Vermont Ski Weekend

Last weekend we headed up to Vermont to ski with Jason's brother Matt and family.  The kids were really looking forward to skiing with their cousins and just being able to play with them.  The weekend started off a little dicey wince the 6 inches of snow that we were suppose to get in the early AM Friday tunred into 16 inches that didn't stop coming down until mid afternoon.  I waited until about 2pm and then decided I needed to brave the roads to get Watson down to my parents.  Fortunately my Mom met me at the mall so I didn't have to drive all the way to their house.  Half way to the mall the snow had stopped and the highway was just wet.  It is amazing the difference a short distance can make in a snow storm.  By the time I was heading back home even the highway near us had cleared to just wet pavement so it made for a much easier drive.  The roads in our town were not great but that wasn't a problem.  We ended up hitting the road for VT around 5pm and made good time with no traffic and it only took us anout two and a half hours.  We arrived at the house about 5 minutes before Matt and Jodi so timing ended up being perfect.  The kids played and we all relaxed and chatted.

Saturday we headed over to Magic Mountain to ski.  Jason and I had never skied there before so did not know what to expect but it was a fun mountain.  They only groom about half the mountain so there was a lot of bumps on the trails.  We took the kids down a couple easy trails to start but then moved them up to black diamonds.  Since we don't really know the mountain we took a narrow double black down the mountain with the kids which was not bumped up and the loved it.  They made nice quick turns and cruised down the trail.  This is where knowing a mountain has advantages.  I didn't know that this trail would dump us out onto another double black trail that the kids had been eyeing from the lift saying, "I'm not doing that" to which I replied, "no we wouldn't do that one...it has too many rocks and probably too technical for you right now."  Well, such is life when skiing....ski the trail you end up on because there really is no other choice.  The girls did great and skied down it quite a way until there was a significantly steeper section with a number of bare rocks showing.  Jason talked Sofia off the ledge and explained to her how to do it but then skied very fast to "show" her.  I could see that this did not work so I asked her if she wanted me to show her the way.  She did so we took one turn at a time through the rocks and she did great.  Ali followed suit and fell right at the bottom.  Not a major fall just a "I'm scared so I'll sit" type of fall.  She started to cry but then I pointed out that she only fell on this tiny section after she had already done all the hard work.  She looked up the mountain and smiled as she realized she had conquered the trail that looked so difficult from the lift.

Sunday we skied at Stratton which is a completely different mountain than Magic.  It has wide trails and is nicely groomed.  Sofia was a little nervous because in her mind a "bigger" mountain must be more difficult.  We assured her that there was going to be nothing at Stratton that would be any more difficult than what she had skied at Magic.  She lightened up after that and started to have fun.  She was zipping down the mountain with ease.  The mountain has a nice mix of moguls in with groomed terrain so we could hit the moguls and the kids could go groomed or they could jump in and out of the moguls as they wished.  The weather was so perfect for the whole weekend.  It was sunny blue skies and in the 30's!  We sat outside in the sun to eat lunch.  Ski days don't get much better than that! Sunday was a day of falls though.  Every one of had a fall at some point in the day.  Nothing major but falls non the less.  We always joke around that if you don't have a fall you aren't skiing hard enough so I guess we were all skiing hard!  I went almost the whole day but right near the end I caught an edge.  I was going to snow Matt but then decided to be nice and let up on my speed a little.  As soon as I did I caught and edge which flipped me back to whack the back of my head ( thank God for helmets) on the ground, spun me around and sent me down the mountain.  Of course the whole family was standing on the ridge and just backed up assuming I was going to stop but I went over the ridge (not a big dangerous ridge just a natural roll in the hill).  Unfortunately for Sofia she was not on the ridge but just on the other side of it.  Fortunately by the time I crashed into her I wasn't going very fast!  The kids did not want the day to end.  Sofia started to complain when I told her we had two runs left.  I then had to explain that we had only two runs left because that was all we could fit in before the lifts closed for the day.  It was such a perfect day.  The kids can finally ski fast enough and in control for me to follow behind at a normal speed.  It was the first day we skied until the lifts closed.  The only complaint being that the mountain should stay open longer! :)

The Freedom Trail

The kids had a teacher professional day off school so we decided to take them into Boston.  They had never been into the city and it had been years since I had been into the city so we decided we would head in and check out the Freedom Trail.  It would give us specific destinations to go to on a cold winter day and would allow the kids to see historical sites.  We didn't quite make it to the end of the freedom trail as we stopped for a late lunch in the North End with dessert at Mike's Pastry and then had to hustle it back home for Sofia's gymnastic class.  The kids enjoyed seeing the sites.  Sofia specifically liked seeing where Anne Hutchinson once lived since she recently read a book on her and wrote a bio-poem about her.  Also there was a man in colonial garb outside one of the cemeteries and he was also quite excited to talk to her about Anne Hutchinson.  It was nice to have her see how her work in the classroom can be seen and discussed in the real world.

In front of Paul Revere's house

Our trip on the freedom trail also lined up well with me being the mystery reader in Sofia's classroom so I brought in Paul Revere's Ride to read.  I still remember that poem from my 5th grade class as we had to memorize a LOT of it and stand up and recite it in front of the class.  It is, however, a nice poem and fun to read to the kids.  When I sat down to read to the class I said that we had just been on the freedom trail and Sofia's teacher laughed and told me she had heard that we went into Boston but all she had heard about was Mike's Pastry!  I guess I can't blame her...history is interesting but Mike's Pastry is delicious!

Happy 9th birthday Sofia

Ok so this post is a little late since Sofia turned 9 at the beginning of the month.  This year we decided that we would only have one party.  It was Sofia's choice for what she wanted to do - A family only party at our house, a family and friends party at the house, a sleepover with a few friends, gymnastics party, roller skating party...the options went on and on.  She went back and forth about what she wanted but eventually she decided to have a friend party at the roller skating rink.  She had most of the girls from her class as well as friends from outside her class at her party with pizza, cake, popcorn and soda, rollerblading and karaoke   The kids probably spent as much time prepping for their karaoke as they did rollerblading.  The rink was really like a bad 80's movie so it was funny to watch all the happenings going on for the adults and the kids had a blast.

New Gym

While Sofia's first love is swimming, Ali's first love is gymnastics.  She has talked about going on to the team but I was not comfortable with her going on to the team in her current gym.  I did not like the structure or the coaching and the lack of coaching skill just became more evident as the girls got better at gymnastics.  After speaking with a friend I knew it was time to start checking out other gyms.  I called up Elite Gymnastics to see about setting up a time to see the gym and for them to assess Ali's abilities to see if they thought she was ready to go onto a team or if she should stay in classes.  When we arrived at the gym I was a little put off because the person I had spoken to was not there and no one seemed to be aware that we were coming.  I later found out that the reason he wasn't there was because his daughter had needed to go to the hospital.  A reasonable excuse.

In any event I called over to the head coach when he was done with the practice to speak with him about Ali and why we came that day.  He was great.  His name is Ivan Ivanov and he placed 4th at the 1996 Olympics on vault and floor so he clearly knows what he is doing.  He was also great with Ali.  He took her out on the floor and brought her around the gym testing her strength and skills all while making her comfortable.  He corrected her with small movements which I thought was amazing since he wasn't coaching her at the time.  One of the things he was looking for though was how well she took instruction and if she could fix issues with her form.  He had another coach take her to the beam to assess her skill on that apparatus.  Ali came back over to me so happy and excited and Ivan placed her on the pre-team immediately.  It has turned out to be a great decision to move Ali to the new gym.  She has made friends with the other girls quickly and loves every minute she is there.  She now spends 2.5 hours on Monday and 2.5 hours on Wednesday and 3 hours on Saturday at the gym and she DOESN'T WANT TO LEAVE!!  She is really blossoming.  She has been more chatty and silly and seems to be coming out of her shell more.  Finally she isn't just doing what her sister wants but is doing exactly what she wants and it definitely gives her a happiness that just shines.

Swim Championships

Sofia spent the last two weeks of February preparing for her swimming championships.  The league gets split into two championships.  The "A" and the "B" championships.  If you had a swim time that met the A time cutoffs in any race during the season you went to the A championships.  If you did not get an A time then you went for the B championships.  Sofia tried to get an A time all season.  Her last meet of the year was her last chance to do it and she ended up having a fever and was unable to attend the meet so she went to the B championships.  While it would have been great for her to get her A time during the season, Jason and I were fine with her going to the B championships as it was very good for her confidence.  Her back stroke time was only a 1/2 second off of A time so we knew she would have a good chance of medaling at the B championships.  Her freestyle is also not that far off an A time so she was in good shape for the championships.  She focused in her training for the last two weeks and would come home feeling like her pace had picked up some.  We of course told her that as long as she did her best we would be proud of her.  She needed to count her strokes to the wall on back stroke and stick with it in the race.  She was nervous for the championships but for Sofia that is good.  It gives her a little more energy to fight for every tenth of a second.

Her first race was race #13, the 25 yard freestyle.  There were 69 kids in this race.  During the seasons the heats always went the fastest in the first heat to the slowest in the last heat.  For the championships this was reversed so Sofia was in the last heat as she was 6th seed in the race.  She did awesome and came in 4th place with a personal best time of 19:12 seconds.  This is where good coaching would make the difference for her because she floated into the finish and could have pulled another stroke and because she didn't she got beat out by .19 of a second for third place and .24 seconds for 2nd place.  She will learn these things as she continues to compete.  She was very excited with her 4th place finish and her friend came in first so they celebrated with each other.

The second event for Sofia was race #41, the 25 yard backstroke. (video below - Sofia is second lane from the top of the screen) This was her time to shine.  She was fourth seed for this race and I was a nervous wreck for her.  Would she get a good start off the wall? Would she stroke to the finish?  She ROCKED it out.  Her start was still not great and when she came above the water she was a full body length behind but she has an awesome backstroke with strong legs and she powered past everyone.  She came in 1st place a full second ahead of the 2nd place finisher and had a personal best time of 21:28 seconds.  She got her A time!!

Sofia's last event was the 100 yard relay.  I was a little nervous about this race too.  Sofia has been doing the relay all season but the other three girls she had been doing it with went to the A championships so she had three new people.  She was the starter for the race and she got off the block well.  She gave her team a nice head start and they lost it slightly in the middle of the race but the anchor managed to hold on for a first place finish.

It was a great first competitive season and great first Championship for Sofia. We are very proud of her and all the hard work she has put in this season.

1st Cavity

Unfortunately Ali had her first cavity.  Now up until this point we put the fear of the drill into the kids to make sure they brush their teeth properly.  You know how it goes..."Did you brush well?? You don't want a cavity do you? You know they take a drill and have to drill into your tooth if you get a cavity and it is not fun."  Once the first cavity was found I had to back pedal...."No, it won't be bad.  They will numb up your gum and then give you a needle with Novocaine   You will barely feel a thing....maybe a slight pinch from the needle but that's it."  Since this was Ali I could pull this off.  She doesn't mind needles and in fact likes to watch them go into her arm so the thought of a needle in her gum didn't bother her at all.  So while I am not thrilled Ali had a cavity I am glad she was the first one to get one and not Sofia.  Ali was a trooper.  She went back to the dentist chair without me.  I waited anxiously in the waiting room hoping that she was doing ok.  She finished and came out and the doctor said she did great.  Ali said it was a little scary but no big deal. Phew....first cavity done with!  Of course now I've lost my leverage on good brushing practice!

Blizzard

The blizzard of 2013.  The girls were very excited and a little nervous about the idea of a blizzard.  Fortunately we never lost our power so really it just meant a lot of snow and cancelled school.  Does it get better than that for kids?  We ended up with about two feet of snow.  It made for a couple rounds with the snow blower and shoveling but we all had a lot of fun.

I had to shovel paths in the back yard for the kids but also for Watson.  The poor dog needed a path to get to the woods so that he could pee/poo.  I, of course, had to make multiple paths so he would have plenty of options!  I shoveled out two sledding trails also but they really were not good for sledding b/c the slow was so grippy but the next day they were good and we had a few races.  The kids were not as interested in the sledding though.  They wanted to find fairy houses, build a snow fort under their swing set and jump off their swings into the snow.  They had a lot of fun making snow balls
jumping off the patio into the snow, and building up the snow around their playground to make their own fort.

Hair Cut Time

 Since the girls have curly long hair they don't need haircuts very often.  I try to bring them before school starts, sometime in the winter and then again in the spring.  With all their after school schedules their winter haircuts were put off until February.  A little longer than ideal but such is life.  They love going to the salon and they love they way Brianna cuts their hair.  The other benefit to getting their hair cut is that Brianna always straightens their hair for them.  She, of course, does a much better job then I do and does it much quicker than I do.  The girls love it.  Once they are done they can't get enough posing and twirling around to make their hair fly out around them.  I don't blame them.  Having curly hair blown straight is such a nice feeling.  It is so soft and smooth and just feels so different.  I'm glad they enjoy it and yet still love their naturally curly hair.  Sofia only got to keep her hair straight for a day this time though since she had swimming the next day.  Ali managed to keep her hair straight for over a week.  I had to touch it up with the flat iron but after a week and a half I told her she had to wash it.  It is hard to explain why since naturally curly hair is drier it can go a long time without washing before it looks greasy.  In the end overall cleanliness won out and she washed it but thanks to Brianna's awesome hair cutting skills Ali loves her curly hair as well.  No more triangle hair for this girl!

Phoenix

Jason and I took a trip without the kids to Phoenix.  It has been a long time since we have taken a trip without the kids.  It was wonderful!  We had perfect weather and I didn't have to worry about anybody else.  No worries about sunblock, who is hungry, when they will be hungry, how tired they are, what can they handle etc. etc..  Jason arranged everything including babysitting coverage by his mom and my mom.  I cleaned the house and stocked the cupboards before going but other than that I didn't have to do any of the planning.  It was a nice change since I am the one who usually handles all those issues.

We left on Friday morning and arrived in Phoenix Friday night.  We awoke leisurely although still on the early side given the time change, and went for a run together.  We never get to run together since one of us has to be home to watch the kids so it was a nice treat.  After that we grabbed a late breakfast and then I headed to the spa for a manicure and pedicure and Jason headed to the pool to relax.  Once I was fully presentable in sandals (haha) we spent the day on Saturday walking around Scottsdale. We went to Old Town Scottsdale which was cute but very "junk shop" filled.  It was a beautiful day at about 75 degrees and sunny so we just enjoyed walking around.  Since Sofia has her i-touch now I would take pictures of different things and send them to her so that the kids felt closer to us.  They could see what we were seeing and be excited about it rather than just wondering what we were doing.  We ended up at a Mexican restaurant for dinner that was recommended to me by the woman who did my mani/pedi.  She had raved about the guacamole so that was of course something we ordered.  The restaurant was great!  The guacamole was fantastic and it had pomegranate seeds in it which I would never have thought to add but it really made it even better!  We each order tacos but again I liked that this restaurant allowed me to order just one taco.  I hate that most restaurants I have to order this big dish and then leave most of it on the plate.  It makes me feel very wasteful of food and my money.  Jason ordered three Tacos all of different ingredients which was a nice way to sample the menu.

On Sunday we woke up and the sky was gray and it was in the mid 60's.  At first we were a little disappointed but then realized that since we were going mountain biking it was the perfect weather.  It wouldn't be too hot to bike in the desert and pictures always come out better on cloudy days.  We grabbed a quick coffee and then met up with our guides to drive to the reserve to bike.  Our guides were awesome and we ended up riding about 18 miles through beautiful terrain.  If we had terrain like that here I would definitely do more mountain biking.  We started on double track that led to hilly single track.  It was awesome.  The terrain was challenging enough to make it a great workout but not like biking here and trying to get over large rocks and tree stumps.  Along the way we saw a coyote and a large hare as well which was pretty cool.  I had to laugh as we got off our bikes to get a better look at the coyote because had the kids been with us I would have been holding them back and trying to put as much distance between them and the coyote as possible.  After a day of riding we were tired.  We went back tot he hotel to shower and change and headed out to a local restaurant for food and drinks to watch the Superbowl.  Since the patriots weren't playing though we had no desire to stay to the end of the game and we made it an early night.

  Monday came with bright sunny blue skies.  We decided we had had enough exercise for our vacation and headed to relax by the pool.  It was about 75 degrees without a cloud in the ski and only three or four other people at the pool.  We enjoyed peace and quite with pool side food/drink service for the entire day.  We left the poolside only to head to our couples massage at the end of the day.  After the massage we sat at the hotels outside cafe and enjoyed wine and sushi as the sun set.  We decided to head to a restaurant that we had read about.  It was suppose to have great scenery but what didn't occur to us was it was dark so the scenery was not visible.  Oh well!  The other thing the restaurant was known for was its sticky buns.  Seems odd to have sticky buns at dinner but they were yummy!  Jason didn't want any so I ate the entire basket of sticky buns myself.  They were delicious and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and Tuesday morning we headed to the airport.  It was hard to leave the clear sunny blue skies but we will definitely be going back to phoenix!