Thanks to Death Cold 2012 (see previous post :) ), there were lots of snuggling and movies happening at our house. The kids would watch one out in the living room and then come into my room and snuggle in bed with me and we'd watch one on the computer. During one of these times, Jayden says to me....
Jayden : Hey Mom. I have figured out when I could lie and it would be ok.
Me : Oh, you have? (cough cough, sniff sniff, blow my nose in a kleenex, collapse back onto my pillow)
Jayden : Yes! If pirates were trying to find and take Willow, I would lie and not tell them the truth about where she was!
Me : Um......yes.....I suppose that would be a good time to lie.
And then tonight while I was making dinner, Jayden and Willow were being rough with each other in the chairs at the counter and I look over and see Willow coming at Jayden with her teeth bared, ready to chomp into his arm. I quickly tell her to close her mouth and get out of the chair and walk away or she was going to have a bigger consequence. She slinks out of the chair but not before getting one last swat in at Jayden. Jayden looks at me and says....
Jayden : Man, Mom. Sometimes Willow can be so mean........and she can smell fear!
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Death Cold 2012
We have been sick in this house with what I'm naming the Death Cold 2012. It started with Willow almost 2 weeks ago, she had a runnynose, cough, and a 103 fever for a couple days. She got over it though and had a bit of a cough and a clear runny nose. Then Jayden started getting it in his chest, no fever, and a slight runny nose. Meanwhile, Royal caught it. He wouldn't admit it, but his voice had dropped like 2 octaves and he was a tad crankier than normal. Then I started getting a sore throat. No big deal, but I seemed to go downhill fast after that. 2 days later and I was in bed and I wasn't getting out if I didn't have to. One night I was desperate enough to take some Codeine cough syrup I had - now this is a big deal because I hardly will take ibuprofen if I don't absolutely have to. Too bad I didn't sleep all night due to drug induced anxiety filled dreams that woke me up, made me feel all panicked, and then had coughing attacks that the medicine was suppose to be suppressing! So the next day I didn't get out of bed.
On Monday the only reason I got out of bed was because Royal had to go to work. And then I tried to make some breakfast, but since I hadn't gone to the store during the weekend there was only 1 egg for Jayden (sometimes he eats 4!) and I scrambled it up. Jayden ate it, but said he was still hungry. I wasn't feeling too hot, so I told him to go into the pantry and whatever he could find he could eat, but I was going back to bed. Poor Jayden walked around with a bag of pretzels for the rest of the morning. Now, I really don't like to take antibiotics or giving antibiotics to my kids unless we absolutely need them. I believe in our bodies ability to heal themselves, and I believe in giving our poor bodies a chance to do it, and gosh darn it, I want those antibiotics to work when we need them and not develop resistances to them because I've given them to my kids every time they've had a runny nose. However, on my behalf, the kids were feeling better, but were still congested and Willow was complaining a little about one of her ears hurting, and since it had been going on a week, I tried to get us into our doctor on Monday, but they didn't have any open appointments all day. I'm guessing more people were suffering from the Death Cold 2012. I did however, manage to get out of bed and we went to our chiropractor to see if she could help drain our colds out of our heads and check the kid's ears. Their ears looked good, one of Willow's a little pink, but pretty good.
We carried on as normal, I tried to force myself to get out of bed and do things because sometimes it takes moving around to get to feeling better. However, I just kept feeling worse and worse. My sinuses were completely plugged, my ears were ringing and hurting, my chest hurt from coughing so much, and one of my eyes started to catch a cold as well. So, on Thursday, I gave in and called the doctor, I figured walking around and crying for a half an hour in the morning because I felt so terrible just wasn't going to cut it anymore. I'm also pretty sure I saw Royal dance a jig at the end of the bed when I said I was calling. He'd been feeling better for days now and had to start bringing dinner home with him because he knew I wasn't cooking. And the poor kids were hungry and were eating things like french fries and peaches for dinner. One day, Jayden went to school with nothing but these horrible cheese puffs for lunch because I hadn't been to the store in over a week and had no fresh fruit or veggies and no bread to make a sandwich and he didn't like my peanut butter tortilla idea, and I didn't feel well enough to come up with anything else. So I called and they got me in right away.
I LOVE our family doctor, however sometimes her wait times are sooooo long. So, I always have to come prepared with things to do with the kids, things like snacks, games, coloring, music for a dance party. Eventually they get bored of those things and start tearing apart the room, but I just figure that's motivation for the doctor to hurry up and get in there. The nurse came in to take my vitals, took one look at me and and said (she's a big black woman named Thelma), "oooooo, girl, the doctor's gonna give you a shot!" I just laughed and said, "No, she's not!" Jayden panicked and said, 'Just for mom, right? I'm not getting a shot!" And Thelma took one look at my kids with their slightly runny noses and said, "I'm taking these kids with me and weighing them in, just in case the doctor decides to give them medicine too" And now you know why the wait times can get long. Our doctor spends lots of time talking with her patients and sometimes, like in my case, 1 patient turns into 3. So the doctor finally comes in, and my kids love her, so they hop right up on the exam table and have her check them out just for fun. Turns out Willow has an ear infection in one of her ears. It also turns out Jayden had some wheezing in his lungs that needed to be taken care of (he has cold induced asthma, so wheezing can become bad). It also turned out that Thelma was right and I had to get 2 shots, right in the rear. One an antibiotic and one a steroid to help get my ears to heal up before I bored my plane for Washington in less than a week. The kids were SO excited to see me have to get a shot. Willow had to come over and remove my band aid make sure there was a hole there from the needle and put my band aid back on. Jayden told me I was really brave and gave me a Diego sticker from the basket.
The kids and I are feeling much better. Sometimes it takes feeling much better to realize just how bad you really felt! I have a 2nd oral antibiotic that I have to take too and every time I take it, Royal looks at me and says, "Now, Rachel. What have you learned from this experience?" I pretend that I can't understand what he's talking about. :)
On Monday the only reason I got out of bed was because Royal had to go to work. And then I tried to make some breakfast, but since I hadn't gone to the store during the weekend there was only 1 egg for Jayden (sometimes he eats 4!) and I scrambled it up. Jayden ate it, but said he was still hungry. I wasn't feeling too hot, so I told him to go into the pantry and whatever he could find he could eat, but I was going back to bed. Poor Jayden walked around with a bag of pretzels for the rest of the morning. Now, I really don't like to take antibiotics or giving antibiotics to my kids unless we absolutely need them. I believe in our bodies ability to heal themselves, and I believe in giving our poor bodies a chance to do it, and gosh darn it, I want those antibiotics to work when we need them and not develop resistances to them because I've given them to my kids every time they've had a runny nose. However, on my behalf, the kids were feeling better, but were still congested and Willow was complaining a little about one of her ears hurting, and since it had been going on a week, I tried to get us into our doctor on Monday, but they didn't have any open appointments all day. I'm guessing more people were suffering from the Death Cold 2012. I did however, manage to get out of bed and we went to our chiropractor to see if she could help drain our colds out of our heads and check the kid's ears. Their ears looked good, one of Willow's a little pink, but pretty good.
We carried on as normal, I tried to force myself to get out of bed and do things because sometimes it takes moving around to get to feeling better. However, I just kept feeling worse and worse. My sinuses were completely plugged, my ears were ringing and hurting, my chest hurt from coughing so much, and one of my eyes started to catch a cold as well. So, on Thursday, I gave in and called the doctor, I figured walking around and crying for a half an hour in the morning because I felt so terrible just wasn't going to cut it anymore. I'm also pretty sure I saw Royal dance a jig at the end of the bed when I said I was calling. He'd been feeling better for days now and had to start bringing dinner home with him because he knew I wasn't cooking. And the poor kids were hungry and were eating things like french fries and peaches for dinner. One day, Jayden went to school with nothing but these horrible cheese puffs for lunch because I hadn't been to the store in over a week and had no fresh fruit or veggies and no bread to make a sandwich and he didn't like my peanut butter tortilla idea, and I didn't feel well enough to come up with anything else. So I called and they got me in right away.
I LOVE our family doctor, however sometimes her wait times are sooooo long. So, I always have to come prepared with things to do with the kids, things like snacks, games, coloring, music for a dance party. Eventually they get bored of those things and start tearing apart the room, but I just figure that's motivation for the doctor to hurry up and get in there. The nurse came in to take my vitals, took one look at me and and said (she's a big black woman named Thelma), "oooooo, girl, the doctor's gonna give you a shot!" I just laughed and said, "No, she's not!" Jayden panicked and said, 'Just for mom, right? I'm not getting a shot!" And Thelma took one look at my kids with their slightly runny noses and said, "I'm taking these kids with me and weighing them in, just in case the doctor decides to give them medicine too" And now you know why the wait times can get long. Our doctor spends lots of time talking with her patients and sometimes, like in my case, 1 patient turns into 3. So the doctor finally comes in, and my kids love her, so they hop right up on the exam table and have her check them out just for fun. Turns out Willow has an ear infection in one of her ears. It also turns out Jayden had some wheezing in his lungs that needed to be taken care of (he has cold induced asthma, so wheezing can become bad). It also turned out that Thelma was right and I had to get 2 shots, right in the rear. One an antibiotic and one a steroid to help get my ears to heal up before I bored my plane for Washington in less than a week. The kids were SO excited to see me have to get a shot. Willow had to come over and remove my band aid make sure there was a hole there from the needle and put my band aid back on. Jayden told me I was really brave and gave me a Diego sticker from the basket.
The kids and I are feeling much better. Sometimes it takes feeling much better to realize just how bad you really felt! I have a 2nd oral antibiotic that I have to take too and every time I take it, Royal looks at me and says, "Now, Rachel. What have you learned from this experience?" I pretend that I can't understand what he's talking about. :)
Saturday, February 25, 2012
A Bigger Garden
We have lucked out I tell ya! We have some friend's whose parents live just a few miles north of us who decided this year they weren't going to really do anything with their garden, and if we wanted, we could use it! So, the 4 families in our small group have decided we are going to take it over and see what we can grow.
We met out there is morning to clean up and till the garden. Jayden was really excited to get to do some garden work and was even more excited when we showed up and they had a little fire going, burning up the remnants of last year's garden.
The kids were real interested in the tiller. So much cooler than turning your garden over by hand, like we do with our garden boxes. :)
Then it was onto digging out the walkway trenches in between the raised beds. Jayden and Willow both liked this the best. :)
Now to get the garden boxes in the backyard turned over and those spring veggies put in the ground!
We met out there is morning to clean up and till the garden. Jayden was really excited to get to do some garden work and was even more excited when we showed up and they had a little fire going, burning up the remnants of last year's garden.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Musical Beds
Jayden and Willow both started out the night in mine and Royal's bed for a "special night". Special nights in our house pretty much mean they can sleep in our bed until Royal and I go to bed and then they get moved to their own bed. I'm all for co-sleeping and attachment parenting, but the truth is I need my own space at night and Royal is big enough to have to share a bed with, much less kids who flip and turn and sleep sideways!
Jayden has been thinking it's funny to play Hide-And-Seek Night Edition lately with Royal. Only he tells me where he's going to "sleep-hide" but I'm not to tell Royal, and really Royal doesn't even know that he's playing. Guess that's part of the game? I'm pretty sure that's what led to the sleeping between the bed and the wall earlier this week. Anywhoooo, we'd put the kids to bed and told them they'd need to stay quiet or they'd get separated, however I slept with my sister pretty much my entire life and I know that staying quiet really isn't all that realistic or possible. :)
Royal and I were downstairs watching a movie and we'd hear the pitter patter of feet upstairs signaling they were out of bed, so Royal went to check on them. He stood in the dark at the top of the stairs and watched Jayden and Willow sneak out of our room, sneak across the living room, walk right past Royal, and into Jayden's room. Then, there was a conversation about Jayden going and getting Willow a drink of water because she was thirsty. So, Jayden snuck out, walked right past Royal, and got Willow some water and brought it back to his room. Then, there was a conversation about Willow needing her pillow. So, Jayden snuck out and into Willow's room, grabbed her pillow and brought it back to his room. Then, there was a conversation about Willow wanting them to sleep in her bed and Jayden wanting them to sleep in his bed, and they compromised and said that they'd sleep in Jayden's bed tonight and Willow's bed tomorrow. All went mostly quiet and Royal came back downstairs. We heard some more pitter-patter of feet, but they stopped quickly and then everything was quiet and Royal and I were too lazy to go upstairs one more time and make sure they were in bed.
So, on our nightly rounds of making sure animals and children were tucked in, I walked into Willow's room and found the monkeys like this!
Guess Willow finally won out on where they were going to sleep and poor Jayden can't even stretch his legs out all the way. :) It's probably time to upgrade Willow to a real bed and get rid of this crib/toddler bed once and for all! At least Jayden would fit then! :)
Jayden has been thinking it's funny to play Hide-And-Seek Night Edition lately with Royal. Only he tells me where he's going to "sleep-hide" but I'm not to tell Royal, and really Royal doesn't even know that he's playing. Guess that's part of the game? I'm pretty sure that's what led to the sleeping between the bed and the wall earlier this week. Anywhoooo, we'd put the kids to bed and told them they'd need to stay quiet or they'd get separated, however I slept with my sister pretty much my entire life and I know that staying quiet really isn't all that realistic or possible. :)
Royal and I were downstairs watching a movie and we'd hear the pitter patter of feet upstairs signaling they were out of bed, so Royal went to check on them. He stood in the dark at the top of the stairs and watched Jayden and Willow sneak out of our room, sneak across the living room, walk right past Royal, and into Jayden's room. Then, there was a conversation about Jayden going and getting Willow a drink of water because she was thirsty. So, Jayden snuck out, walked right past Royal, and got Willow some water and brought it back to his room. Then, there was a conversation about Willow needing her pillow. So, Jayden snuck out and into Willow's room, grabbed her pillow and brought it back to his room. Then, there was a conversation about Willow wanting them to sleep in her bed and Jayden wanting them to sleep in his bed, and they compromised and said that they'd sleep in Jayden's bed tonight and Willow's bed tomorrow. All went mostly quiet and Royal came back downstairs. We heard some more pitter-patter of feet, but they stopped quickly and then everything was quiet and Royal and I were too lazy to go upstairs one more time and make sure they were in bed.
So, on our nightly rounds of making sure animals and children were tucked in, I walked into Willow's room and found the monkeys like this!
Friday, February 17, 2012
Comfy?
Check out how Royal and I found Jayden when we checked on the kids one last time before we went to bed.
And it was totally intentional. He had pillows all shoved down there for him to sleep on. :) Nice. And. Comfy. :)
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Copper Mountain
I have been out here in flat-land Kansas for way too long! I had forgotten just how much I love mountains and everything that goes along with them. Royal, the kids, and I went with our small group on a ski vacation this past weekend to Copper Mountain in Colorado. As we drove through Denver, I couldn't help but stare out the windows at the beautiful mountains that were lining the city, and then as we drove past Denver and up into the mountains, I felt like I could suddenly breath again! And now that we are back in Kansas.....ugh.....I've got to get out of here!!!!
So, we started our trip last Friday at 3am. Royal and I finished packing the car, woke the kids up at 3:30am, drove to meet up with the rest of our small group, finished loading everybody's gear and equipment and bodies into 2 cars, and were on the road by 4:15am. Both of the kids were so excited to go to the mountains! I ended up buying a dvd player for the car to help keep the kids entertained on this 9+ hr road trip, but didn't realize that it was going to prohibit them from sleeping. They were so excited to get to watch movies in the car that Willow only napped for about an hour when I finally made them take a break, and Jayden never did fall asleep.
Our trip had a few equipment malfunctions, the first one happened about 90 minutes into the drive. Royal was driving behind our friends, it was still pitch black outside, the car was warm, and I had just fallen asleep when I am startled awake to Royal yelling, 'OH SHIT!!!!!' I open my eyes to brake lights and Royal slamming on the brakes swerving off onto the shoulder. (and there goes my only nap, I'm not tired anymore!) The back hinge on the Thule box on top of our friend's car in front of us managed to break, and the top of the box swung open and skis and poles were scattered all over the freeway. We were so lucky that 1) Royal was following far enough behind that we didn't get hit with any of it and 2) We were traveling so early in the morning we were pretty much the only cars on the road. Royal and David (who was riding in our car) happened to have 2 mini flashlights in their pockets, so after Royal backed down the road about a quarter mile, they got out and started combing the road for poles and skis. Unfortunately, before they were able to get out and collect everything, a semi truck came rolling through and ran over a set of skis and 2 poles. Here's what the poles looked like :
We were right at the bottom of an exit, so they bungeed the Thule shut and we pulled off into a gas station to assess the damage and do an inventory check. Royal and Dave had managed to find all the things that flew out of the box, and then we used a few more bungees and tie-downs to keep the box shut because we needed it to carry equipment!
Our group had rented 2 Thule boxes (the other was on our car) and everybody else's equipment, and had bought all of our lift tickets from The Slope here in Wichita. When we got back we weren't sure what was going to happen, but they totally won over our business for future trips and equipment. They refunded all of our money for the broken box, and then also refunded all of our money for the rented pieces of equipment that were damaged and we weren't able to use. They are pretty awesome to work with!
Once we had the box secured down, we got back on the road and managed to arrive in Frisco, CO by about 2:30 (we gained an hour going into mountain time). Jayden and Willow were so excited that there was snow on the ground, they couldn't wait until I found all their snow gear before jumping in it!
Both of the kids were so tired and I think that both of them suffered from a combination of exhaustion and altitude sickness. We had gone from 1500 feet to almost 10,000 feet that day, and I pumped them full of as much water as they would let me, but Willow was dry-heaving into a garbage can that night when I was getting her to bed, and Jayden had a VERY upset stomach the following day after skiing.
Now, if you know Willow, the picture below NEVER happens!
But the kiddos woke up the next morning feeling great, so we loaded up our stuff and headed to the mountain! Copper Mountain was only a 10 minute drive from the town home we were staying in, which was perfect for shuttling kids and adults between the slopes and the house! Willow was a bit ornery about putting on so many clothes and then decided to be a turkey when I wanted to take her picture. She claimed she was still sooooo tired and was sleeping.
We had rented skis for Jayden when we were in Wichita and Willow was pretty upset she couldn't get any because they didn't have any in her size, but I really didn't know what she was going to be capable/willing to do anyway. She had been going on and on for a few days about how she was going to go skiing, so once we got to Frisco, we found a place that had ski boots and skis in her size and figured we'd only be out $20 if she decided she wasn't going to ski.
And on a side note : Oh. My. Gosh. The next vacation with Willow needs to be somewhere you don't have to put on clothes, because trying to put snow pants on over her Chilli's was a workout in itself ("I ALREADY have pants on Mom! I don't need anymore pants!!!!) and then keeping clothes on this girl while up on the mountain was a chore!
Jayden did awesome up on the mountain! He loved skiing and while he may have been a bit out of control most of the time, he kept riding the magic carpet up the hill over and over again, so much so, that the person running the magic carpet learned his name and talked to him each time he came around again. His 2nd time down the magic carpet hill he pointed his skis straight down the hill towards Royal and thankfully Royal managed to catch him going about 50mph before he crashed into a fence or another person! But then Jayden shouted, 'I KNEW I knew how to ski!!!!' And then he proceeded to ask Royal when he was going to buy him his own skis. :) He never did master the art of snow plowing, and most of the time he headed straight down the hill expecting Royal to catch him, but he did eventually figured out how to turn a bit to slow himself down.
Going up the magic carpet
Coming straight down!
Willow watching from the sidelines. She never did put on her skis. The thought of having to put on a different pair of boots (a.k.a more clothes!) was more than she could handle and she just had fun playing around in the snow.
Willow watching Jayden ride the magic carpet up again!
Jayden working on his turns.
And Willow stomping off after saying to Royal, "I'm mad! I'm going to be mad over here!" (we had no idea what she was mad about and do notice her coat and gloves are both gone! The only reason her snow bibs are still on is because she couldn't figure out how to get out of them!)
Jayden skied for a good 3 hours without taking a break, but he was starting to look a little queasy to me (he's pretty sensitive when it comes to lack of sleep and/or lack of food) so I made him come sit down and have a little snack break and Willow played with the camera and snapped this picture. :) Not so bad, in focus and everything!
Willow and I hung out at the bottom of the hill eating some french fries and playing in the snow.
We met everybody down at the cars for lunch and Royal and I decided that our kids were pretty much done with skiing/playing in the snow for the day, they were looking so, so tired. Our friend, Danielle, also decided her 3 kids were done with skiing and so was she, so she offered to take Jayden and Willow back to the house for us, that way Royal and I could ski the last couple hours of the day. You have no idea how much it was killing Royal to have a lift ticket on his jacket and then having to stand at the bottom of the mountain all morning. He totally didn't complain or anything, I mean, we were teaching Jayden how to ski and all, but you could see he was itching so bad to grab his board and get on a lift!
I am so grateful that skiing seems to be like riding a bike. It doesn't matter when the last time you skied was (for me that would be 5 years ago!), your body seems to remember what the heck it is suppose to do! It was so great!
The next day (Sunday) we took a break from skiing and had a "rest" day, which included some shopping and walking around town, but most importantly it included a trip back up the mountain to Copper's tubing center. Definitely the most expensive thing to do on the mountain, but it was totally worth it! So. Much. Fun!
Riding the tube hill magic carpet! So much better than having to walk your tubes up the hill!
We rode quite a few runs all together in a blob!
But by the end, Jayden wanted to go down by himself and Royal wanted to see how fast he could throw himself down the hill. :)
They also had a little kid area called Critter Land, which was basically a snow playground for little kids, complete with a tube merry-go-round!
Sadly, after this 2nd day of playing in the snow, my camera battery died. I blame it completely on the kids finding it and using it all the time and never turning it off! Sheesh! Obviously they don't understand the importance of me documenting every moment of our lives in pictures!!!!
On Monday, not everybody wanted to go back up to the mountain and ski a 2nd day, so Royal and I were able to leave the kids at the house with our friends and we were in line at the lift before they were even letting people on. (cue angels singing in the background for Royal) And then, to make things even better, Copper had gotten 5" of new snow up top, and then to make things even better after that (if it was even possible!) Royal and I and our friend Brandon managed to make it to the top of the mountain and ski 2 runs of untouched snow. 2 whole runs before anybody else had even come up there! It. Was. Awesome!!!! I had powder hitting me in the knees. Soooooo sweet! We spent a little over an hour up there in our powdery Heaven before we decided to ski down to our other friends on a different part of the mountain and make them come up to "our spot" with us. Unfortunately, we had some more equipment malfunctions. Our friends, David and Lauren were borrowing some of our equipment. David was using my brother's snowboard and Lauren was using mine. When we got to the top of one lift, one of David's bindings popped off the board. Luckily the guy running the lift had a screw driver and Royal managed to get the binding back on. Then, I'm not sure what the chances are, but literally 50 feet down the hill towards the next lift, Lauren's binding pops off. I climb back up the hill and put her binding in one pocket, the screws in another pocket, and the spacer in the another pocket. Then I give Lauren my poles, and I ski while holding the snowboard all the way down to the bottom. Poor Lauren and Dave had to walk the rest of the way, but while they were doing that, Royal and I went into the lodge and found a fix-it station and reattached the binding and proceeded to tighten everybody's binding screws after that! By this time, it was about time for lunch, and I headed towards the car and I left Royal up on the mountain with a bet that he couldn't complete 12 runs by the time I get back (he only managed 10...slacker!). I quickly headed off the mountain and back to the house to drop off some half day skiers and pick up the kids and the rest of our friends for the afternoon. I bought the kids 2 more hours in the tubing center under the supervision of one of our friends, and then Royal and I and our friend Jim, crammed in as many runs as we could before the lifts closed. It was a GREAT day of skiing! And truthfully I can't believe that I'm not sore and in any pain. My knees, which I was pretty worried about because of their crunchiness, didn't give me any trouble. And my feet, which have ALWAYS been a source of great pain - sometimes sending me to the lodge in tears because I couldn't handle it anymore, didn't give me any trouble. Guess all that working out and yoga has paid off!
On Tuesday, we made the drive back to Kansas without any issues, just long, and boring, and depressing as the scenery became less mountains and hills and trees and more flat and farm land and cows. But overall it was a great trip and I'm so thankful that Royal was willing to drive the whole way because I can get a whole lot of knitting done in 9 hours.
We can't wait to go back!!!
So, we started our trip last Friday at 3am. Royal and I finished packing the car, woke the kids up at 3:30am, drove to meet up with the rest of our small group, finished loading everybody's gear and equipment and bodies into 2 cars, and were on the road by 4:15am. Both of the kids were so excited to go to the mountains! I ended up buying a dvd player for the car to help keep the kids entertained on this 9+ hr road trip, but didn't realize that it was going to prohibit them from sleeping. They were so excited to get to watch movies in the car that Willow only napped for about an hour when I finally made them take a break, and Jayden never did fall asleep.
Once we had the box secured down, we got back on the road and managed to arrive in Frisco, CO by about 2:30 (we gained an hour going into mountain time). Jayden and Willow were so excited that there was snow on the ground, they couldn't wait until I found all their snow gear before jumping in it!
Now, if you know Willow, the picture below NEVER happens!
We had rented skis for Jayden when we were in Wichita and Willow was pretty upset she couldn't get any because they didn't have any in her size, but I really didn't know what she was going to be capable/willing to do anyway. She had been going on and on for a few days about how she was going to go skiing, so once we got to Frisco, we found a place that had ski boots and skis in her size and figured we'd only be out $20 if she decided she wasn't going to ski.And on a side note : Oh. My. Gosh. The next vacation with Willow needs to be somewhere you don't have to put on clothes, because trying to put snow pants on over her Chilli's was a workout in itself ("I ALREADY have pants on Mom! I don't need anymore pants!!!!) and then keeping clothes on this girl while up on the mountain was a chore!
Jayden did awesome up on the mountain! He loved skiing and while he may have been a bit out of control most of the time, he kept riding the magic carpet up the hill over and over again, so much so, that the person running the magic carpet learned his name and talked to him each time he came around again. His 2nd time down the magic carpet hill he pointed his skis straight down the hill towards Royal and thankfully Royal managed to catch him going about 50mph before he crashed into a fence or another person! But then Jayden shouted, 'I KNEW I knew how to ski!!!!' And then he proceeded to ask Royal when he was going to buy him his own skis. :) He never did master the art of snow plowing, and most of the time he headed straight down the hill expecting Royal to catch him, but he did eventually figured out how to turn a bit to slow himself down.
Going up the magic carpet
After Jayden had had a little food and some water, Royal took him up on a
chair lift - something he'd been asking to do all morning - the sad
thing is Royal took him without me or without me even knowing they went
until they got back. So I have no pictures of the whole thing! Royal
obviously doesn't understand the importance of me documenting every
little thing our kids do with pictures!!!! But I guess Jayden loved
riding on the chair because he could see everything! And I've been told
he did great coming down the hill, working on his turns, never really
crashing, and not stopping until he got to the bottom!
Our little skier!!!
I am so grateful that skiing seems to be like riding a bike. It doesn't matter when the last time you skied was (for me that would be 5 years ago!), your body seems to remember what the heck it is suppose to do! It was so great!
Riding the tube hill magic carpet! So much better than having to walk your tubes up the hill!
On Monday, not everybody wanted to go back up to the mountain and ski a 2nd day, so Royal and I were able to leave the kids at the house with our friends and we were in line at the lift before they were even letting people on. (cue angels singing in the background for Royal) And then, to make things even better, Copper had gotten 5" of new snow up top, and then to make things even better after that (if it was even possible!) Royal and I and our friend Brandon managed to make it to the top of the mountain and ski 2 runs of untouched snow. 2 whole runs before anybody else had even come up there! It. Was. Awesome!!!! I had powder hitting me in the knees. Soooooo sweet! We spent a little over an hour up there in our powdery Heaven before we decided to ski down to our other friends on a different part of the mountain and make them come up to "our spot" with us. Unfortunately, we had some more equipment malfunctions. Our friends, David and Lauren were borrowing some of our equipment. David was using my brother's snowboard and Lauren was using mine. When we got to the top of one lift, one of David's bindings popped off the board. Luckily the guy running the lift had a screw driver and Royal managed to get the binding back on. Then, I'm not sure what the chances are, but literally 50 feet down the hill towards the next lift, Lauren's binding pops off. I climb back up the hill and put her binding in one pocket, the screws in another pocket, and the spacer in the another pocket. Then I give Lauren my poles, and I ski while holding the snowboard all the way down to the bottom. Poor Lauren and Dave had to walk the rest of the way, but while they were doing that, Royal and I went into the lodge and found a fix-it station and reattached the binding and proceeded to tighten everybody's binding screws after that! By this time, it was about time for lunch, and I headed towards the car and I left Royal up on the mountain with a bet that he couldn't complete 12 runs by the time I get back (he only managed 10...slacker!). I quickly headed off the mountain and back to the house to drop off some half day skiers and pick up the kids and the rest of our friends for the afternoon. I bought the kids 2 more hours in the tubing center under the supervision of one of our friends, and then Royal and I and our friend Jim, crammed in as many runs as we could before the lifts closed. It was a GREAT day of skiing! And truthfully I can't believe that I'm not sore and in any pain. My knees, which I was pretty worried about because of their crunchiness, didn't give me any trouble. And my feet, which have ALWAYS been a source of great pain - sometimes sending me to the lodge in tears because I couldn't handle it anymore, didn't give me any trouble. Guess all that working out and yoga has paid off!
On Tuesday, we made the drive back to Kansas without any issues, just long, and boring, and depressing as the scenery became less mountains and hills and trees and more flat and farm land and cows. But overall it was a great trip and I'm so thankful that Royal was willing to drive the whole way because I can get a whole lot of knitting done in 9 hours.
We can't wait to go back!!!
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Valentine Crafting
I totally forgot to post this! I got my first valentine last week! I was teaching Jayden how to draw a heart by making a 'V' and putting an 'm' on the top, and all by himself he wrote me this valentine.......so sweet!
Today, we did a bit more serious crafting. Jayden's suppose to have his valentines box at school by this Wednesday, so kids can start dropping off their valentines, and I just wasn't sure we'd have time in the evening to get it done. So, I sat the kids down with a little foam heart valentine craft, while I created his box for school.
I got his valentine box idea from pinterest and then just tweaked it to work with things I had at home. I used an old shoe box, pipe cleaners, brown paper, and construction paper, and then I let Jayden decorate it. I think it turned out great! And it was all done with stuff I had at home and some valentine stickers I found on sale at Hobby Lobby!
Willow worked on her own valentine for Brennie and Wyatt, but then said that she was going to hide it because she never wanted them to see it....and I haven't seen it since...
Jayden and I then started on making his valentines for his class mates! I found this idea from the Disney Family Fun magazine. I cut out the little pieces of paper and wrote a saying on them, then Jayden wrote to and from on the back of them while I made hershey kisses into rings.
I love this years valentines and all it cost me were a bag of hershey kisses and some stickers! And I think they are way cuter than the star wars valentines I'm pretty sure Jayden would of picked out. :)
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