around 2:00 pm and checked in. Icy snow continued to fall; therefore, we didn’t go to Mount Snow. We just relaxed for the rest of the day. I was over-worried about our car. I hoped all that spinning and backward driving didn’t damage the transmission. I could barely sleep. I woke up around 2 am and tried to read about the transmission.

Around 7 am I tried to see if I could drive to Mount Snow, which is 1.5 miles away. I couldn’t back my car out. The front wheel kept spinning and rocked. I tried to press the gas slowly all the way, but the wheels were no longer spinning. I freaked out. Then again, my brother-in-law’s Honda Odyssey was also stuck. He said the TRAC system prevented the wheel from spinning.

I took my three older kids and their cousin to Mount Snow via the MOOver shuttle service. The conditions were great. We skied mostly blue and black trails. I snowboarded because I didn’t want to wear my heavy ski boots to the shuttle.

With a lack of sleep, shoveling snow in the morning, lack of food for lunch, and drinking some beer, I was exhausted after about 5 or 6 runs. We had a great time.

In the meantime, my wife, her sister, and her sister’s husband got both of our minivans out. I was so relieved. My mother had come through again with her hidden powers. I talked to her when we were stuck and both times people came to help. I also talked to her about the car being stuck and the transmission and we are OK now.

Spring is here and camping season has begun. Here’s my camping checklist:

Sleep gears

• Tent
• Tarps (top & bottom)
• Sleeping bags
• Sleeping pads
• Pillows

Equipments

• Broom
• Vacuum cleaner
• Fan (air dry)
• Power strips
• Extension cords
• Hammer
• Flashlights

Clothing

• Uniforms (A & B)
• Clothes
• Jackets
• Rain jackets
• Hats
• Shoes

Personal Hygiene

• Towels
• Shampoo & soap
• Flip flop for shower
• Toothbrushes
• Floss
• Toothpaste

Essentials

• Mesh kits
• Reusable water bottles
• Utensils
• Medication

Miscellaneous

• Chairs
• Bug spray
• Sunglasses

Our whole family went to Roundtop this morning. The weather was in the mid 60s. The conditions weren’t too bad. There was no crowd as if people were done for the season. I skied with Vương and my nephew on the green trails.

After lunch I switched to snowboarding with Xuân and another nephew on the backside. The warm weather wore me out quickly. At 2 pm the kids wanted to go home. They have school tomorrow.

I am not sure if the three resorts in PA will last until next week. It looks like the season is coming to an end. I am not even sure if we will be able to ski in Vermont the last week of March when the kids are on spring break. Just have keep our hopes alive.

I headed to Liberty this morning and snowboarded. The conditions were still good. I tried to carve after watching this excellent 45-minute video. I am still learning to carve. I hope to go back to Liberty tomorrow morning, but I am not so sure with the heavy rain and warm weather. We’ll see!

Went to Liberty this morning for the last time before the warm weather and rain wash away all the snow. The next 10 days or so will determine if the resorts in Pennsylvania will stay open.

I snowboarded first then switched to ski. Had about a dozen of runs and left at noon. The warm temperatures started to turn the snow slushy.

I am still hoping for the March miracles. We’ll see!

We went to Roundtop for the first time this season. It’s simply the furthest from our house. I was a bit disappointed that Gunbarrel was closed. Ramrod was the only double black diamond slope opened. Nevertheless, the conditions were surprisingly good. I had fun skiing and snowboarding with my family. Xuân finally got to ski with his cousin Hân. We spent 6 hours there. Can’t ask for more on a Sunday. It seems like the season is ending soon. Mother Nature is not giving us any cold days or snow. I am trying to get as much mileage as I can with my Epic pass.

Sáng nay thứ Bảy thức sớm đưa Đạo và Đán qua Germantown, Maryland để tụi nó phụ giúp trang trí Hội Tết Hướng Đạo. Từ Germantown đến Liberty Resort chỉ 50 phút. Tôi chạy qua đó đi trượt tuyết. Hôm nay tuy thứ Bảy nhưng không đông lắm. Tôi snowboard rồi ski từ 8:00 giờ sáng đến 11:00 giờ trưa.

Tôi trở lại Germantown để dự Hội Tết Hướng Đạo cùng Liên Đoàn Hùng Vương. Đến giờ trưa, lúc lấy đồ ăn bỗng nghe tiếng, “Chào Donny”. Tôi nhìn về anh chào lại nhưng tôi không nhận ra anh là ai. Anh cho biết rằng anh thường đọc trang blog này của tôi. Anh từ Minnesota dọn qua Virginia gần một năm.

Tôi rất vui được gặp một người đọc trang blog của mình. Hai anh em trò chuyện với nhau về con cái. Anh cũng đọc được những gì tôi chia sẻ về nỗi lòng làm cha mẹ. Hân hạnh được gặp anh Luân. Hy vọng mình sẽ có cơ hội gặp lại.

Một ngày như thế là đủ niềm vui rồi.

I have been obsessed with carving with skiing and snowboarding. I spent time on the slopes learning instead of enjoying myself.

Today, I just told myself, “Fuck it. Just have fun.” I went to Liberty and kicked off with snowboarding. Instead of trying to carve, I applied Malcolm Moore’s “Skidding to Carving” technique. I enjoyed riding it much more.

When I switched to skiing, I used the technique that I just learned to keep both my feet in parallel. I tried to roll my knees a bit, but I was not worrying about carving. I sped up a bit more.

I was heading to Whitetail and planning on continuing to work on my carving skills on skis, but I decided to take a lesson instead. I signed up for the two-hour group lesson, which cost $88. I couldn’t effort the two-hour private lesson, which would have cost $355.

Before siging up, I made sure they had advanced group lesson available. I didn’t want to be placed in beginner or intermediate level. The lesson coordinator was going to put in a group lesson with intermediate students who were still learning to turn, but I specifically requested carving lesson. They assigned me to an instructor.

She asked me to show her my turns. I tried to carve, but my turns weren’t perfect. I had to fix my inside foot in order to keep my skis paralleled. She made me work on coordinating my feet. The whole lesson was for me to be patience when I initiated my turns. I had to let both skis turn together and not just my outside ski.

Being patience was fine on the green slopes, but a bit nerve-wrecking on the blue slopes as I picked up my speed. She continued to insist that I must be patience and let my skis make the turns. It worked. I could feel my feet making the turns without having to fix my inside foot.

We went on the black trail then the double black slopes. I trusted my skis to do the work for me. Two hours zipped by so fast. We ended the lesson with her giving me some tips on carving after I perfected my parallel turns.

She complimented me on my skiing and encouraged me to become a ski instructor. I would get free training, free Epic pass, and to make money. It sounded great and I would give it some thought.

Before we part way, I handed her a $50 bill. I got a private lesson for not even half a price. I might try this again with a snowboarding lesson.