Being Good At Family

Hey there!  Yes it's me.  I know I totally fell into the pit of being overwhelmed and overburdened with a thousand things to do with school and the holidays, which left me no time to write.  I wrote a bunch of blogs in my head, but none of them made it to the computer.  Looking forward to the day where I can think something and Suri will write it down for me.   I even got a little bah humbuggy at one point because of how crazy everything was.  Even though I still have much going on-like helping to produce the Variety Show at the girls' school-I decided to put everything else I should be doing right now on hold (changing sheets, cleaning, getting cat litter) to do the one thing I like to do for me.  Writing.  So with that here's a little story about a New Year's Eve Day trip we took last week.  (Was it really only LAST week.)

Over the holidays we didn't have any family in town which was (sorry parents) kinda nice.  I mean don't get me wrong, I love when my parents or Andy's parents come and spend Christmas with us.  The kids love them being there and it's nice to have a big family together for the holidays.  However, every three years it's also kinda nice to not entertain parents for a week or more.  This year was that year.  So there was more hanging out and just doing nothing, which is good for us since we are always doing something every damn minute of every damn day.  The only bad part about doing nothing for a family who is very active, is that after a while we start to go a little stir crazy.  So we decided that on New Year's Eve, during the day, we would drive to the mountains to a sledding park. 

One of the advantages of living here in Southern California is that we are so close to the mountains to go sledding anytime in the winter if we want.  Even though we hadn't had any rain yet last week, the sledding parks all make their own snow.  The other great thing was that it was actually cold here this Christmas.  In fact while we were in the 50's here on Christmas day my in laws were sweating it out in the 70s in Rhode Island.  Crazy!  Since it was so cool here it was even colder in the mountains which was perfect for the snow making and sledding.  

I found a place on line that is only about an hour from our house, called Mt. Baldy.  When we got there we were to purchase tickets to take a "scenic lift" to the top of the mountain where we could do the snow tubing.  They also have skiing and snowboarding but we weren't going that crazy for one day.  After we bundled up and purchased our tickets we walked up a little hill to the lift.  That's when we realized the lift chairs were only for 2 people.  Last time I counted there were 5 of us, and three of us are kids.  Huh.  How was this going to work?  I wasn't crazy about the idea of Sonya going by herself, and sending her with one of the girls could prove disastrous.  I didn't need a fight to break out on the lift and someone pushed off onto the side of the mountain.  No worries though.  She wasn't allowed to go alone or with one of the girls unless she was 14.  That would have been nice to know BEFORE we bought our tickets. They did let us know she could ride with another adult who was alone and wanted to go up the mountain.  Oh yes-let me put my 11 year old on a ski lift with some stranger for 20 minutes who could be a Jared from Subway for all I know!  I don't think so.   Oh and by the way-it was seven degrees at the top of the mountain.  SEVEN!!  Now I know there are a lot of your out there who that freezing temperature might not bother so much and probably think we are big pussies.  However to those of us who just went through a 55 degree Christmas and were complaining of how cold we were, making fires in our fireplace every night,  seven degrees would have killed us.  

Andy and I made the decision to see what we could do about getting our money back, then figuring out what we could do to salvage the day from there.  It was of course greeted with a barrage of questions from the girls who were so looking forward to sledding.  

"We're not going?"

"Not here."

"But why?"

"Because Sonya can't ride the lift by herself and it's colder up there than it is down here even."  They were already freezing in the 32 degree temp.  

"So we aren't going to go sledding at ALL??"

"I don't know yet.  We will figure it out."

"But..."

"We will see!"


Neither one of us was optimistic about it being easy to get our money back, but turns out it was!  They were very nice about it after we explained that we had no idea about the age for the chairlift.  So we were happy we didn't lose any money on it, but now what the hell do we do?  We had decided to go to this mountain because it was closer than the one in Big Bear.  Were we even in the right direction of heading to the other one?  Unfortunately, it took us a bit to find out since there was no service on the mountain.  Once we got to the bottom I found that the other place I had looked at was less than an hour from where we were.  Since we had left the house so early it was only 11am at that point, so we decided to go for it.  

We arrived at the tubing park about an hour later.  No traffic at all thank goodness!  This place was right off the side of the road, no lift, and cheaper than the other place.  So win win!  We went and got our tickets.  Georgia and I made a trip to the disgusting outhouses.  

Side note here-Why, in the year 2016, have we not figured out a better way to keep an outhouse clean?  Those things are the most disgusting places on earth.  I am always so grossed out when I go in one.  I have been in nicer ones that are brought in for outdoor weddings or other such things, but then they are usually newer and not used at all yet.  The ones on the mountains though are just so incredibly gross. I just tell the girls the whole time we are in there, "whatever you do, don't look down."  I gag now just thinking about it.  Back to the main story...

After we paid and grabbed our tubes, we headed to one of the smaller hills because the girls were a little nervous and wanted to start there.  To be honest I was fine starting there too.  Sonya and Georgia went down almost immediately raving about how much fun it was and climbed the stairs to go again. Lana though.  Well Lana and I spent 10 minutes on that first little hill together.  She was nervous to go down, I sat there trying to convince her everyone else was still alive after sledding, and she would be too.  I think it was that fact that she had to go on her belly head first that freaked her out.  She would start to lay down  and then say  "No, no, no, I don't want to."  Andy claimed I was babying her, but I know how Lana is.  She has always been this way.  It takes her a minute to try anything new, food, swimming, jumping off the diving board, skiing, sledding, bike riding, roller blading, whatever.  She is convinced something bad is going to happen to her.  I knew as soon as she did it though she would love it.  

I'm not sure exactly what it was that made her finally go.  At one point I gave up trying to convince her  and went down without her to show her it was fine.  Not to long after that, she went with me and that was that.  There was no stopping her.  She loved it as I knew she would.  

When we first got there all three of the girls agreed they weren't going near the big hill.  Even after Lana had been going down the smaller one, she pointed to the big hill and said, 

"There is no way I'm going down that one!"

I reminded her that she didn't want to go down the little one at first and look how much fun she was having.  So she said,

"Okay maybe I will at some point but NOT today."

"That's fine," I told her.  

At the end of our hour we were all riding down that big hill.  And we were all loving it.  It is only an hour you pay for at a time.  You can go more, but then you pay more.  At first I thought-an hour that's it?  But trust me, after walking up those stairs a bunch of times you are exhausted and done after your hour.  At one point we all went down together which was comedic.  I laughed so hard when, at one point, Andy was trying to push us all down the hill together, and Sonya and Georgia accidentally broke free leaving Andy holding on to Georgia's mitten at the top of the hill. 

Andy and the girls going down the hill together.

It was one of the best family days we've had as a family and a great way to end the year.  The girls keep talking about how they want to go back.  It was fairly easy too, minus the detour we made to the other mountain an hour away.  I was proud of us that we found a way to salvage the day even though we ran into a problem and our original plan didn't work out.  It was a good lesson for all of us.  Especially for me, because when my plans get thrown off I tend to get anxious.  It was one of those days where I thought to myself, "We are good at family!" 

*(credit to that line goes to the show The Goldbergs, which if you aren't watching you should be!)

Me and Lana

Georgia, Sonya and Andy

Happy 2016 everyone!  Hope to write more for you in this year and here's to everyone finding a day where they feel they are good at family too.  I know all to well how some days that is so hard to do.  

Sonya and Georgia

Aloha (One Month Later)

I feel like lately my life have been in a constant state of go, with about six hours of sleep.  Because if I don’t at least get those six hours, the go is going to completely stop.  That is why I have slacked on my writing the past six months or so and I hate it.  I love to write and love to tell the stories about the girls, but the constant state of having something to do makes it hard for me to find the time.  It's summer break now, which I though meant I'd have more time to write but as it turns out, no.  I do not.  In the two weeks that the girls have been out of school we have gone to the Natural History Museum, the beach- twice,  the zoo, the farm to pick strawberries and other produce, and the Federal Reserve.  A field trip we took with Sonya's girl scout troop where I saw more money than I will ever know in ten lifetimes.  At one point I was trying to figure out who could help me with the biggest bank heist ever.  Turns out I don't have those kind of people in my life.  I digress.  So finally after the first two weeks of school being nonstop, I have all three girls in day camp this week until 1pm and I have time to poop in peace, both in writing and well, for real.  

I have a build up of stories though, so let's just go back to the beginning of May when we did get a short respite from all the craziness of our life in the form of a trip to Maui.  Yes that's in Hawaii.   And yes, it was just as amazing as you imagine  it to be.  And yes there were some antics along the way.  Where to start?

Well, let’s start with the fact that we would never have gone on vacation in the middle of May when we had to pull the girls out of school by choice.  However, one of Andy’s best friends and Godfather to Georgia, Jamie, was getting married.  He and his fiance, Monique, decided on a destination wedding in Maui.  I think I did mention them getting married when I talked about the fact that Georgia was going to be the flower girl and also Andy was officiating.  This is now the third wedding he’s done.  It’s quite the little side business he’s got going.  Except for the not getting paid part.  But we get to go to some awesome weddings in some great places and this one was the best.  I mean you can’t really beat Hawaii.  No offense to the other 2 weddings he's done.  So this wasn’t just a wedding we were invited to, but one my family was an essential part of.  Oh darn, we were going to HAVE to go to Maui.  What bad luck for us.  

Since we were going during the school year, I had to talk to all of the girls’ teachers and the principal to let them know why they were going to be gone.  They were all excited for us.  I know the district will not be when I get that nasty-“your kids have six unexcused absences” letter, but I don’t really care about them.  They are just mad because they did’t get their money for my 3 kids for those 6 days.  Oh well.  

As fantastic as Hawaii is, the time change is hard to get a grip on for some reason.  We go back east from time to time and don’t seem to have a problem when we go that direction, but I knew we were in for fun time when Georgia came into our room the first day we were there at FOUR AM and said,

“Mommy?  Is it time to get up?”

Well yes if we were in Burbank where it is 7AM but not here where the sun isn’t even thinking of breaking yet.  I explained to her that she couldn’t get up until it started getting light out.  That would buy me at least two hours right?  Sure, if you're talking to a 12 year old, but not at 5.  For the next two hours she came to my bed wide awake to tell me, "I need a drink of water, I have to pee, I think it's starting to get light outside- (it wasn't), Can I watch TV?"  So yeah.  Sleeping was not happening past four.  Around 5:45 we were just beginning to see some light from outside and Georgia took that as her cue.  She went around and opened every blind in the room yelling, 

"It's morning! It's morning!"  

It was going to be a long day.  

That first day we took it easy and hung out at the beach that was literally, 100 steps from where we slept.  It was awesome.  It was a gorgeous day and we just relaxed swam, ate, and drank happy hour beach bar Mai Tais.  Well I did anyway.  

The view from our room.

The next day we decided to go to the volcano on the island.  Most people get up at 2am and drive up the volcano to watch the sun rise.  This was something Andy and I had done 10 years ago when we were childless.  We weren't going to punish ourselves with that adventure this time though.  No instead we figured we would just drive up, look a the crater, take some pictures and be done.  Easy peasy.  Sure, it would have been had Andy not thrown out his back 20 minutes before we were going to leave. 

We thought about not going at all, but Andy was determined that this was his vacation and it wasn't going to get ruined by his faulty back.  So he took some muscle relaxers and we decided I would just drive.  Totally fine, sure.  Except have you ever driven on a windy, narrow, the cliff drops off below you, moutain road? Yeah I haven't done too many of those and for good reason.  They FREAK ME OUT.  Not to mention the fact I was driving a rental jeep, a car I wasn't even the least bit comfortable in.  I was fairly certain our death was imminent.  I felt bad that Jamie and Monique's wedding would be overshadowed by the tragedy of the entire Dadekian family falling off of the volcano.  But somehow we made it to the top even if it was only going 20mph.  We got out of the car, Andy feeling completely stiff, Lana a bit green from car sickness, me deep breathing out my anxiety and the other 2 completely oblivious.  

It was beautiful when we got to the top and the girls enjoyed the volcano crater with the exception of Lana who wanted to see a "real" volcano, which meant one that was actually erupting.  We tried to explain to her how bad it would be if this one were erupting, but she would have none of it and continued to whine for about 10 minutes about her unhappiness. 

At the crater. Picture courtesy of Georgia.

 After a few pictures we decided we were done and ready to head back down.  Crap.  I had to drive down.

Driving down was so much more hellacious than driving up, for a few reasons.  First, you're going down which means pretty much riding the break the whole way unless you want to fly off a cliff.  Second, they have this great adventure in Hawaii where you take a tour and go look at the volcano and then bike down the whole thing!  Something I might have considered in my younger years, but I don't think you could pay me to do it now.  Biking down that narrow steepness and having to make sure you don't get hit by some idiot driving down like me? No thanks.  Especially when you add number three in-the fog.  The fog that was so foggy I couldn't see the fog two feet in front of me.  It was just plain old scary.  Andy had been encouraging me on the drive up and started to on the drive down.  I guess I should mention I am not the main driver in the family.  Whenever we go somewhere together he always drives and it's the way both of us like it.  Sometimes, when I do have to be the driver in the car with him, I feel like I'm 15 again and my dad is telling me what to do.  So this was extra fun for both of us.  

When we got to the part where there was fog AND bikers, I had no idea what the hell to do.  I was constantly turning a corner, and didn't want to get over in the other lane to pass the bikers for fear of being hit head on by a car coming out of the pea soup fog.  So I just passed the bikers getting really close to them but not to close.  I guess Andy thought it was to close and yelled at me at one point, 


"You're too close!! You're too close!  You can't pass them on a turn!!"

To which I yelled,

"If I don't pass them on a turn, I'm not going to be able to pass them at ALL!!!!"

I'm happy to say we made it out of the fog and off the volcano with no bodily injury to others or anyone in our car.  Phew! I did sort of feel accomplished later, like I had faced a fear, so that was good.  The great news was we made it back to the beach by 3pm, just in time for my Mai Tais.

The rest of the week wasn't quite as stressful.  We did the Road to Hana the next day, after which point we decided we were done with the sightseeing.  Don't get me wrong, it's a gorgeous drive, but being in the car with the girls right next to each other for 2 full days had led to a handful of fights between them and Andy and I were on the verge of throwing them in to the crater of the volcano.   We decided that we were going to beach and pool it for the rest of the trip, which the exception of the wedding festivities.  And that's just what we did. Oh!  We did go to a Luau one night too, which was also a lot of fun.  Typical Hawaiian tourist stuff, but a great time.  

Hike through the rainforest on The Road to Hana.

At a Waterfall off the Road to Hana.  This was moments before Georgia FREAKED out about a lobster like thing I pointed out that was in the water.  That's a story for another post.

Learning about items used in the Hula.

Learning the Hula

I swear that is not a backdrop, but the real sky and water.  So amazing!

The wedding was beautiful and Andy did a great job with the ceremony.  Georgia was absolutely adorable and took her job so seriously.  She even got her hair done and looked like she came straight out of Mad Men.  She loved all the attention she was getting all day and at one point Andy had to remind her that it wasn't her day, but Monique's.  That didn't stop her from enjoying all the adoration she was getting from all the bridesmaids and party guests though.  

Georgia and her "Mad Men" hairdo.

Oh and then there was this that Monique gave Georgia as her gift for being in the wedding.  Needless to say I cried.

Andy marrying the happy couple. Picture courtesy of Sonya.

After the ceremony.

Our last full day we were there, it was supposed to rain all day.  Something we were dreading would happen.  So in the morning we went into town to buy some souvenirs.  By the time we got back to the hotel all of the angry dark clouds were north of us and we had nothing but sun.  So we spent the rest of the day on the beach.  We stayed all the way until sunset, because even though the weather was nice the whole time we were there, the sunsets always got lost in some lower clouds.  Not this time though.  It was the prettiest one I've ever seen.  I took a bunch of pictures and captured what has now become my favorite picture ever.  (see below)

Wine in a plastic tumbler at sunset.  Don't get better than that!

My favorite picture of all time.  Sonya and Andy-sunset chat. 

It was an amazing week in a beautiful place.  I love that I got to go there and spend that time with my family and not worry about cooking, cleaning, PTA, Girl Scouts, or even working out.  I let it all go.  I got to be fun mommy because I could.  When we were trying to decide months back  if we were going to be able to pay for this trip I told Andy we should just do it.  Yes, it will be expensive and no we will not be able to do any other trips this year or do anything new to the house, BUT we will be making memories together as a family.  Something that can never be taken away.  Money will always come and go, and taking this trip would hurt a bit financially, but not break us.  You know what?  It was all completely worth it.  Ten fold.

Thank you Jamie and Monique for having your wedding in a beautiful place and making us a big part of it.  All the best to you for many many years to come!

Fun times at the beach!

Learning Something New

Living in Southern California, you will always here people talk about how it’s so great because you can go skiing in the morning and the beach in the afternoon.  Technically that is true.  Well, the beach part we have down.  We all love going to the beach in the summer.  Skiing however…it’s not exactly my thing.  We have been up to Big Bear a couple times with the girls just to go sledding.  Every year we say we are going to take the girls skiing.  It’s so close and now is the time to teach them, right?  I might as well learn something new while we’re at it.  So back at the beginning of November I booked us at a hotel for MLK Jr weekend.  Too bad I didn't know then that we would be in the middle of one of the hottest and driest winters in So Cal history.  But they  make snow, and it still gets cold in the mountains at least right?  So we went anyway despite the fact that there has been no percipitaion since the middle of December.

We left after the girls got out of school that Friday, and I want to say it was about 85 degrees that day here in Burbank.  I had check the local forecast for Mammoth, which is where we were going, and it was to be in the chilly 60s during the day and the freezing 30s at night.  Stop laughing Megan Drew.  Just because your schools in Wisconsin have been closed for four days this winter due to unhealthy below freezing temperatures doesn't mean that 30 doesn't feel cold to some of us still.  I think that is the part that I find most fascinating about this winter.  Here we are in California with summer like weather for weeks, while the entire east coast has been under a pile of snow for a month.  My sister Beth is on her SEVENTH snow day!  She doesn't live in Wisconsin though.  Nope she lives in Virginia.  A place that MAYBE gets two snow days a year.  But Global Climate change isn't happening or anything.  Sorry, I digress.

Mammouth Mountain is about a four hour drive from our house and unfortunately, the girls fell asleep in the car so when we got there at 9:30pm  they were a bit wired and wouldn't go back to sleep until after 11.  Yay.  It's not a bad drive though.  And we definitely didn't need to worry about those chains I brought for the van just in case.  

View from our room.  Note lack of snow, but closeness to the lift!

Andy kept saying how there wasn't going to be any snow and it was going to suck.  I, being the eternal optimist, said none of us knew how to ski anyway and this would be a better way to learn.  Guess who was right?  (It's me in case you didn't get that, but read on to find out more.)

The next morning we got up, ate breakfast and got ready to go to our ski lesson.  I had booked us a private ski lesson for the whole family, because it ended up being the same amount if we would have all taken group lessons.  The girls had never done this and Andy and I have been before, but I don't really count the one time I went skiing over 20  years ago.     So ski lessons were definitely a must.

Funny side story about me.  It was my freshman year of college the last time  I went.  I had never been before and all of my friends who had been skiing their entire lives assured me it was EASY!  I would pick it up no problem!  I didn't need to take a lesson!  I was 18, so you know, I believed them.  They told me as long as I stayed on the green circle runs I would be ok.  So they took me to the top on the ski lift, showed me how to get off the lift and then promptly left me.  I stood at the top of that mountain with no idea how the hell to get off of it.  Eventually, one of the really tall frat boys we had come with, showed me  how to "pizza" my skis. Then he helped me by putting me in front of him and skiing down, much like they do with little kids.  You would have thought that would have been enough for me, but no.  I got down once I could do it again by myself this time!  Only  there was nobody with me to take the ski lift so I did it alone.  No biggie right.  I got this!  Toward the end of the lift,  I scooted my but to the end of the seat like my friends had shown me and went to stand up.  Only I never stood up for some reason, and the next thing I knew I was still sitting going back around to go DOWN the mountain.   Well I couldn't allow people to see me going down the mountain on the ski lift!  That would be much to embarrassing.  So I did the only thing I could think of. 

I jumped. 

Off the ski lift. 

Face down into the snow.

Yeah.

So, that happened.  It goes down as one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. They had to stop the lift to help me up.  I wasn't too far off the ground when I jumped.  Maybe 8 feet?  So I was perfectly fine, except for my bruised ego.  I was done with skiing after that and hadn't tried it again since.  Andy and I did go snowboarding about 10 years ago and I did like that better, but the ski lift still gave me anxiety.  This time I was determined to have someone show me how to ski and try to do it for real. You know face my fear and all that.  

Back to the present!  So we got all of our ski gear and headed to the area where we would be taking lessons.  We weren't having them for a while, so Andy, who has a bit more experience than I do, helped the girls get their skis on and they practiced in a little side area for a while.  There wasn't really even a slope, but we just wanted them to get a feel for it.  They took to it quickly.  

I will be honest here and say I was a bit concerned about taking my girls skiing for a few reasons. Sonya and Lana. Sonya is a perfectionist and if she can't get something right away she gets frustrated and tears follow.  She doesn't want to give up, which will make her more frustrated and difficult to deal with, and that just leads to even more crying.  Lana will try something and if she doesn't get it right away or decides she doesn't like it she will just give up.  And not give two shits about it.  No amount of bribery will change her mind if she decides she doesn't want to do something.  Georgia will just follow whatever her sisters do.  She is very influenced by them and if left on her own would probably try and do well with just about anything.  However, if her sisters aren't doing it, then forget it.  So I had no idea how this was going to go.

The fact that it was 60 degrees was helpful.  They weren't cold.  Cold would have definitely made it worse. Especially for Lana who puts her bathrobe on and complains when the house is at 70 degrees.  

 When it was finally time to take our lesson we were all excited and ready.  Our instructor, Ken, was great and all three of the girls started picking it up fairly quickly.  Turns out I picked it up fast too.  By the end of our three hour lesson we were all on the biggest of the practice hills and Sonya, Andy and I were even picking up weaving in and out of the cones and turning.  The little girls were doing well too and Lana didn't even complain once.  I'm pretty sure that was a first.  

Lana and Georgia Pizzaing downhill.

Sonya getting the hang of it.  

Our instructor told us that Andy, Sonya and I were ready for the Green Circle hill that was right there next to us.  The little two, not quite, although they were getting it.  That particular run was two miles and for new skiers it would take at least 30 minutes to get down.  For  Lana and Georgia it would take about two hours.  He said it would just be too steep for the in certain parts.   

No matter, it was the end of the day at that point and they were soon closing the lifts, so we thought maybe we could try that hill the next day.  

The good thing about being in the mountains on a holiday weekend with not much snow is that it was completely dead.  There was no wait at restaurants and it wasn't packed with people everywhere.  It was great for us, not so much for the people who work there.  The next morning we got up and contemplated going to the other side of the mountain where there was an easier shorter run, but the run we were right next to was so close and the practice hills were better for the little girls.  

We practiced for a bit on the learning hills and then Andy decided he wanted to try the big run.  We asked Sonya if she wanted to go and amazingly she did.  She had been doing better than I thought she would, but she does tend to be afraid of things, so I wasn't sure she would do it.  They left, and for the next 40 minutes I was nervous for them to come back.   I pictured Sonya coming back in tears saying she wanted to go back to the room.   I distracted myself with practicing with the little girls and they started to get better and better.  By the end they were both weaving in  and out of the cones on the practice runs too.  

Lana taking a run, Georgia waiting

Snow/ice angels

Finally I heard Sonya calling for me and I looked up to see her smiling from ear to ear and waving excitedly.  She absolutely loved it.  I breathed a sigh of relief.   She loved it so much she wanted to do it again.  I decided to put my big girl pants on and brave the thing that gave me the most anxiety, the ski lift.  We went and ate lunch first, but after lunch Sonya and I headed right to the lift.  Turns out that thing is really fucking high in the air.  Turns out that I never thought I was afraid of heights, but I think I might be just a little now.  Turns out, my nine year old was less afraid than I was.  She was calming me down,

Me: "Wow!  We are really high huh? Breeeaathhe, juuust breathe...."

Sonya: "Mom (eye roll) it's FINE!"  

Me: "Ok but I have to get off of this thing too."

Sonya: "Oh that part is EASY!"

Oh sure maybe for someone who didn't JUMP OFF ONE 20 YEARS AGO!!!

Good news!  I managed to get off the ski lift just fine.  After that I felt better and wasn't worried about skiing down.  However...DAMN it was a looooonnnngg hill.  Because they hadn't had snow in so long, what was on the hill was not the best to ski on .  There were quite a few patches of iciness.  I had to "pizza" most of the way down.  Sonya was ahead of me a good amount of the time, looking like she came out of the womb skiing.  Since she had already been up there with Andy she knew which way to go.  That was good, because the last thing I need was to end up on a blue square run.  I would still be sitting on the mountain if that was the case.  We got to the bottom and my feet and ankles were killing me from braking the whole way down, but I had made it down and I was incredibly proud of myself and my daughter who had just done it twice! Plus, PLUS!  I didn't fall once!  I was done though.  Didn't need to go again.  

Sonya on the green circle run

Sonya and me on green circle

We found Andy and the girls and he decided he wanted to go again. Surprisingly, Sonya went with him for her THIRD time.  I was kinda happy just to do the practice runs again.  Not to mention I was extremely exhausted.  Then something weird happened.  I thought I didn't want to go again, but I started to get the urge to want to go again.  Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time, because it was the end of the day and the lifts were closing.  Plus Lana had decided about 15 minutes before Andy and Sonya came back that she was done.  Her skis were off and she was chilling making angels in the snow/ice.  I'm pretty sure Georgia would have continued to ski until it got dark.  She was having a blast.

After Andy and Sonya got back we returned all of our ski gear, since we would be leaving the next morning.  Then we went back to our hotel to sit in the hot tub for a bit before getting ready to go out for dinner.  

Later that night  when the girls had gone to bed, Andy and I talked about what a successful weekend it was.  Sure it's incredibly expensive, but I did manage to borrow all of our snow gear from friends, and really what's money compared to an amazing time learning something new with your family?  For me it was one of the best times I've ever had had with all of them.  It gave me a chance to be fun mom who learned something new with them, instead of naggy do your chores and homework mom.  It gave me a chance to actually sit down and hang out with my husband instead of cleaning the house and the kitchen until ten o'clock at night.  So was it the best skiing weather ever?  No, in fact I'm sure most people would say it was the worst.  But as far as I'm concerned though it was the best and I would do it again the same way in a heartbeat.  Okay well maybe a little bit more snow would be nice. 

A family of skiers!

It's Only a Four Letter Word

Well, how were your holidays?  Ours were fabulous, thanks for asking!  No, I really mean that.  Well, after I got through all the preparation crap of the weeks before, once Christmas hit we had a great time. My parents were here and they are always super helpful, so I didn't do laundry or wake up before 8am all week.  It was awesome!  Thanks mom and dad.  Andy took the week of New Years off, so we were able to hang out and do some fun things as a family, like take the kids to Disney on Ice and complete our Star Wars Trilogy with Return of the Jedi.   Overall it was just what I needed.  What all of us needed.  A couple weeks to do nothing.  No running to school, piano, gymnastics, Girl Scouts, or music class.  I can't say that by Friday we weren't all a little over it, but still it was good for a while.

And what would the holidays be without a funny story?  Of course I wouldn't disappoint.  Although this isn't a holiday story per se, it is something that happened while my parents were here.

We were all sitting around after dinner one night, but Andy was still at work.  My parents and I were chatting and I was texting Andy to see when he would be home.  The girls were starting to get a little rowdy and had gotten up from their seats to play…hmmm…I'm not even sure the name for it.  It's the game where you slap  hands and say a rhyme.  Like "Miss Mary Mac, Mac.  All dressed in black, black, black…"  You remember.  Anyway, they were doing that.  I made Lana and Georgia do one that Lana had learned from one of the girls at school that goes a little something like this:

"Postman, Postman do your duty, here comes the girl with the African booty!"

Yeah.  I know.  I got raised eyebrows from both my parents.  All I could say was "Oh well!  It's what they learned from other kids at school.  Guess every kid doesn't have great parents.  Whaddya gonna do?"

We weren't really paying  much attention to them when they started another one I hadn't heard before.  I wasn't even sure what they were saying and was in the middle of texting Andy when I heard this:

"…then the farm got sick, how many animals got the DICK?! One, Two, Three…."

Yeeeeaaaaahhhh...so THAT happened.  

To be honest, I'm not even sure that's how it went.  All I know is I heard them say the word Dick.  Loudly.  In front of my parents.

I immediately looked up from my phone wide-eyed over to my mother who had the same horrified/amused expression on her face and she my father and I burst out laughing.  Threw my fits of giggles I asked the girls,

"Wait, wait, wait!  What did you say?"

And both my little girls shouted, "DICK!"  Which only made us laugh harder.

Sonya started to become concerned.  "What? What's wrong?" She asked.  "Is that a bad word?"

"Where did you guys get this one from?"  I just assumed it was another one picked up at school until they proudly told me,

"Sonya!"

I looked at her and asked her the same question and she said, "I made it up!"  Oh boy.

"Why?  What does dick mean?"  She asked.

"Well…." I said. "It's another word for a man's penis."

"Ohhhhh…" she said and her eyes got wide.  "Oops!"

Meanwhile the little girls are yelling, "Dick, dick, dick!" 

"It's fine." I told them still trying so hard to stop laughing.  "You didn't know. Let's just not sing this one again and certainly not at school ok?  And I know you were trying to rhyme with sick, but let's change it to Mick."

"Okay!" They all replied.

Then I thought about it a minute and asked, "You guys didn't tell this to anyone already at school right?"

They all shook their heads no and I breathed a sigh of relief until Lana said, "No.  I just learned it to my friend Audry."

Wait what?  "You taught this one to your friend, Audry?" I asked.

"Uh-Huh," she replied.

My parents roared with laughter and I just shook my head wondering when I would get the phone call from Audry's parents.

Back To School

Oh hi there!  Yes, once again, I have been a bit lazy with the writing.  Sorry.  I was trying to squeeze everything into the last week of summer vacation.  But here I am again!  Back to a schedule, back to reality, back to school!  Yes, yesterday was the day I have been longing for/dreading for five years now.  The day I send ALL my girls to school.  Including my baby, Georgia.  

I know what you all are waiting to hear-how much did I cry.  Well, as it turned out not that much the day of.  This was for a few reasons.  The first is that of my three girls, Georgia was by far the most nervous and apprehensive about going to school.  I'm not sure why this was.  Perhaps because she's the youngest.  Or perhaps I said too many times how much I was going to miss her when she went to kindergarten.  Oops.  Therefore, I couldn't really break down in front of her, since she was already having a hard time herself.  It was a crazy morning anyway, so I didn't really have time to think about it to much until she was sitting on the rug in her kindergarten class with a look that said, "I really don't think I want to stay here".  I swallowed the lump in my throat, put my big girl pants on, and assured her that she was going to have a fantastic time.  She already knew the room, since it was the same one Lana was in last year, and she already knew a couple kids in her class, thanks to pre-school and mommy and me.  She nodded her head and tried her best to be brave.  Then I hightailed it out of there before I completely broke down.  

After we left I had a small teary moment, but I didn't feel I could completely lose it, because I was in charge of the Boo-hoo/woo-hoo breakfast we hold in the library for all kinder parents.  It is something I started the year after Sonya started school.  It's a way for the kindergarten parents to know they're not alone for feeling sad, or in some cases happy, about their little ones going off to school.  And it's a way for the PTA members to chat up some new blood!  Since I was the one putting it together, I didn't feel coming in hysterically crying would be the best idea.  Even if I was also a kindergarten parent.  

When the breakfast was over, I went home and my friend Carey met me there with a bottle of champagne.  But it was totally okay for us to drink it at 9:30 in the morning, because we mixed it with orange juice.  Mimosas do not count as drinking to early because they have OJ!  Everyone knows that!  She helped me drown my sadness in a couple mimosas and some girl gossip. (Thank you again Carey!)  We had a great time and will probably make it a yearly tradition.  Although next year I think I need to eat more for breakfast.  In all my craziness of the morning, I didn't eat quite enough and two mimosas did me in quickly.  Let's just say I had to walk to pick up Georgia at 11:30.  

Probably the biggest reason why I didn't cry to much yesterday though, was because I was kinda cried out about it from the night before.  My mom sent me a lovely email, which every time I read it now I cry again.  So thanks for that mom!  I hope she doesn't mind but I wanted to share it with you all.  It applies mostly to me, but also for others of you out there sending your last (or even your first) baby off to school.  Hold on tightly to those baby/toddler years.  They go by more quickly than I would have liked, even though at the time they seemed to be taking forever.  They weren't.  I really can't believe I'm at this point in my life.  It seemed like such a far off destination three even two years ago, yet here I am.  
Thank you mom for sending this to me and for always being there when I needed to vent about being sick of having babies/toddlers.  I didn't really believe you when you said how fast it would go, but I believe you now.  Now I will hold on tightly to every moment I have with them until my knuckles are white.  Even the moments when I want to tear my hair out.  Thank you for being such an inspiration.  I love you.  

Dear Kristi,

                Whether you are reading this tonight or tomorrow, I wanted you to know that my thoughts are with you as you send your baby off to school. I know that you will meet this day with mixed emotions.  when you were up to your hips in diapers this was a day you could not see in your future and now it is your present. I reminded you many times to enjoy each day because they would pass quickly, and so they have. I am very proud of the mommy that you are . I am awed by the job you have done.  You have worked hard raising the girls to this point but fear not, your job is faaarrrrr from over! Tomorrow when you return home to an empty house take the opportunity to “Poop in Peace.” I have a feeling it will be bittersweet,” Pooping In Peace … at last, sigh, sniffle”.  I still remember the day I sent Megan off to Kindergarten.  Thankfully she lightened the mood by taking herself to the bus stop (in front of our house) 3 hours before the bus for afternoon K came, because she was convinced that I was going to make her miss the bus since you and Beth were long gone. I love you with all of my heart and I will feel each tear, that you shed tomorrow, in my heart. After all I am still your mommy and my job never ends, nor does my love for you. Can’t wait to hear your first day stories. I bet I’ll have a few of my ownJ I love you.

                                                                                Mom

4th grader

1st grader

Kindergartener!

My three adorable school age girls.  Goodbye baby/toddler/preschoolers. :(

"Can I leave yet?"
She might have been a wee bit nervous.  This was the best "smile" I could get.

Just a quick footnote-I did indeed get to "poop in peace" yesterday, probably for the first time in 8 1/2 years.  Good luck to the rest of you about to send your babies off to school for the year.  For those of you still at home with wee ones, you will be here before you know it.  I promise.