Birthday Weekend

Another trip around the sun, another year to add to your identity.  John always tells me that age doesn't matter.... it's just a number.  But it really is a part of who you are.  It is a measure of how many trips you have taken around the sun and how much you've taken advantage of the ride. 

It is weird to age.  There is a negative stigma attached to adding a chronological number to how you describe yourself.  There comes a time when you try to pretend you aren't as old as your birth certificate shows.  I've never lied about my age, but I've definitely tried to avoid it in some conversations.  I wonder if I really look my age, as if that is a bad thing.  John always talks about how he doesn't feel his age (he feels so much younger).  It is really is kind of hard to accept the aging process.

Having had children somewhat later in my life, I'm not a young mom.  Sometimes I feel bad about that, even though I know I shouldn't.  I have to remind myself that I took advantage of my time before motherhood and made the most of the rides I had around the sun before kids.  I'm a better mom now because I had time to explore, grow, experience life and find the right partner for me.  

I have bags under my eyes, crows feet and laugh lines.  These are all evidence of a life well lived and years under my belt.  I feel more fit today than I felt when I was 23 and I feel happier today than I felt when I was 33.  I try not to feel "weird" for being an older mom and embrace who I am right now.  Sure, I looked better years ago, but I feel better today.  I feel more settled, confident, and secure than ever. It helps to have  a husband who loves me "warts and all".  

This year, John had to be away for my birthday.  But that didn't stop the sun from shining and the kids from spoiling me with love and hugs. Scotty invited us out for an impromtu visit to High Meadow-- smores and all

My girlfriends took me out for dinner the night before my birthday and my school buddies and their families met me for a day of sunny skiing at Mad River. I felt so loved.  It was such a great weekend!

Cally rode the single by herself and Hazen went up in my lap:

There was no stopping these kids from going down the most bumped up and icy trails on the mountain. 

Nothing beats the apres scene at Mad River.  It was so fun to hang out with a gaggle of kids and friends, in the sunshine, drinking sips of sunshine!

 I even got breakfast in bed from these cats-- a cheese stick, strawberries, some trail mix, and a bagel.  Such sweeties. I love being their mom.  If I'd had kids earlier, it wouldn't have been these characters and that stops me from having any regrets at all.

Bunk Bed Buddies

The kids have been pretty persistent about wanting to bunk their beds.  They've been sleeping in the twin beds that we bought as bunk beds for the past two years and they were pretty happy with that.  After the fifth request to bunk the beds, we finally motivated to do it.

They love the new scene.  Cally is on the top because she's the oldest and we told Hazen that we read somewhere that the American Pediatric Association recommends waiting until you are six years old to sleep on the top bunk-- which is kind of arbitrary, but we are going with it in order to avert sibling fighting and bed switching for a few more years.

These two really are tight.  They bicker here and there, but hearing them talk to each other for 15-20 minutes, sometimes even longer, every night is music to a parents ears.  When we ask them what they talk about, Cal says they have "family meeting" without the parents-- that they talk about the week, what they are doing for the weekend, etc. 

March

March was a bit of a blur....... It started with John heading out to Idaho for a week to teach a Backcountry Skiing and Avalanche course.  The kids and I were on vacation for half of the time that he was gone, so we were able to take advantage of the Mardi Gras celebration in Burlington, get out for some skiing, and hang with the our dear friends the Aubins.

One day, the kids went to Tammy's and I got out for a solo backcountry tour and then did some much needed grading before school started up again.

As is always the case when John is away, Hazen did get the darn stomach flu on Monday night.  I swear, it always comes at the absolute WORST time.  In the end, it wasn't all that bad.  It didn't last very long and there weren't too many "episodes".  And if it's possible, he was more snuggly than ever.

I survived single parenting for the three days that we all had school or daycare and we had a really fun weekend. We went to a few sledding parties and got out to ski some more and did make it to Echo before John got home.

 

Before we knew it, this guy was home!  The single parenting is definitely getting easier, but we always look forward to the return of our breakfast chef, Hazen's morning chauffer, my morning coffee maker, family wrestler, and all around great dad.

The weather did manage to warm up for a few random days in march.  And the skiing continued to be amazing:

We got out for some great hikes (Hazen says he's training to climb Camel's Hump):

Owen returned to our house.  Hazen loved having him around and treated him like royalty:

         

chairlift buddy

       

 We even found Owen's long lost mother, Henrietta:

And this is how Hazey walked around the house for most of the week that Owen was with him:

And we continued to  got out for some more sunshine and fun with friends- even if the temps stayed cool.  

I love that these guys embrace the outdoors, whatever the weather may be!

7 Years!

John and I celebrated 7 years of marriage recently.  We were actually in Mont Tremblant for our anniversary and it sort of came and went without any sort of fanfare (not even cards-- from either of us), but we knew we'd figure out a way to celebrate soon.

Two days later, John and I went on an all day date.  We dropped the kids off at Tammy's and we headed towards the mountains.  John really wanted to go to Mad River, but I was hankering to go in the backcountry for a tour without time restrictions.  We did have a great impromptu Mad River ski day a few weeks earlier when there was a snow day and Cally and Hazen begged to go to Tammy's, so John and I just had to ski together then, as well.

My dear husband, was kind enough to let me get my way this time and we headed to Mayo, a mountain tucked behind Bolton and Mt Mansfield.  I'd never been there because it's on the other side of the mountains from us.  Every time we hit the backcountry, we go for a super quick tour on our closer to home. 

It's been so fun to have had more than a handful of chances to ski together again-- backcountry or lift service this year.   John is my favorite person in the world with whom I'd want to be skiing.  Skiing with my sweetheart of seven years is the best!  We set aside all our worries and we just have to be happy because we are together, doing what we love, outside, and appreciating what attracted us most to each other. 

We earned our turns for four hours and capped off the sunny (and relatively warm) afternoon with a "Sip of Sunshine"-- my new favorite beer-- at Prohibition Pig.

Believe me, we LOVE skiing with these little ones almost as much as we like our ski dates. They have become such amazing little skiers.  Their energy and enthusiasm for skiing makes us both so happy.  I can't wait until they can join us in the backcountry.  But I love that John and I still have so much fun in the mountains together every once in awhile.