Mornin'

6AM, Eli and I are still half-asleep, but Ira's bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and making Duckface.

I adore my monkeys.

Luge Love

We've been having a blast on the luge run Mike and Amy built.  They do it every year, but I think this one takes the cake!  In the summer, they pull off these awesome slip n' slides that are seriously EPIC, and in winter, they get out a bucket loader to create an amazing course, with 10 foot banks, full of twists and turns and covering over a 1/4 mile.  Pretty incredible.  It's the neighborhood hot spot, figuratively speaking.  Another couple weeks and we'll abandon the luge for the sugarhouse, where people dance and laugh, tasty treats keep appearing in our hands, (the World's Best Doughnuts are made by Amy) and kids ride giant tricycles around the arch, until they collapse with exhaustion into the cozy nests in a warm corner.  My boys are so lucky to have the Bogardus boys as best friends, and we are so lucky to have Amy and Mike!  They are caring and adventurous and have endless energy for all of us.  When my kids play there, I know they are as loved and cherished, as Parker and Ellis are with us.  Big thanks to the Bogardus Family for being a huge part of our life.

Ski Bums

 Another perfect ski day!  The kids are getting so good, it's crazy.  I almost burst with pride when I watch them.  Since I had to save some legs to teach Zumba this evening, and Ira and Av were beat, we called it quits an hour early, but Eli and Grandpa kept going 'til closing time.

 It's funny...once upon a time, I lived and breathed skiing, or snowboarding, technically.  (I found out recently that I was one of Killington's first female snowboard instructors, which I actually didn't realize at the time...it never occurred to me that there weren't any other women around, despite my daily battle not to get stuck with the toddler lessons that tended to be dumped on me, as the only girl.)  I spent several years in early adulthood as a ski bum before real life took over and I kinda forgot about it, but when the Winter Olympics come around, I feel a bit like how I've heard ex-smokers describe their cravings years after they've quit...and I get a full-body longing to have goggle-tan and ice-crusted braids peeping out under my hat from bombing through the snow guns to get first tracks.  When I watch the games on television, my toes are curled to the point of cramping and I am sucked in again.  This time around, Eli was sitting next to me with his little knuckles white, watching as some of our friends from New England made us proud, and I know he's got that toe-curling craving too.  ...I tell you what, all those dreaded toddler lessons I taught sure came in handy with my own kiddies...now when they ski, I already see in them the ability to be so much better than I ever was, I cried a little as Eli came down the hill to where I was waiting, because he was surreally beautiful.  And happy.  You can see happiness coming off him from a long way off, it's how I pick him out at a distance on a crowded slope.  Something about being born and bred in a place that's half the year under snow, you find a way to love it.  And it'll love you back.     

11th Hour

As we come up on the one year anniversary of the 11th Hour, the radio show my dear friend Kristina Stykos and I host, I am blown away by how grateful I am to her, and all my closest friends, for keeping me creative and loved.  Our show is full of amazing, local music, jokes, random chatter, technical difficulties and we've got misinformation coming out our ears.  (We don't take ourselves very seriously and neither should you.)  The fun we've had so far...I had forgotten what it was like to laugh until you couldn't breathe.  You can hear our show every Friday at 11AM on Royalton Community Radio.  http://www.royaltonradio.org/

Or you can listen to our podcasts, but the link isn't working for me at the moment, so I'll stick it in later!

Or learn more about Kristina and her career as a songwriter, recording artist and record producer who runs Pepperbox Studios at: http://www.kristinastykos.com/  We have big plans underway, so stay tuned!

Bunny Meme

 For whatever reason, while I've had the flu all week, I've been creating these from bed.  Well, occasionally I get out of bed, clearly.  The kids were really into making little scenes in the snow banks with their toys after the big storm so I started snapping some photos...then it just sort of escalated from there.  Because I don't have enough ridiculousness in my life as it is.

Good, Ol' Fashioned Snowstorm

A couple of feet of the white stuff made for two very happy little boys.  AND turned Valentine's Day into a Snow Day, even better!

Prophecy

Ice, Ice Baby

Last Saturday we had a fun day of skiing at Storr's Hill, our first time out this year at our favorite local area...the weather has not cooperated very often so far!...and on Sunday we visited the ice castle at Loon Mountain.  So many glittery nook and crannies, chutes to slide down, towers, and crystal balls tucked into crevices.  I bundled us all to the max because it was near zero, but that only made it seem more ice-castle-y...  We had really wanted to go to the Hotel De Glace in Quebec, but time and money were a bit short for that, maybe next year!  It ending up being better that we didn't get too far from home, as Eli started to run a fever on the ride back and then we were in for a week of flu/tummy bug.  I'm linking in a cool video of an identical castle, created by the same guy, only in Colorado, I believe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYRi1af__94  Hope everyone else is healthy and enjoying this little heat wave!