A Million Trees and Sugar Lips

Robbie and Olivia just left the condo after a lunch break.  My phone says it is 10 degrees and feels like 4 below zero.  When I checked the weather first thing this morning the wind chill was -30 degrees F!  Robbie insisted it must be wrong.  He skied with the big girls for just over an hour this morning, as Evelyn was too cold to continue.  Henry didn't want a thing to do with skiing today.  He told us he was tired of skiing and just wanted to stay in and relax.  His thighs hurt.  I guess he is my son.

I'm typing by the fire, and the little kids are doing school work.  I have a pretty view of snow capped pines on the mountain out my window.  I love it.  On the drive here Henry said, "Wow!  There are a million trees out there!"  Pictures just don't do justice to the majesty of the surrounding view.  The peacefulness of moving up the mountain on the lifts with God's scenery around us is one of my favorite parts of ski trips.

We really enjoyed the mass service Sunday evening.  We hurried to eat and clean up before the 5:15 pm mass, and the children were pretty wiped out by the time it began.  Vivian fell asleep in my arms, and she stayed asleep after I carefully propped her on the pew as I went up to receive the Eucharist.  She was darling.  The priest turned out to be an old seminary classmate of Msgr. Charles McGlinn.  He mentioned praying for his health during the petitions.

After browsing the village shops with Henry and Viv today we stopped into Sugar Lips mini donuts.  The dough is similar to funnel cake, and they are made to order (hot!) and covered with an abundance of cinnamon and sugar.  We were in heaven eating them as they absolutely melted in our mouths.  Henry's heaven lasted all of about 30 seconds for he shoved them whole into his mouth.  Viv had the sweetest little sugar lips.  Henry had sugar hands, sugar coat, sugar table, sugar face.  The little ones spilled the beans as we entered the condo and found Daddy, O, and Ev, so I went out into the cold for another dozen.

Yesterday Robbie let the children go into a ski park that had four consecutive jumps in a row.  They are pretty big time, and snowboarders use them most often.  The girls have done them before, and they can handle the tiny bit of air they get without crashing.  Henry crashed on the first ramp.  He then made his way to try the next one, but he lost momentum just before he got to the top of the peak, so he slid backwards.  He skis without poles.  The same thing happened again on the third ramp, and Robbie went to rescue him.  An old snowboarder told us we broke the "get out of the way if you don't make the jump rule".  We learned.

On the mountain the others often went off the main stretch onto little trick paths in the woods or on side natural ramp areas.  I stuck to enormous S paths down the mountain.  While Olivia was always trying to push us to go higher on the mountain or find a tougher run, little Evelyn was constantly concerned for my well being.  "What about Mom?  Will she be okay?  Is she going to get lost?"  She is a sweet one.  Olivia's last words as she left to ski today were, "We're going to try to find a black without moguls!"  Again, I maintain it is so good that children have two parents.  She'd never have the same childhood experience with me as her only parent.  I was proud of the progress I made on the terrain we skied for four days.  There were areas that challenged me greatly.  We all laughed at how Mommy's strategy on those areas was to make zig zaps (not curvy S paths) all the way left and right on the mountain like scrunched Z's.  I probably skied four times the distance of the others in the family due to my technique.  That said, I survived another ski trip unharmed, and I had a blast.