First Winter Snow

Only two days ago, I was out enjoying the warm days and cool nights of late fall. Then BAM! A white out. Well, by the my standards anyway. Hays and I went on a shopping trip before lunch and we saw three wrecks on the way back. Seriously. That fast. I only wish I had a video of Jack jerking his head up from his iTouch once he heard the weather guy say "Accumulation". Everyone knows, Accumulation = No School.

I ran out to Target for a snappy new sled last week once I got a hint of the impending snow storm. They were all saying 1 to 9 inches, so I knew odds were good for some nice sledding. Um. Not so much. After a good 45 mins of finding, sorting and applying all of last years snow gear, we got to the big hill. What a dud!! You could see grass sticking out from the snow. My fancy new sled only successfully snowplowed all the snow in front of me. After only the second run, Hays burst her zipper, Madden lost one shoe and one mitten and Jack, well, he was actually doing pretty good. But, he's the magical, first born.

It's only December 13th, I'm sure there will be more opportunities to burn down the hill. But, I will say, nothing makes the walls close in faster than a no-school-day right before Christmas.

Good Ole Fashioned Snow Storm

Spit. Spit. Sputter. Sputter. This describes the snow storm swirling outside my window. If you squint your eyes and look sideways, you may see some snowflakes. Maybe.

As is every year, we wait in baited breath.. will they or won't they cancel school? Normally, our northeastern bred principal keeps school open no matter what!! She is usually unmoved by the tradition of following the Catholic High School's lead. But, I think eight and half months of pregnancy have her seeing things in a different light. Who wouldn't?

Normally, I like snow days. Tom rushed to the hardware store and elbowed his way to the sleds. We are stocked up on hot chocolate, marshmallow, cereal, bread, and milk. In my case, I am desperate for any reason to use the ski clothes. The problem is, there isn't any snow. Not even enough to cover the grass. Witness our illustrious snow angel. And our pitiful attempt at sledding.

No other family in the Southeastern United States has tried more diligently than us to find proper snow. Some may say, too hard. Enough, I say.

sssshhhh. I'm giving reverse psychology a try.

Maggie Valley, The less said the better

This image sums up my feeling of our ski trip. Here I sit in the bowels of a deserted employee dining area, nervously gnawing on something (glasses, fingernails, hair, &c), willing Jack's snowboard class to be finished. I think I aged 5 years that day. And I haven't stopped eating since.

I will concede to being woefully unprepared for that day's events. I will concede that, perhaps, unseen forces were at work pushing me emotionally to my very limit. And I will admit, I was over my head. Gasp.

At the very least, Cataloochee Ski Area in Maggie Valley, NC is experiencing some MAJOR growing pains. In their defense, I learned: 1) it was the busiest day of the season and 2) a ski lift that carts the ski instructors/employees from their cabins to the ski area had burned to the ground that very morning (lucky me). From what I could see, if you need a job... move to Maggie Valley. They could use about 100 more employees in the ski park alone. There were 3 horrendous lines you had to maneuver to get you to the point of skiing. The first line was to buy your lift tickets (2 hour wait). Next, a separate line which precariously mixed with the lift ticket line to get your boots (45 minute wait). And finally, a third line for your ski/snowboards (30 minute wait). You can do the math, I don't like to remember.. it was horrid. All the lockers had been long rented out, even the ones newly made with plywood. There were bags, boots, clothes, food... ALL over the place. Alas, through all of this... the employees, haggard as they may have been, were.. lovely.

All eating areas in the "lodge" (probably about half the size it needs to be) and outside were cash only. Let me repeat, CASH ONLY!! With nary an ATM in sight. So, if you have only read the website and think yourself as prepared, bring cash... lots and lots of cash. But don't

count on the ability keep it safe in a locker. At some point, I was crying to the ski school director because the girls had spotted a bag of doritos and wouldn't budge until I bought them (with cash that I didn't have). Gentle, blessed soul, he bought them for us. With orange mouths and fingers, the girls abruptly dislodged themselves from their snowbanks. Amazed he said, "Wow. Doritos are magic. Maybe I should get a bag for myself!"

I was able to find Jack and watch him shred the mountain on his snowboard. He had a wonderful time and was none the wiser about the doritos debacle. The girls did have their boots on briefly, but skiing wasn't in the cards for them. Maybe next time.

I will say, Jack and I went early the next day. It was absolutely wonderful. It wasn't nearly as crowded, even as we approached the "rush" hour. We went down a green trail.. laughing and ribbing each others technique. I was amazed that my old body remembered how to ski. All was well, until Jack undercut some guy standing in the middle of the trail blabbing to his friends. The guy's feet were totally knocked out from under him and he landed right on Jack's chest. Nothing broken, but... I'm gonna leave it here. I'm spent.

I think we are really more sand & surf type people. Judging by Hays's numerous goodbyes to the mountain as we left.

Visit to Santa, 2009

Let me start by saying, this is the BEST Santa picture the kids have ever taken. Were the planets aligned? Could I have built up enough driving karma? Did a seismic shift occur and my kids enter a parallel universe where all children behave while sitting on Santa's lap?

It started like any other trip to see the big man. On the fly. We originally went to mail our letters to Santa using Macy's "Believe-o-meter" mailbox. Since, I had driven through major traffic at 4:30 to get to the mall AND all three of them didn't look too horrible, I decided, what the hey -- we'll go see Santa. Turns out it was a GREAT decision. No line. No crowd. Perfect.

The little "helper" comes up to us to fill out the card for the photo. I tell her, "Look. I don't care what it looks like. I'm going to buy it. Whatever they are doing, screaming, crying, staring off into space, it doesn't matter. I'm not going for family heirloom, here." She stares at me blankly, shrugs and walks away.

Hays runs up to Santa, "HI SANTA!! I LOVE YOU!!!". She rummages through his giant bag on the ground and pull out a coloring book. Jack shuffles along, trying to look out for any sightings of school friends. Hays keeps smiling and saying, "It's Santa! Santa's coming." I walk up with Madden who has a death grip on my fingers. I say, "Santa, this is Madden and she normally hasn't done well when we get our picture taken with you." Santa smiled, bends down and says, "What's this?" He looks right into her eyes and says, "She knows Santa loves her." And keeps looking right into her eyes until she touches his cheek. From THAT moment on, she was hooked. She sat in his lap. Took the sucker he gave her. And all three of them looked at the camera.

I was in shock. Muttering something along the line of, "Thank you so much Santa. Madden has autism and I really never know how things are gonna go, but that was so amazing,-- blah, blah, blah." He hugged the two girls and shook Jack's hand. As Jack was walking away, he says, "You know Jack, you are an excellent influence on your little sisters. I can see why you made the Nice List this year." Can you believe that Santa?! I love him.

Madden waved and said "bye-bye", Hays blew kisses, kisses and more kisses and Jack was walking just a tad taller.

Long Time, No Blog

Alright. Alright. So, I've been remiss. I can't believe it's been since April. Have no idea what I've been doing. I suspect it has something to do with F-A-C-E-B-O-O-K. ssshhh. Don't speak it. It's a dangerous addiction for me.

We survived summer. Slogged through the beginning of school year. And here we are at Christmas. Oh, and there was a tiny little incident in november involving the number 40, but we won't talk about that.

Anywho. My goal is to be a little more consistent with the Blog this year. Since I don't watch the Tee Vee, it should be easier. I noticed I started to fade out the Tee Vee sometime in the summer. I read books because I'm tremendously nerdy. And I recently got a Kindle, for the nameless event that occurred in November. So, my reading and technological interests are being met with a single product. Fascinating.

Here's to a productive blog in 2010.

Happy Green Day!

Such fun getting all dressed up in green for St. Patrick's Day.  We went to breakfast for green eggs and ham, came home then went to the zoo.  Such a fun day!  Jack had everyone at the restaurant in stitches because he said Hays looked like an irish alien.  And, well, she did.

Thankfully, we ran into some of Jack's buddies at the zoo.  He got to hang with his buds, while Hays and I got to snuggle, hold hands and talk to animals.  You know, all the un-cool stuff.

Spring Break in Hot-lanta!

It's that time of year again.  The long week of "Spring" Break.  When it's not really Spring enough to go outside, so you have to come up with extraordinary things to do inside.  My heart picks up speed as I imagine myself going around in circles for 7 days straight, collecting toys, food wrappers, random clothing items and mud from the floor.  Muttering.  "Why can't you guys pick up after yourselves?!"  Going faster and faster in my little circular loop as the week progresses until finally I spin myself into orbit.  But wait.  What's that.  A commercial about the Georgia Aquarium.  ting.  

On Friday night I inform Tom that I am taking the kids to Atlanta for a 2 day, 1 night trip.  He says he wants to come but has to juggle his schedule a bit.  We tentatively make plans for the following Thursday and Friday.  Along with about every other family in the southeast looking to escape their houses for "Spring" Break.  All of the hotels surrounding the Aquarium are booked!  silent scream. Undeterred, I begin looking for other days.  The horror of being couped up in the house for 7 days with nothing to break up the endless string of days begins my heart racing.  Alas!  Rooms available for this Sunday and Monday.  I ask Tom if he has a meeting on Monday? Poor unsuspecting guy says "no".  Bam!  Pack your bags, we're going to Atlanta in 36 hours.  "Uh-okay," he says faintly stunned. 

Suddenly, we are in a flurry of packing, buying tickets online for the Aquarium and World of Coke.  The one thing holding us back is....Khaki.  All the kennels are booked.  Dang those ever-prepared pet owners who probably scheduled their boarding times months ago.  Dang them!  This is not going to stop my trip--oh no!  Thankfully, we found someone to come let Khaki out and fed/watered a couple of times while we were gone.  Whew!  Close one.

We had a great time in Atlanta.   The Georgia Aquarium is a marvel.  Hays touched a nurse shark, quite by accident I assure you.  She was trying for the sting ray.  Jack and I played with starfish and sea anemones.  Madden stared and stared at a school of fish, particularly watching a little yellow guy race around.

Tom was a little skeptical of The World of Coke.  It met all of MY requirements for a good time though.  Tom, Jack & Hays loved watching all the robots "making" the bottle of cokes.  Such little engineers.  I liked going to the giant room and tasting all of the coke products from around the world.  Take note...the pineapple drink from Greece, not so good.  But the mango drink from South America, gooooo-ooood!

Sometimes the fly-by-the seat of your pants, totally unplanned, spontaneous trips can be better than the ones you spend hours and hours planning.  Less gray hair, too.

Quick Update/Apology

So, I've been a little remiss on my posts. Heah-low!! Being the compulsive person that I am...I had to give my ALL to the election! Happily, now that is over. And I'm still pinching myself. With that said, everyone here is the same.

This is a pic of Jack truly enamoured with the smoke machine at a Halloween thing at the zoo. At his class party, it was all about being gross. Complete with Boogers on a Stick, Kitty Liter Cake (it made me dry-heave it was so nasty), and a skull punch bowl that made the Blood Punch come out of the eyeballs...spooky!

Hays really had a great time this year. She was not bamboozled by witch costumes like last year. In fact, she would walk straight up to them and stare them in the eye. She even went to the "Haunted House" and was like, "Yeah, whatev..just hand over the snacks." And Madden just wanted to be held or ride in her wagon for the 4th year in a row.

I did hear of a house in the neighborhood that was handing out beer to the adult trick or treaters...dang if I didn't find it. Next year I'm planning a better route.

Aaahhh! The beach...

How come everytime I come back from the beach, I start to think about selling everything I own and moving down there to sell muffins or flip flops or something. We were gone for a good clip this time (10 days) and it was absolutely perfect--oh, except for both of the girls getting step. (Side note, you've just gotta love a place where the doctor (a mom) and the nurse (her daughter) wear scrubs and flip flops to work. And they don't fool around with scripts, they go right for the shot. What dears!) My dad, 2mom and nephew, Tate, came down, as well.

Tom was kinda in charge of field trips to Pensecola (watching the Blue Angels practice) and going fishing at the pier.

What I remember most is..getting up, lubing up with sunscreen, stolling to the beach, coming home hot, sandy and tired, eating, listening to music outside or walking around town, going to sleep and getting up to do everything all over again...for 10 days! Heaven.