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!

100th Day of Kindergarten

Who knew that making it to the 100th day of Kindergarten is something to celebrate?  Cally has been looking forward to this day for a while.  I guess it involves drawing 100 dots, making a crown, wearing glasses and parading around the school.  What ever is the case, we are very proud of this little kindergartner.  She may not be loving school as much as I wish she would, but she is learning everyday and certainly being challenged in the social department.  With 10 out of the 14 students in the room being girls, there is no shortage of drama.  It can be hard to hear about, but I know it's making her a stronger girl (even if I didn't expect this kind of

Speaking of strong girls......  Here's a gal who was really hesitant about doing her first x-country ski race:

But once she saw her cheering section, she got motivated to give it a try.  It couldn't have been a more beautiful day:

It wasn't warm, and there were a lot of kids (K-8), she finally agreed to give it a try (after I gave her the "talk' about following through with a commitment):

In the end, she rocked it and had a smile on her face the whole way (all 1/2 mile):

Some things come so easily for Cal, but some don't.  I know she wants to just be good at x-country skiing--without having to spend the time to struggle and learn the technique.  It's not easy (I know), but she's sticking with it and she hasn't decided to quit and to us, that's what matters.

We love you Cal, here's to always being a strong girl!  I hope you grow up to have strong girl friends that will motivate to ski with you, challenge you to be a better person and make you feel strong and beautiful.

Hazen is 4!

I can't even believe that this guy is 4!  Four years ago, he made our family complete.  He is nothing short of amazing. He's my "love bomber".  He knows just the right moment when I need a hug or a random "I love you" said in the sweetest voice ever.  He knows how to have fun and he is intuitive and wise.  I can't wait to see what kind of a man he becomes, but already he is making an impression on all those that he meets.

We had a real birthday party for H this year.  Not one of those birthdays for us, with our friends and their kids, but for him.  He invited six kids from Poker Hill and Tammy's.  We didn't really have a plan, but John baked a cake and we hoped for snow and weather conducive for sledding.  It may have been cold, but we got it:

Hazen, Griffin, and Henry

Hazen, Declan, and his mom

The sledding slope in the Hunt's field

And this girl was a rock star!  She is the best big sister ever.  Hazey, Cal and I got balloons and lizard favors for all the kids.  At the last minute, Calla, from daycare showed up (unexpectedly) and I wasn't going to have enough balloons and lizards.  Cally gladly gave up here pink balloon and lizard and didn't even make a stink out of it. 

 

After an hour of sledding in 10 degree weather, we went inside to play with toys:

and then ate John's masterful cake:

Hazey was so happy!

We were also able to celebrate his birthday with his "fairy" god parents Tom and Cara:

finishing making masks with Tommy

Playing with Hot Wheels w/Tommy

Walking with Cara and Zephy (temps were about 5 degrees above zero)

snow angle

snow adventure

loving the new binoculars

We even got to celebrate with Kesley and Jameson with a dinner in Stowe

riding the motorcycle game

a hug from the Maple Jim Bean Bear

dinner with the Meyer's

Melinda

My friend Melinda, from  high school, was diagnosed with breast cancer last January.  It is not unusual for a woman to get breast cancer these days and the survival rates are getting higher and higher.  I teach my students that 1 in 2 men and 1 in 3 women will get diagnosed with Cancer.  But I also teach them that science has come a long way and it isn't the death sentence that it used to be.

Melinda did get diagnosed with a particularly "bad" form of breast cancer- triple negative.  I knew it wasn't a good thing, but I figured she would fight the good fight and come out of this with a big smile and a stronger sense of the world.  Unfortunately, her cancer didn't respond to any of the chemo treatments and spread to her liver and her spine.  A year after she was diagnosed, she died.

Melinda has two little kids.  Ellie just turned 5 years old and Cole is 7 and a half.  I think of my childhood and what I remember when I was five and seven.  I remember moving to a new town at five and making new friends.  I remember vacations and birthdays.  But I don't remember the everyday.  I don't remember the pets I had before that point.  I don't remember the things my parents said to me. But I do remember being happy and loved.

 Melinda was diagnosed with cancer when her kids were the same age as Cally and Hazen.  She had an extra year with her kids.  But she was being treated for cancer and I can't imagine that she felt all that great.  But Melinda was the kind of person who made the most of EVERY moment.  She thought deeply, laughed hard, and kept her chin up to the end.

I went down to CT for her memorial service.  I'm so glad that I did.  It was so great to see her family and support them.  He husband, Jesse,  was amazingly strong and the kids were adorable.  I can't even imagine what Jessse was going through, but he has tons of support and love because Melinda was such a force and spirit.

Our time here on the planet is short.  Even if we live 100 years, it's short.  We are all going to die, but Melinda died too early.  She reminds me everyday to appreciate life and the little things that I had taken for granted.  She reminds me to take a deep breath when I'm exasperated, to seize the moment while I can, and love my family as much as humanly possible.  She also reminds me that our life is temporary and it's not about what we do, but the mark we leave.  She reminds me to love Cally and Hazen and make sure they feel adored. Mel certainly left an amazing mark on the world.  I'm a better person for having known her.