Bergstrom Babble: Pond Skimming in Vermont

We just returned from a fun week with the Bergstrom side of the family in Burke, VT. The days were very fun, albeit often chaotic, considering that the Bergstrom living room contained at any given time, four to six adults chatting and four kids ages 15 months to 11 running in circles.

Anna’s cousins excited and intrigued her and she was plain pooped at the end of every day from trying to keep up with them. Lars and Ty especially intrigued her with their Nintendo DS games (and I must admit I did play a little Mario…).

Our trip coincided with the mountain’s annual “Pond Skimming” event, which essentially marks the end of the ski season for Burke. Every year 50 or so brave (crazy?!?) souls enter to compete and see who can ski or snowboard down the mountain and across a pond the most times – if you fall in, you’re out. Spectators line up on either side of the pond, enjoying beverages and food, and laughing at the unfortunate contestants who don’t skim their way across. To make it even better, there is a theme to the competition each year and the contestants wear wacky costumes. This year’s theme was cartoon characters and the costumes did not disappoint. We got to see Captain Underpants, Fred Flintstone, Barney Rubble and a whole gaggle of Smurfs plunge into the frigid waters.

What makes it even better, though, is that the “King of the Mountain” prize went to a member of the Bergstrom clan. For the third year in a row, Anna’s Uncle David (on the Bergstrom side – sidenote, Anna only has two Uncles and they are both named David…) was the Pond Skimming champ. And on a snowboard nonetheless, which I am told is a miraculous feat. So, there is a record holder in our midst – three years ago he became the first snowboarder to win, two years ago he became the first person to win back-to-back Pond Skimmings, and this year he is the first to win back-to-back-to-back. Let me tell you, his kids were proud! Could there be a 4-peat in 2010???

We had beautiful weather for the time we were there and Anna loved running around in the snow – essentially it was her paradise…a giant bowl of ice. Considering it was the end of the ski season and the snow had who knows what in it, we tried to not let her eat it at first. That lasted for about 10 seconds when we saw it would be a nearly impossible task. So we decided to steer her towards the whiter patches…

Speaking of kids and energy, we got to marvel at the pure endurance an eight year old possesses. In one of his better Uncle moves, Jason told Lars he would give him $5 if he would run from the condo up the mountain to the top of the first ski lift. (Don't worry, the lift is literally outside their door and you can see to the top without leaving the porch. And, the mountain was closed for the day...). It is approximately 2 miles up and back and the little buggar did it in 25 minutes flat. That's uphill, in snow, and he was wearing a t-shirt, track pants and skateboarding sneakers. And he wasn't out of breath when he returned. Made me feel like a total slouch! Jason gave him $20 because he was just plain impressed. To which Lars asked, "If I do it again right now will you give me $30?" I don't doubt he could have...

All in all we had a great time (even though we had to leave at 4:15 a.m. to catch our 7 a.m. flight out of Burlington…). I can’t wait to see all of them again.