Random

Take my picture Mom- I look soooo Hip Hop

I just love the way Pixie is looking at Two Fish. She stayed with us for a few days and she would get so excited when Two Fish came home from work.

The scarf New Fish is wearing is named "Mr. Bear." He has magical properties that make New Fish a great skier. He is an important bear around here. The lift operators always recognize New Fish because

Ski Day

I love skiing with this little family of mine.

Snow Babies

Thelma And Louise up to no good.

Skiing is officially my favorite.

The Good And The Random

 Most ski days are wonderful. Sometimes there are meltdowns. Some days are just hard no matter where you are.

 These little buddies have so much fun together. New Fish only goes to half day kindergarten so she has been able to spend some extra time with Nixie lately. There is nothing better than playing in the snow.

 Red Fish has decided to learn to play the violin. She is taking lessons from my mom. She will be a third generation violinist.

 Pearler beads are all the rage at our house right now.

 A little visit with Lovely L and company. New Fish was in her element reading to her little buddies and entertaining them. She loves little kids!

 Blue Fish loves to listen to Red Fish practice. It doesn't matter if it is squeaky violin or the piano he sits right next to her and listens the whole time.

 Little bit of an update to our front room.

Every single day I find this kid tucked away some place reading. She is a book worm through and through.

Almost Perfect Ski Day

Two Fish and I bought helmets this year.  We always make the kids wear them so we figured we had better start wearing them as well.

We decided to have a very relaxed family ski day. We didn't hurry up the mountain to make it in time for ski lessons. We took our time. It was a beautiful.  Just a little bit of snow and bright sunshine.  It started out a perfect day.  It was a magical ski day for New Fish.  She suddenly decided that she knows how to stop, turn and go down the hill without her leashes.  It was amazing.  Two Fish took Red Fish for a couple of runs down the blue squares and when they came back New Fish knew how to ski. Too bad it is almost the end of the season!  Hopefully she will still remember how to do it next season. We only have one or two days left to go this year.  This was the first time in four years that there has not been a child strapped to my back or attached to me by a leash.  It was SO FUN.  I can't wait for next season.

We went inside for lunch and New Fish fell and hit her forehead on a rock wall.  You would think that skiing would be when she would get hurt but apparently it's lunch we have to worry about.  It was a bad end to a good day.  She is feeling fine now but the goose bump she got immediately afterwards was freaky.

Presidents Day

 Family ski days are my favorite.  The snow isn't great this year but it doesn't really matter when I spend most of the day on the bunny hill with New Fish. Red Fish has been taking a few ski lessons and she is still a maniac on skis.  We get a couple of runs in with Red Fish after her lessons.  It still scares me to see her zipping down the mountain but I'm working on not being a helicopter mom and I know that doing hard and scary things will be good for them, plus skiing is a blast.  There is nothing quite like having the wind in your face as you fly down the mountain.  Skiing is good for the soul.

A Couple of Shots From Our Ski Day

Weekend With Family

We spent most of the weekend with Two Fish's side of the family.  Uncle M was in town with our niece "Uncle Riss".  The girls always call her uncle too for some reason.  Hilarious and cute.  We went to the aquarium, rode a ferris wheel, wandered a new sporting goods store, had two family dinners and spent hours running around with the cousins.  Two Fish and Red Fish took Uncle M skiing on Saturday.  It was a great weekend.

The pictures are bad because they are off my ancient cell phone.  My kids have probably told everyone under the sun (strangers at the grocery store- people in the hallway at church) that I dropped my cell phone in a toilet in Disneyland.  Now I'm using Two Fish's really old one and it takes horrible pictures but does function as a phone.

Even More Skiing

 The ski season is coming to a close soon but we have thoroughly enjoyed ourselves this winter.  It has been the most skiing we have done in years.  Skiing with little kids is hard work but I have had SO MUCH FUN.

Ski Bums

Snow, Snow & More Snow

 

Our lives revolve around the snow right now.  We went skiing in a whiteout blizzard on Saturday.  The kids loved it and we drank a lot of hot chocolate.  We have been shoveling snow every single day and the kids are out there right next to their Dad with their little red snow shovels.  THey have attempted to ride their bikes and pulled the wagon up and down the street.  We have been out sledding with friends.  Our snow clothes are constantly on a drying rack in the middle of our family room.  We never get a chance to put them away because they are always wet from some sort of snow related activity.  I guess we are at least enjoying the winter!

Raising Girls Who Ski

 Today we skied with the girls and Two Fish and I took turns doing runs higher up on the hill.  When I am a single rider on a busy ski day, I end up riding the lifts with people from all over the country.  It's interesting to jump into conversations with them on a myriad of topics. I find that skiers are generally interesting and pleasant (at least those who have moved beyond their teens.) It is never dull to have these random 10 minute chats with perfect strangers I will never see again.

One man that I rode up with was talking with me about raising daughters.  He came from a family of all boys and has one little girl in the middle of a pack of boys, all of whom are skiers.  We chatted about how much confidence and love of adventure can be cultivated through learning to ski as a little girl.  He was telling me that when he and his wife were expecting their daughter they felt like they need to totally readdress their parenting and what they would want out of life for their daughter.  They came to the conclusion that they wanted the same things for their daughter as they did for their sons.  They wanted her to be tough, brave, smart and have the confidence to take on anything.

That confidence to take on any obstacle or goal is something I have thought a lot about while raising my daughters.  I really don't want them to grow up wussy.  I want them to know they can do anything they put their mind to.  I don't want them to be afraid to try new things.  I want them to be tough, brave and feminine.  I want them to be proud to be girls.  I want them to be smart and well educated.  I want so much for them.  Obviously they can be all of these things without learning to ski but it certainly doesn't hurt.

 It was a beautiful day on the mountain.  Presidents Day is the biggest ski day of the year but the crowds didn't bother us too much.  New Fish doesn't need us to hold onto her harness anymore and we are just using the leashes to help guide her and keep her from falling too hard.  She is started to make turns on her own although it is much easier for her to turn right than left.  It will come to her.  Mostly, I'm just happy that she is so excited about it and willing to try it over and over.  She kept asking me: "Am I skiing great Mom?" or "Was that a great fall Mom?"  She totally crashed in the afternoon and took a long nap in the lodge while Two Fish and I took turns skiing.

We took a couple of runs with Red Fish at the end of her ski lesson.  She has made so much improvement over the past few weeks.  It's amazing.  She is zipping down green circles and a few easy blue squares.  Today she was taking all of these side paths through the trees and going off jumps.  It was a little scary to watch her.  She is going to be such an awesome little skier.  She is well on her way to be just the kind of woman I hope she will be.

I love sharing this sport with my family.  It brings back a lot of fun memories of being a kid and skiing with my Dad and brothers.  (We still ski together sometimes.) All of those good times skiing with my family are a big part of the reason that the mountains are my happy place in all four seasons.

Brave

I took both of my kids skiing by myself today for the first time. Getting all three of us suited and booted and then dragging three pairs of skis and two kids who can't walk in their boots up the hill was quite a feat.  New Fish and I did so many runs that we were done by early afternoon.  My brother Doo wanted to ski for a few hours with his wife so New Fish and I took their baby Thing 2 home and Doo picked Red Fish up from her ski lesson.  Red Fish has officially graduated from the bunny hill and is on to blue squares and it was only her second lesson!  It's exciting.

Last Week's Ski Pictures

 Beautiful sunshine and snow out on the bunny hill.  Red Fish took her first ski lesson (non- Mommy lesson) and is edgie wedgie free.  Most of the pictures are of New Fish because I was willing myself to stay away from Red Fish's class.  It freaked me out when they sent her up the ski lift without an adult.  Terrifying for a mother.  She was fine and followed all of the rules I gave her ahead of time.

Red Fish on skiing in her class.

Exhausted by a day of skiing.

Weekend Of Snow

We spent the weekend up at the lake with our little family of four.  Pictures are from my cell phone because my new camera is on order.  We spent the weekend playing in the snow, reading for hours, doing puzzles, watching movies with popcorn, drinking hot chocolate and snuggling on the couch.  Two Fish made huge breakfasts of waffles and eggs in the mornings and let me sleep in.  I read the book "My Father's Dragon" to the girls and Red Fish has already decided to ask Santa for a baby dragon next year.  Surely he can manage a dragon if a real unicorn was too tall an order.

 We also went skiing at a resort we had never tried before.  It was New Fish's first time on skis.  I need to remember that the first hour of skiing with tiny children is a truly miserable experience.  They hate the boots, they don't want the straps fastened on their helmets, you have to carry four pairs of skis and two kids who can't walk in their boots.  Then just when you are fed up and ready to pack it all back into the car and give up, skiing with kids gets really really fun.  Maybe if I can remember that I won't contribute to the chaos by getting cranky.

After we got out on the hill it was a blast to ski with the girls.  Red Fish can ski completely on her own now.  (Or as she puts it- without a human.)  New Fish had a hard time standing up on her skis for the first couple of runs so it was sort of like carrying a sack of potatoes on skis but she got the hang of it on the last run down the hill.  Then we were flying down the mountain and she gave everyone a thumbs up and would shout: "Cowabunga!" to everyone we passed.  It was hysterical.  She almost made people fall down they were laughing so hard.

Red Fish

New Fish on her first run

I love their tiny skis.

 We tried to go sledding in the backyard of the lake house.  It is a truly awful sledding hill.  We found one route down the hill that would work out but that was about it.  The girls thought it was a blast anyway.