Nordic and Downhill?

This year, we hemmed and hawed about what sort of ski program(s) to sign the kids up for.  Nordic skiing was a no brainer, the Mansfield Nordic Club uses a facility just miles from our house.  John and I were never nordic skiers, but we saw this as a great way to be outside in the winter and get the kids doing a sport that challenged them.  Hazey was still a year too young to do the program both days of the week, but Cally was looking forward to having something she did, without her little brother tagging along.  This, of course, meant that we had to get nordic gear-- both skate and classic skis and poles.  I scrambled to find these at a ski sale, but was clueless about sizing.  But, we figured it out and the kids have been loving it.  They even insisted on doing a race.  They had both learned the skate technique a week prior to the skate race, but they were excited to do it. 

Hazen did great on the 1 km race.  He didn't get last place and he had a ball.

  Cally was in a field of third and fourth grade girls.  She had to do a 2 km race.  It was hard, but she finished strong and  wasn't at all bummed about coming in last place.

Last year, Cal took lessons with one of John's students.  At the end of the season, she said she wanted to learn to ski like the kids in the Smugglers Notch Ski Club.  We had heard mixed reviews about the club, but it did seem like a great way for the kids to learn to ski (without being told to lean forward and "poke the polar bear" by their parents).  It felt like a big commitment, but the kids assured us they would love it.

The first few weeks were slow and cold.  The coaches were giving a lot of instruction and the kids were standing around a lot and it was really cold.  But, the stuck it out and liked it.  Neither kid signed up with a friend, but they quickly made some friends.  Their lessons began at 9 and went to 3.  It wasn't easy to rally on Saturday mornings, but John and I did everything we could to make it really easy for them (including breakfast sandwiches on the road).

When the kids asked to do the nordic race on Saturday am, I reminded them that they'd still have to go to Ski club in the afternoon.  After the race, Cally complained a ton.  She didn't want to go to club.  I reminded her of her commitment and she begged not to go.  John and I carried on and had the kids go at noon.  We sent them on their way and I spent the rest of the afternoon worrying about pushing my kids too much and being a bad parent.

When we went to pick them up at 3pm, they told us they didn't want to leave because they were having too much fun with their friends.

That night, Hazen insisted we watch the movie "Born in China".  Both kids were exhausted.  Cally claimed she hated movies like that and wouldn't watch it.  But, it was Hazen's night to pick a movie.  We watched the movie as a family and loved it.  The next day, Cally ran into my friend and said, "You know, there were two things I totally didn't want to do this weekend, but my mom made me do them both and I loved them".  She was referring to going to ski lesson and watching the movie Hazen had chosen.  

It's hard to be a parent.  It's tricky to know when to push and when to lay off the pressure.  This weekend, it all worked out.  We had tired kids who were challenged in a good way.  

Connecticut

Nana's birthday is reason to celebrate!  We planned to celebrate her 75th trip around the sun the weekend after new years.  The plan was to leave work early and get to Hartford by early evening for a fun evening planned by Lynnie.  

We awoke to a snow day....... a bluster cold snow day, at that.  John was insistent that we head to the mountain for at least a morning of skiing "because we are Abbott's and that is what we do".  Cally wasn't interested, so we arranged for her to play at a neighbors house.  Meanwhile, it was so cold that John and Hazen's skis were frozen in John's Thule box on the top of his car.  He was outside with a blow drier, trying to open the box.  Eventually, he had to surrender, because the key was bent and no longer functional.

Fortunately, Hazey and John both have extra skis.  So we made it to the mountain, only to find super cold, wind packed conditions.  We were "one and done"!  Nothing ventures, nothing gained......

The drive to Farmington was easy, even though there had been a lot of snow where we live.  Ten minutes before arriving to Nana and Grandpa's, Hazen announced that his belly hurt.  Twenty minutes after arrival, he had vomited.  This meant Hazen and I had to stay home and watch Olympic qualifiers while the rest of the family celebrated Peg :o(

But, by morning he was back in action, ready to celebrate Christmas with his grandparents.

 Nana made two gorgeous new sweaters for the kids:

And since we were in CT, we decided to visit with our my dear friends, Grey and Deb who had moved back to the area from Bozeman.

Cal and Lucy are kindred spirits!  We had a ball sledding and visiting with them in Lakeville.

New Years Eve in Windham

I try not to have very high expectations for New Years.  I figure we have a memorable and amazing New Years every five years or so.  Most of the time its just a whole lot of hype.  This year, our friends, the Wilcox's invited us to Windham, VT-- about two hours south of Jericho.  They had invited us down to their family house in the fall and we weren't able to come, so we jumped at the opportunity to join them. 

It was cold and we didn't come very prepared, but that didn't stop us from having fun!  They have a rope tow for sledding, a pond for skating (and about 20 pair of skates in almost every size), and lots of trails for skiing (and Whiskey boxes along the way).

The kids all slept in a fabulous bunk room and the adults went out for a full moon ski before midnight (temps were well below zero).  It was the perfect New Years.  We stayed up until after midnight, got in our New Years kisses. Everyone had a ball!

As we drove down to Windham, we jotted down our top ten list for 2017.  Here's what made the list:

1.  Peru
2.  Hiking in the Pemigewasset Wilderness
3.  Chabegue Island
4.  Pisgah/North Carolina
5.  Mont Tremblant
6.  Fresh grass with the Davidsons
7.  Meeting up with John at Arnold Lake
8.  Skiing as a family- SNSC
9.  Great teachers at JES
10.  Bates Burning Man camping in NH/Maine

Christmas

Christmas vacation began on Cally's birthday.  She was so excited to bring in the treat that she saw in a kids cook book during the summer.  With the help of Hazey, we pulled the snowmen off.  We had some trouble with the white chocolate melting properly, but they tasted good.

There was a lovely snow storm, but Bumpa and Grandma managed to make it up for a birthday party with Scott, Cynthia, Tom and Cynthia.  We ate chicken enchiladas and an amazing raspberry cake.  

The Niquettes arrived on Saturday afternoon (after a long drive in the snow).  We had plenty of snow to play upon and the temperatures were pretty reasonable. 

After a big breakfast on X-mas day, some of us headed up to Smuggs for some skiing.

The kids loved playing with their new toys:

Snap Circuits with Bumpa

Games with Rob and Will

One of Hazen's best friends, who happens to be a graduated UVM student, Steve, joined us for Christmas turkey.  He was an orphan, so we welcomed him. 

Right after Christmas, it started to get pretty cold, but it didn't stop us from going to Casey's Hill and trying out the new sleds. 

Bumpa and Grandma stayed at the Inn at Essex and the kids loved staying warm in the pool:

And we put the grandparents to work-- everyone was folding laundry:

The day after my parents left, we headed to Stowe to meet up with my cousin Lindsay at Jamey's house in Stowe.  The kids bundled up and went sledding before we headed to the Swimming Hole. 

 

Bumpa came to our house with a rotten cold/cough.  By the time everyone left, I was hoarse and coming down with some sort of crud.  Fortunately, the temps were so cold, I didn't feel like I was missing out on the skiing.  On the day before New Years, temps got into the double digits, so the kids did go to their ski lesson, but we otherwise found fun indoor activities like seeing Coco (the movie) and skating. 

Birthday Girl

I can't believe our little peanut is half way to officially being an adult.  She's 9!  I saw a link to this article called "To My Daughter at Halftime".  It talks about how my job as a parent is half way over, but perhaps the hardest part is yet to come.  Everyone told me it would go fast......... 

I never could have imagined that I'd have a daughter like Macalister Jane. It hasn't been all easy.  She is a self proclaimed "sleep freak" and she hates all things related to table manners.  She's not neat and she is a bit absent minded.  BUT, she is one of the funniest, kindest, smartest, independent thinking, beautiful kids I know.  I am bias, but we love this girl to pieces.

Cally started planning her 9th birthday party sometime during the summer.  Maybe it was even while we were hiking up to Punta Union Pass in Peru?  In any case, she had a plan and it involved a hibachi dinner and a late over.

Cal wrote the invites in mid-November with her plan.  The girls would get off the bus, come over to play, go to dinner, and then come back to our house for cake and a movie.  We opted out of the sleep over because it usually doesn't involve much sleep.  However, once we did the math, John and I realized we'd have to entertain seven girls for 7 hours.  We also realized that Cal's first day of ski club was to begin the next morning at 9am.

But, a plan is a plan, so we went with it.  Five girls got off the bus at our house.  They snacked on fruit kebab's, went sledding, had cocoa and before we knew it, it was time to head to Koto.  On the way, the girls played Mad Libs in the car.  One of Cal's oldest friends, Thompson, met us at the restaurant.   

The girls were transfixed and had so much fun!

We headed home for cake and presents. I made a chocolate cake and John frosted it like a pro.

The girls were wonderful and the time flew by!  Cal had so much fun.

The good news about throwing the birthday party a week before Cal's actual b-day, is that we had more time to plan for our holiday guests and make fun classroom treats for her actual birthday. 

Just to get a sense of who our 9 year old has become, here is the letter she wrote to Santa this year:

It's Beginning to Feel a lot Like Christmas...

We have some rituals......... With the kids away in Boston the weekend after Thanksgiving, we were impatient to get a tree.  The kids insisted we cut it down, but darkness sets in at this time of year by 4:15 and most laced would be closed by the time we could get there.  So, we did the most convenient thing and headed two miles up the road to Whites Christmas Tree Farm.  It's a big place with overpriced trees, but they are all so beautiful and it was easy to find one that would do the trick in our house.  It took a few days to get it up, but we had a lot of help decorating this year.

The Jericho Country Store is lucky enough to get a visit from Santa every year.  The kids aren't so sure how he squeezes Jericho into his busy schedule, but we managed to sneak in a visit to the Jolly man.  After skiing a few runs, the kids made their requests (a remote control car and LL Bean Sled for Hazey and a reading light and an LL Bean sled for Cal), before dashing off to a birthday party and gingerbread house decorating.

We headed to Mad River for a big fundraiser on Saturday night.  Red Hot Juba was playing, there was great food, and a photo booth. 

And the snow is here!  Cal and her friend Celine and Zephy and I played at Mills River

 Cally did some Skijoring