james-andrea-kids: March 2009

Savannah is officially ready for Kindergarten. We made that dreaded trip to the Health Center to get the last of the immunization shots required to start school. We got lucky and ended up being the only ones there so Savannah didn't have to wait and worry about what was about to happen. Savannah tried to be real brave and didn't cry after the first shot but when she found out she still had three to go she just couldn't keep it in. Towards the end she decided she'd rather not go to Kindergarten and avoid the last shot. I reminded her that all of her friends would be going and had already gotten their shots, this changed her mind and she agreed to bare her arm one last time. When she was all finished Matthew gave her a big hug and they both got to pick out suckers.

I had promised Savannah I would take her to the store to pick out a special prize if she was brave. Savannah was under the impression that if she cried she didn't qualify as brave. I set her mind at ease when I informed her she had been very brave and could still get a prize. After roaming the toy aisles of the store, she decided she wanted an Easter Bunny. I tried to talk her out of it pointing out that it wasn't a toy but a decoration. She insisted and we now have a new Easter Bunny as part of our holiday decor.

The first week of March, we packed up the car and headed to Targhee Ski Resort. Targhee has become a favorite place of ours because it is never crowded and has a lot of easy runs for beginner skiers like us. It is located just past BYU-Idaho, across the state border in Wyoming. It takes about 4-5 hours to drive there but the kids like it so much they don't complain at all.

We got there on Thursday evening and woke up Friday ready to ski. Matthew and Savannah joined Kids Club for the day, Heather and Lindsey had ski school and Luke decided he knew everything about skiing so he would spend the day with James and I. The nice thing about skiing, I've decided, is it's like riding a bike, you can go a whole season without doing it and once you're back up on the skis it all comes back.

James and I had a lot of fun skiing with Luke. Around lunchtime, we were separated when I went to pick up Lindsey from her class. As I was looking for James, I found his brother Mark. Mark and his two boys, Benjamin and Daniel, had decided to come up and surprise us! We were happy to see them there and Luke was thrilled to have his cousins to ski with instead of his parents. Luke, Lindsey, Benjamin and Daniel spent the remainder of the day racing down the slopes together. Heather had a great day in her ski class and graduated to the next level. Savannah was bored at Kids Club and decided she would try skiing the next day. Matthew was great at Kids Club, I had told him he got to go to school and he was thrilled. He is always sad when we drop Savannah off for preschool during the week so he was happy to have his own school to go to. That evening we had a nice dinner with Mark and his boys and later the kids went swimming. They have a heated outdoor pool and our kids think it's great to go swimming outside when there is snow and ice around.

The next day we woke up ready for another day skiing but all didn't go as planned. The older kids and Mark hit the slopes early while James and I got the younger kids situated in ski school and Kids Club. By the time we caught up to the kids at the lift we noticed we hadn't seen Mark anywhere. Upon inquiry, we were told by the kids that the ski patrol had taken him down the mountain on a stretcher. I didn't believe them at first because they weren't upset at all. Once we realized that kids were serious, James and I set out to find the First Aid office. Sure enough Mark was there. He had wiped out somewhere on the slope and was fortunate enough to have a ski patrol right behind him when it happened. He wasn't able to get up so ski patrol brought him down quickly. At the office they realized he had broken his collar bone. We got there just as they were finishing the accident report. We took Mark back to our room and made arrangements for James to drive him home while I stayed with the kids. The kids and I spent the rest of the day skiing and the brothers headed back to Logan. By the end of the day Savannah was going up the big lift and coming down the mountain. I was really proud of her. She had an instructor that wasn't very patient with little ones, in fact, his other student was in tears when I went to get Savannah at the end of the day. Savannah stuck it out and did a great job. There were a couple of times, as I passed them, I was torn over pulling her out or letting her finish. She told me later her teacher was "kind of nice and kind of mean." She did learn a lot and I promised her next year I would make sure she had a female teacher. Heather did great too. Because the resort was so uncrowded, Heather ended up as the only one in her class which means she had private lessons for the day. I skied with her at the end of the day and was very impressed. The kids love to go through the fun kid trails they have that have a whole bunch of jumps and goes through trees. I don't like it because my skis are bigger and I'm not as good as they are. Of course, Heather took me on one of those runs!

After the runs closed, the kids went tubing. They seemed to have a blast. They were the only ones on the run and the moving walkway brings them back to the top of the run. They stayed as long as they could stand it. One by one they would come back as they got cold. Lindsey and Daniel stayed the longest, they just didn't want to quit. We ordered pizza and spent the night watching TV. It was a lot of fun even though we missed the dads.

The next morning we debated if we should stay one more day and ski. The weather was beautiful when we woke up. I debated with myself back and forth but finally decided we would head back as planned. I decided I would be pretty tired driving back by myself after a full day of skiing. The kids were disappointed but they understood. We met up with James and Logan and found out Mark had actually broken his clavicle in two spots. It was a pretty bad break and ended up needing surgery to set the bones back together. Despite Marks' accident, we did have a fun weekend together and enjoyed spending time with him and his boys. Check out our pictures in the photo gallery.