Ski Trip 2010: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Our fourth annual ski trip to the great Salt Lake (and then a jaunt to WA) was eventful as usual. I'm sure these travelogues are a tad dull, but report it I must, for the sake of posterity if for nothing else. So, for those of you who are dying to know, here's the break down of our 2010 ski trip: the good, the bad and even, I'm afraid, the ugly.

The Good:

• Josh, Nate and Bard got to ski the beautiful Utah mountains almost every day (I only skied once. Where's the love?)
• Will got to go skiing for the first time and LOVED it (he kept saying, "More skiing!" and "Ski powder!" and "More M&Ms" since we bribed him on the chair lift with M&Ms).
• Plenty of trips were made to the brand-spankin' new and scrumptious Corner Bakery (operated by sis-in-law's dad) --I counted at least 5 times. If you're in the area of Red Butte in SLC, you've got to check it out.
• Fun trips to the Children's Museum in SLC and the JUMP and BOUNCE House in Spokane.
• Visits with some of my favorite people: my Granny, Marsha, Jim, Peggy, Erin, Nikki and her girls! Plus in Spokane, I got to visit with some old friends and my grandparents.
• Girls' Night out at the ballet, viewing Swan Lake. Loved it, especially the swans and the beautiful music. (I especially loved the over-enthusiastic cat-caller present at the ballet. Seriously, he was "whooping" at the ballerinas' performances. Classy).
• Lots of cousin time--Sam, Beth, Tanner, Katie, Nixon and Garret. We miss our cousins already! Plus, all the aunt/uncle/brother/sister time. Boy, were we spoiled.
• Even more Granny/Gus and Grammy/Pompa time. Will was in grandparent heaven. I was in grandparent heaven. In Spokane, when Will woke up in the mornings, I just sent him up the stairs to find Grammy and Pompa while I snuggled back to sleep.
• Watching the Olympics with my dad--he cried, twice. In his words, "I'm a sucker for a good story."
• Of course, "bonding-time" with both our families. We have the best families ever!

The Bad:

• Three separate airplane flights with Will on the lap. Two of those rides sans a helpful Josh. 'Nuff said. (Albany to Salt Lake, Salt Lake to Spokane, Spokane to Albany. Fun times, no?)
• The twenty pounds I gained, thanks to the many trips to Corner Bakery. Little, yummy cookies--how I miss you.
• The lack of time to do/see all I wanted to do/see whilst on vacation.
• The post-vacation depression that settles in, realizing that I am now solely responsible for cooking, cleaning and attending to my child's needs. PLUS, the post-vacation depression from realizing I am far too far from family.

The Ugly:

• Will's viscous sickness that spread across four states, six families and sadly even landed one person in the hospital (sorry, Michelle!). Let me tell you, he was so sick--it wasn't pretty (though, fortunately for me, his night of sickness coincided with our Girls' Night Out, so Josh was the stellar guy taking care of our sick little boy). Poor guy is just fine now, though I'm not so sure I can say the same for everyone else.

Ski trip, how we love you! Can't wait 'til next year. Enjoy the pics.

Will's first attempt at skiing.
The Mad fam skiing. And what would skiing be without some lovely mad-hat hair from yours truly? One day I may get a flattering shot of myself on the blog.

Will at the museum in the cute red truck.

Will and Beth on the horse at the museum. Sam was there, too, but I didn't get one good shot of the two of them.

Will at theJump and Bounce house. He loved it.

I had to show this one of Will's darling "cheese" smile.

The Spear family boy cousins. From left to right: Will, Garret and Nixon. Guess who's the youngest? That's right: Nixon. And one would think that it would be fun to have three boy cousins so close in age. If by fun you mean constantly breaking up fights and enduring lots of crying due to one another's brutality, then yes, it is fun.

Katie, Will and my cousins' kids, Jasmine and Emoni. Aren't they darling?

The Placid Lake

If ever you are lucky enough (or crazy enough) to visit Lake Placid, NY, in the dire month of January, you should take some time considering this option, weighing all the pros against the cons. To assist you in this process, I've compiled a list of my own that you may find helpful when making your own decision.

Top Three Reasons to Visit Lake Placid in January:

#1. You can visit all the famous Olympic sites where miracles really happened.

Thee Miracle on Ice ice rink.
The ski jump. It was high. Really high.

The ski jump medals platform. Notice how Josh so kindly shares the gold medal platform with Will--not the case with his Mama (see picture below). No, I wasn't sharing that platform with anyone--I was #1 and proud of it.
#2. You can walk around the darling, picturesque town, enjoying wonderful local fare.
This isn't actually a picture of the town, but it shows how pretty it was up there. Will doesn't look too impressed, though.

#3. You can watch (at minimum) three of your hubby's hockey games all played ON OLYMPIC ICE, where your child alternately yells, "Go Dada!", "Go Team!" and "Dada, come sit!" in between life-risking "jumps" off any and all bleacher ledges.
Will with his hockey-playing Dada. Will was obsessed with finding Josh on the ice. He finally got to the point where he could always pick out his dada on the ice. It was too cute.

Top Three Reasons to NEVER Visit Lake Placid in January:

#1. It's really cold.
#2. It's really, really cold.
#3. It's really, really, really cold. I don't think I'm impressing upon you enough how very cold it was.

Aside from the cold and the seemingly ever-present hockey smell, our short weekend jaunt to Lake Placid was one to remember (because I won't ever forget the cold). And aside from the good times and the hockey playing, the trip helped us unanimously decide one thing: we can now safely cross off Lake Placid from our list of possible places to live.

Lake Placid, we would love to see you again, but next time in the summer--when one can actually see the lake and maybe even swim in it--not walk and/or cross-country ski across its frozen surface.

Enjoying Christmas

Will has no idea who Santa is; he can't even pronounce the Baby Jesus' name properly; but one thing's for sure--he knows who these guys are: "Ma-yer", Flo, "Hi-Queen" and Doc. He is obsessed with all his cars and whenever I ask him if he wants to do anything, he says, "No. Playing Doc," or "No, playing May-er." And the first thing he asks for when he wakes? "Doc! Flo!" He is too cute and he sure does love all his Christmas loot.

Not pictured: Josh enjoying Will's new tunnel--fully stuck inside the tunnel made for TODDLERS.

Maine

On Christmas day, we loaded the rug-rats (and ALL our Christmas gear) into the car and zipped on over to Maine (a four-hour drive) to enjoy all that Freeport, our favorite Maine destination, has to offer. And what does it have to offer? The L.L.Bean flagship store, tons of good outlets, a hotel with a pool AND free cookies and lots of good times with the VT Madsens.

Here we are in front of the famous L.L.Bean giant boot.

We shopped, we ate, we swam, we shopped some more and fun was had by all (and somehow I managed to buy three shirts--all green. I guess I like green shirts). Of course, the last night there Will discovered how to climb out of his port-a-crib, so this just may be our last vacation--ever. At least it was the last night. And at least it wasn't too painful--Josh just put him back in the crib three times and then Will was off to dream-land. Of course, at 6:45 the next morning, Josh and I awoke to a thud and when Josh went to go check on Will, he had climbed right out on out of that crib again.

Christmas Morning

Oddly enough, the two boys--who are as of yet completely oblvious to the entire Christmas concept--were the first to rise on Christmas morn. I guess it's not that odd, considering that both boys are typically early risers, but it was strange that we had to finally wake Beth (who was so excited she could hardly stand it) at 8:00 to open presents.

Waiting to go see what Santa brought. Sam doesn't seem too impressed.

Santa brought both boys a basketball hoop. They both loved it!Will opening his remote-control Mater from my parents. As of yet, he doesn't know it is remote-control operated, but he absolutely adores it (see video below). I figure in due time I will show him the remote-control feature and it will be like a brand-new toy.


Will's presents: a basketball hoop, a tunnel/tent playset and a bowling ball set. I'm not sure what Santa and I were thinking, seeing as how my house is not equipped to hold a basketball hoop, tunnel/tent and/or bowling ball set. Currently, my home looks like an amusement park. I seriously need a playroom.

Christmas Jammies

The obligatory Christmas Eve jammies, complete with the obligatory stand-in-front-of-the-Christmas-tree picture. Nate, Amy, Josh and I all had on matching LLBean skiing jammies. Too bad for you, though, we didn't get a picture with all four of us.

The Nativity

Our impromptu Nativity. When Beth asked Will which role he wanted to play, he responded with a quick, "Dada Joe". Yes, that is how Will refers to the man who raised Jesus here on earth: Dada Joe. And then there's Mama Mary and, of course, Baby Jees.

Unfortunately, Will was one of the worst Joseph's to date. However, Beth was a lovely Mary, complete with her wedding veil she felt was appropriate Mary attire.
Will's favorite Christmas song this season: Honanna (Samuel Tells of the Baby Jesus), but he also likes the Baby Jees song (Picture a Christmas) and the Dada Joe song (Shepherd's Carol).