A week and and a day...

Skier Days: Sara(24), Caroline(8), Susan(7), Charles(17)

How to get back to posting after a long hiatus is the first challenge.   I can use an excuse that I was not actually up north for the week...  Well lets start with the speed reading version of Christmas week.    Ordered Snow Tires online, spent a morning working at the Toyota dealer so that they could diagnose the problem with the read door motor and order the part so that we would have to come back.  Listened to Ellen in the background.  She is kind of funny, but not as funny as th people in the waiting room thought she was.

Got in a full day of work in the office on Tuesday.  Went to Caroline's 5th grade play on Tuesday night,  very funny group of kids with lots of personality and a clever plot.   Wednesday I spent another morning working at an auto dealership,  this time the Mini dealer. More Ellen in the background and more free coffee from the one cup coffee makers.  It is kind of funny how these business patterns emerge and proliferate.  The Mini/BMW dealer definitely caters to a more professional clientèle and provides for a much better working environment.   I have to give a giant plug for my man Mark Ravin who is the customer service guy at Mini.  He is by far the best at what he does.   Truly outstanding.   New tire and working ski rack in hand I headed home. Hit the stores on the way home from Boston an got all of the remaining Xmas shopping done.

I was up early in Christmas Eve day and had every intent of working a full day.  I cleared out my email, dealt with a couple of outstanding questions and then realized that it was going to be pointless to try to work the rest of the day.    We had Zoe and Ewan hanging out for the day and it looked like it was going to be an early day anyways.  I decided then and there to just take a vacation day.

We ended up spending th evening with the Kennedy's.  We went to Mass at their church up in Lynnfield and then getting Chinese food for dinner.  Note to self, do not order Chinese food on Xmas Eve when you have a house full of hungry kids waiting to eat.  In the end it turned out all right as I got to catch up with Dan and the food was pretty darn tasty.  The company was all around good and it was a nice way to spend the evening.

Christmas...


We were up at 7:30 on Christmas and the presents were all unwrapped and distribute by 8:30.   My tires had been delivered at 4pm on Christmas Eve so I had to install them myself.   Despite the first one that I change being a bit on the locked up side.  I managed to change them all in a little over an hour and was all proud of myself for having done so.   We packed up both the cars for a week away and headed over to my Mom and Dad's house.  They did a fantastic job with dinner  They never seem to show their age, but it was clear that this was a lot of work for them, and we were very grateful for all of the effort that they put in.

It was great to catch up with the three generations of cousins on my Dad's side.  My Aunt Mary is now 88 and yet is somehow ageless.  My cousin Kyle had taught me every game I knew as a young kid and was among my favorites.  Adrienne, who I remembered as a little girl,  now married.  Time passes much too fast these days and I can only imagine my only little girls in just a few more short years.

We headed back to Maine after dinner and were there just after dark.   Caroline had fallen asleep in the car on the way up after a long week and a long day.   It was great to be back in Maine and at the mountain again.

Saturday...


The day after Christmas it hovered right around freezing.   The fog was hanging over the mountain and glazed the goggles quickly at elevation.   Skiing in conditions like this is very disorienting.   You fly along and there is very little to gauge distance and structure.  Your skis will suddenly drop out from underneath leaving you floating in the air.  Alternatively, they will rise quickly and unexpectedly driving your knees towards your chest.   Caroline was having known of this and bailed out back to the condo on the condition that she vacuum the place and walk the dog.   Sara caught up with her friend Sondra and then Margaret and spent the day adventuring.   I made it down to Barker to pick up my sweatshirt and got some runs in across all of the mountain.  The Rioux family showed up late in the evening and the kids were beyond happy to see each other.

Sunday...


For the second time this season the mountain would not be spared the evil green amoeba that worked its way up from the mid Atlantic and up through New England.   Despite all of our fervent prayers to the contrary the very little bit of snow that started the evening before turned to a hard driving rain.   The Rioux's cashed in their tickets for a voucher and ee spent the morning playing some games and hanging out.  I got out late in th afternoon for a couple of hours and proved to myself that my gear could actually keep me dry.  I was the only one to rack up another day on the slope today :)  As we wrapped up the day the Miller's arrived.  It is really great to share with some many friends...

Monday...


Whew!!  I am almost caught up and only one more day to log.  This day we all got out skiing and it was a great one at that.  The mountain had recovered really well,  the snow was soft, and there were lots of good friends to ski with and there were no lift line.  What more could one want from life...

 4-8" of snow tonight.  That would be sweet.  I may be taking more time off than I had planned to this week.