And Now For More Current Events

I'm still trying to get a chance to go through all of Christmas\New Years pictures to post a few. Since that's old news, I thought it would be nice for a change to actually let you know what's going in our lives more currently. Like over the last week.

We finally started our ski season last weekend. With my new car purchase last month (which I won't actually get until maybe the end of next month), we also got season tickets to Waterville Valley Ski Resort. Our place up there is equidistant (time wise) to Waterville and Loon mountains and it's always a great debate where we'll go. With passes handed to us this year, the decision was very easy! However, we had some business to take care of first. So for the long MLK weekend, we headed up to NH Friday night and took Saturday to take care of a few things.

One of the things we had to take care of was ski equipment. Dylan's in a program at Loon where we invested money last year but get that credit year after year to get new equipment to fit his growing body. While getting him new boots and bindings, I picked up a few new things for me. It's been many years (pre kids) since we've skied on a regular basis and I needed a few things as well. #1 on my list was a helmet. Helmet's were the exception, not the norm, for downhill sports 6 years ago. Now, for good reason, they are the norm. So I got one to protect my noggin'. While Dylan and I shopped, Cade napped in the car with Mike.

My Shopping Buddy

I thought it would be fun to take the boys tubing after that. Neither one of them wanted to. You'd have thought I had asked them to eat liver and onions as excited as they were about it. But dammit, I decided to force the fun on them.

Forcing them to at least pretend to look happy

They stood their ground and came through as promised - they did not like it! Weirdos. So after making them complete 5 runs, I relented. Cade fell out of his tube at the end of the last run and was very unhappy. On the way back to return the tubes, I spun Dylan around in his and he enjoyed that. At least I got 1 true smile!

I had also wanted to take the boys to the ice castle in that area. But thanks to the holiday weekend, apparently all of New England had the same idea for that night. When we left Loon mountain, it took us an hour in standstill traffic and then sneaking out of parking lots and back roads to get to the highway and make our way home (and mind you, it's a VERY short distance to the highway from the mountain). Ice castles will have to happen another time!

Sunday was ski day! I was hoping to get Cade in ski school this year. And though his age is right, his lack of potty training is not. They wouldn't take him for ski school. So, while Dylan spent the day in ski school, Cade spent the day indoors in the daycare. Conditions were kind of gross but Mike and I got in several good runs in before spending some time in the ski shop for more equipment for me. I have finally moved on from the ski boots I've hated since I got them 12 years ago! Yay! And next time I'm at the mountain, I will be demo'ing some skis and hopefully walking away with a new pair of those too!

Waterville Moose and Me

Getting home after that was dicey. Since we don't have traditional tv\cable at our NH place, we wanted to get back home for the football game and then spend the rest of the weekend getting some things done. We knew there was some ice forecasted for the afternoon. There was an ice storm incident last winter that installed the NH house ice fear in us...given our fantastic view, we are also up a steep and winding narrow road. When the ice hit the roads last year, we had to abandon our car down the road from our place and had a hard time getting from our neighbor's house back to ours in those conditions. So setting out for our ski day, I had wanted to get packed up to head home so we could leave straight from the mountain. Unfortunately (per usual), we were running on the late side and unable to do that. In order to get the kids checked in for their programs on time, we had to go back to the house for our belongings after our ski day before getting back to MA.

And our worst thoughts had come true. Road conditions were terrible in our condo's area! Many cars\trucks\minivans weren't making it up the road. By some miracle of good driving and a kick-a** car (I'm very thankful to Mike's Durango and driving skills), we made it up to our house. I was all set to tuck in for the night but Mike didn't want to get even more stuck with 5-8 inches of snow predicted to fall on top of the ice overnight. Against my better judgement, we loaded the car to try and get back home. We also packed extra stuff to prepare for the very real possibility that we might have to abandon the car and hike back (snowshoes, backpack to carry Cade, extra clothes, snacks).

We had a talk with the boys before leaving that they had to be absolutely silent so Daddy could concentrate. No tv, no talking. Before even making it to the end of our road, this is how they looked:

Apparently they weren't worried. The fatigue of a busy day on the mountain overrode any fear we may have had. And with their silence, I was very tense and Mike was very focused. And again, by some miracle we made it down unscathed. We thought the worst of the trip was behind us as the major roadways seemed to be fine. I'm not sure what we were missing because we had absolutely no problems on the way back, but NH had lowered the speed limit on the highways to 45 and we saw a ridiculous amount of cars on the side of the road that had skidded out. Not like on the shoulder side of the road, but down in the trees and snowbanks. Apparently there was a ton of that happening Sunday night because I read that NH ran out of tow trucks to help folks! It was definitely a tense ride and we were all happy to get home.

The big news for Sunday was the introduction of Cade's big boy bed! Cade has been happy as a clam in his crib so I've been in absolutely no hurry to move him out of it. However, I promised our crib to our neighbors who recently had twins so it was time to see if we could successfully move him out of it.

Big Boy in His Big Boy Bed

Ready to Nap

And after a few days, he is doing very well in his bed! I've heard him fall out once but he got back in by himself and there's been no night wandering thus far. We've been catching him in the morning and reiterating that big boys stay in their big boy beds until Mommy and Daddy comes to get him and it's been working. So, so far so good!

On Wednesday, my poor Dylan came down with a little fever. I think it's pretty much the sickest I've ever seen my little boy and it is just so incredibly sad to see! After 2 days of a lethargic, feverish boy, he seems to be past the worst of it and getting back to his usual self today.....and we are now crossing our fingers that no one else comes down with it!!

Cade also met with his speech therapist this week. We got him started in the early intervention program last year and have absolutely loved the services offered. He's been doing a drop off play group every Monday and his therapist comes to our house to work with him every other week. She is an absolutely lovely person and great to work with. But, with Cade turning 3 next week, he's officially handed off from the EI system and onto our Wayland school system. So this week was his last visit from his therapist friend. We are sad to lose her. However, we also really like his new therapist that he'll be working with and his old one lives in our area so I'm sure this isn't the last we'll see of her.

So that's what's been going on with us. My "free time" is mostly been dedicated to planning for Cade's upcoming birthday bash. If I'm able to squeeze it in, hopefully I can wrap up the holiday posts before the big party. Happy Friday everyone!!