I am so glad that I never have had to go winter camping. Camping is a stretch for me. My idea of camping is staying in a condo! For the 3rd consecutive year, Nolan went on the Klondike. Yuck. It's cold. It's snowy. It sounds horrific. I'm so glad that I don't "get" to go. For some reason, the boys look forward to winter camping. Nolan was stoked to go sledding with his buddies. He liked the food. He managed to stay warm. They talked about "boy stuff"- you know, gas, etc. He said the best part was being in charge as he's Senior Patrol Leader of his troop. The worst part was, "I don't think there really was a bad part." Their yell was...
We are the cobras.
We slither through the grass.
You mess with us
And we bite off your... legs.
Sounds like a great time for 11, 12, and 13 year-olds.
The other day I got a bag of "Kiddie Mix" candy; the bag with 3 sizes of traditional Tootsie Rolls (I always forget how much I love Tootsie Roll until I have them in the house and remember why I never buy them), a bunch of fruit flavored Tootsie Rolls, small boxes of Dots, and Tootsie Pops. Miles was excited Not to eat them, but to sort them. Carefully he sorted all the items, first by type, then by subspecies. Here's what I found.
He was so proud of himself. When he finished, Miles said, "Let's do again."
With Christmas put away, I wanted to redo my upstairs mantle and entry table. I hit Ross, TJ Maxx, and Tuesday Morning and ended up with several bags of "stuff" to see what I could come up with. It ended up that I didn't have quite enough "stuff" so I had to go and get the last few items. I went back to TJ Maxx and got the dish/bowl I needed and the dried things; then I went to pay. I put the items on the counter and the checker scanned in the items and hit "total". I swiped my card, picked up my bags and started to walk out. the checker stopped me and asked me if I was aware that the coat I was wearing still had tags on it. I looked down and saw that there was a lift ticket still attached to my coat. I told her that yes, I was aware that the coat had a ticket on it; she looked at me perplexed, as if she couldn't believe that I was acknowledging that I was "shoplifting" and was about to leave the store. I had to walk back over to her and show her the lift ticket before I could leave. Dumb girl, but I'll be back; that store has a hold on me!
Today Nolan wanted a haircut so I called and made him an appointment. I told the "ESL lady" that my son, "Nolan", needed a haircut, and she asked what the name was again, I said "Nolan", and she replied, "Oh, John." I said, "No, it's Nolan. N-O-L-A-N" and she said, "Oh, it's 'Mullet.'" I corrected her again, spelled "Nolan" again, and she again said , "Mullet." I let it drop. Whatever. "Nolan", "Mullet", they're similar enough.
Speaking of reassigning names, Miles has renamed himself. He's on a Green Eggs and Ham kick right now, so he calls himself "Miles Sam-I-Am Belnap."
Jonathan is still Jonathan. No name change there. However, he did get his acceptance letter to the University of Utah on Saturday. We got it on January 5th; the letter is dated January 7th.
It's been really cold here for the past lots of days... the past 10 or so. The low I've seen is -8. Today's high was down right balmy: 19 degrees. The air quality is vile as well; I mean, it's "hazy" according to the weather forecaster people. Growing up, we called this vile air "smog" and we weren't allowed outside for recess because of the negative health effects associated with smog. Here, the kids are out playing at recess, breathing in all the glory of this nasty stuff. To escape the yuck, the boys have been up in the mountains skiing (I even checked them out of school part of last Friday). Lucky them, not only did they have clean air to breath, but it was 26 degrees up there!
Driving home from Midway, it was as if we had left "Disneyland" and were instantly thrown back into reality. We were in the car, still in Midway, when the two oldest started bickering. Back and forth the barbs went. I was "lovingly" telling them to knock it off when Miles decided to get involved in the situation. From the backseat we heard, "No-nin being naughty. No-nin need time-out." Too funny! Jonathan and I started laughing. Nolan was dumbfounded. Miles successfully disarmed the situation and we had peace the rest of the drive home.
***If nothing else, you must watch the last video clip***
This year, we headed up to Midway on New Year's Eve. We couldn't fit in the escape before Christmas so we wrapped up the boys' winter break by spending a few days in Midway. It's always fun to escape for a bit, even if we're just 30 minutes away. The boys went swimming multiple times. Miles went sledding multiple times. I think there were 3 trips to the pool and 2 sledding excursions. Jonathan spent quite a bit of time studying Calculus and European History so he didn't go sledding. We watched The Right Stuff and Star Wars Espisodes 4 & 6 and part of 5 The boys looked that this a lot.
We ate a lot of these.
The boys swam a lot. Miles wears a life jacket when he swims. At the end of one swim session, he was showering off and had removed his life jacket. Evidently, he decided that he wasn't done swimming and jumped into the pool. We learned 2 things from this... first, Miles can kick and keep his face above water, and second, it's a good thing Nolan pays attention to Miles- he jumped in a pulled Miles out (for the record, I was not present for this event).
We decided to trespass and sled on a nice long hill across the street. It's a 100+ yard, gentle sloping hill. Perfect for Miles who hasn't done any sledding other than "baby hill" sledding. He loved it! He thought it was great even when he was so rosy cheeked that he should have been begging to go get warm.
Here's Miles having a great time!
Nolan came sledding as well. We have laughed and laughed at this video clip!
So now we're home. Jonathan is back at his homework. Nolan is off sledding again (beware!). Miles seems to have forgotten how to play by himself. I've been busy with the sorting, unpacking, laundry, etc. In other words, we're back to normal. Loved the break and look forward to it again next Christmastime.
I think we've been going up to Midway over the winter break for the past 6 years or so. I guess it's officially become a tradition. Usually we head up for a few days before Christmas, but this year we went for New Years. I'll post about this year's trip specifics in a minute, but I want this post to be about what we do on our Midway escape. Basically, we do nothing; or maybe a better way to put it is we do whatever we feel like. But, there are a few things we always do.
We eat. A lot. I always bring up a blob of cookie dough and anytime anyone wants a fresh cookie, one can be made. One cookie can be made at a time, or 15, or the entire batch. It just depends on who wants cookies and how many.
I turn up the furnace. High. All the way up. I love it. Everyone else hates it. Sometimes I use the fireplace as well. My goal is to make the place feel tropical.
Swimming. Multiple trips to the pool a day. The boys like to end the swim session with a long soak in the hot tub followed by a shirtless sprint back to the unit. I think they are crazy.
I don't swim. Yep. That's right. I don't swim. I hate being wet and cold and having to go outside. No thanks. I stay behind in my own private Hawaii.
Sledding. A must. Last year there wasn't any snow and we deemed the trip "boring." Some years we also cross-country ski or snowshoe, but we always sled, unless there's no snow.
Sleep in. Self explanatory. Being unscheduled is very important.
