Rewind to the week before

I admit it. I didn't post the week before we headed out for vacation. But really, I had good reason. Well, I made a promise to post weekly so I'm here to make amends. So here's the story as it played out that fateful week of February 9th.

Here's Brandon. Happy as a clam skiing the weekend of Feb. 7-8.

Now here's Brandon the following weekend. Notice the cast on his right hand? Yes, that was the reason behind my negligence. Mind you, Brandon did not fracture his wrist skiing. No, he doesn't have some marvelous, adventurous tale to tell. He tripped, he fell, end of story. Thumb still works great for Gameboy. But that hasn't stopped him from skiing. Next week he'll be back with his group skiing all-terrain rather than hanging out with me on the easy stuff. Cast comes off on March 4th!

Birthday Boys

When I met my friend Molly back in 1995 she was pregnant with her second son, Drew. It was just after Thanksgiving, Brandon was a few weeks old, and Brian and I were going to meet the babysitter who to this day remains one of the most special people in both of our lives. Molly's older son was already being well cared for by Carol. Drew was born shortly thereafter, on February 22, 1996, and soon became fast friends with Brandon. Little did we know, three short years later, right on Drew's 3rd birthday in 1999, our Cameron would be born. What are the odds? Brandon's best friend and only brother would forever more share the same exact birthday.

So, it was fitting that since we all share a house together in New Hampshire that the boys would share their birthday together with a big cake, given that it was school vacation week. Now to say cake selection went smoothly would be a slight exaggeration. OK, a huge exaggeration. My idyllic vision had the boys gazing into the display case, spotting that perfect cake, then all of us going home to sip hot cocoa after a great day on the slopes. Yeah, right! We had stress, anxiety, even tears the day we went to Hannafords to make the selection. Not the brightest idea mom had, I admit. But in the end, all was forgiven and the cake was inhaled by a houseful of boys.

Good friends=good times

I'm reminiscing because we are heading north today, once again, for what is setting up to be a fabulous weekend. However, it's bittersweet because I thought our housemates, the Welchs were going to join us but, instead of heading to North Conway for a relaxing weekend of skiing, they are heading to New York to spend time with Bob's dad, a very special person in their lives, who is seriously ill. All our prayers and best wishes are with "Pops."

So, since the Welchs can't join us I right now, I'll just post a few pics from last season to hopefully make them smile. You know we're thinking about you guys.

Take a look at that "do" on Bob. Remember St. Paddy's Day? And how about our visit from Phil and Brenna? We really have to do that again. It was so much fun.









See you soon in the mountains!

Mom still has it...but forgets sometimes

Well here we are again. Look, it's me tearing up the slopes and I actually look like I know what I'm doing. Not the picture I had in my head. Whew! Glad you can't see what I saw. Brian snapped this, unknowingly to me, while we were coming down Northwest Passage heading over to Bear Peak yesterday. It was only about 10 a.m. and we already had 5 or 6 runs under our respective belts, thanks to the Krypels.

After dropping the kids off with their coaches we ran into Scott and Amy having breakfast in the lodge. Amy is having back troubles so she offered to ski with me on some relaxed terrain for a while and let Brian and Scott hit the steeps. Sounded good to me. Right! Wrong! We get on the chair lift and she says, "Let's start off with Tightrope and work our way over to White Horse." My response, "I hate you." The last time I was on Tightrope it was a sheet of ice and nearly got taken out by one of the instructors who lost it on the ice and came rolling down the hill. Amy's take was that I needed to do it to prove to myself that I can. Well I did, I can, and don't want to again. There!

OK, enough of being a brat. We actually had a great time and the guys never did take off on us. Amy did stick with me on some easier terrain and gave lots of encouraging words like, "Maybe next time you should take one of my Xanax." Thanks Amy. After a few runs at Bear we hit the lodge for some much needed warmth and hot cocoa. As usual, we ran into Brandon having Apple Jacks, a chocolate chip cookie, and a large bottle of Gatorade; Brandon is a creature of habit for those of you who don't know him well.

Saturday afternoon at Ptarmigan's wasn't the same without the Welch's so hopefully we'll have them with us next weekend. (See Mol, got you in a post without you actually being there.) We went for a quick drink anyways while the boys skied over to a friend's house for a bit. Then, of course, had another drink with the DeVries and their guests when we went to pick them up.

Another awesome weekend. Can't wait for Friday!