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.

Mont Tremblant

Ever since visiting Mont Tremblant National Park in the summer and riding our bikes on the bike paths near the resort, I've wanted to make it up there for a ski "getaway".  This year, our friends, the Firsts and the Thompson/Davis' were brave enough to join pull the trigger and meet up for a 4 day vacation. 

Mont Tremblant is about three and a half hours north.  It is a big mountain with a village modeled after the ski villages/resorts in the Alps.  We stayed at a hotel right in the thick of it.  We parked our car on Saturday and never got in it again until Tuesday.

Tours de Voyageurs (our hotel) in the background

Getting ready to tube!

We all had so much fun....... we tubed, we skated, we braved the cold and skied at the resort, we soaked in the hot tub, we spent a morning swimming at the aqua club, we cross country skied, and we ate lots of great food with lots of great people!

snow!

Crepes!

Bathing Suits, Sips of Sunshine, and Heady Toppers...... who could ask for more.

Ready for the "aqua club"

 It was a cold vacation, but so fun to share it with our friends.  I'd go back in a second!

Valentine

I've been saying that Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday for a while.  It still is, but there is an added complication........ it's the making of dozens of valentines for classmates and daycare friends and family.  We cut out hearts, glued them onto small construction paper, added a few stickers and used heart shaped stamps on the envelope.  Fortunately, we started early this year.

Cal was invited to three birthday parties in one day the weekend before Valentine's Day.  John took her to the first one at Pizza Put (an indoor "fun zone" type place which always creeps me out b/c there are no windows, lots of people, and a lot of places to pick up germs), the second one was at an ice skating rink, and the third was night skiing.  Sadly, Cal went down during the second birthday party.  Literally, she lay herself down on the ice and said she didn't want cake and had a head ache.  It seems she'd picked up the creeping crud that had been making its way through schools.  This meant missing the third birthday, sleeping all day Sunday, and missing school the day before her school Valentine's day celebration.  It also meant a lack of energy to make cards...... so that wasn't fun.

But making heart shaped pancakes, giving the kids and John little gifts, and showing my family how much I love them was really fun.

And then Cynthia and Scott joined us for a Valentine's Day tea-- with pink cake and all!

And I celebrated the night by going to see "50 Shades of Grey" with my girlfriends.  Silly, but fun!