98 Caramels: Winter Break & beyond

Most of the boxes and paper had made it into the recycle bin, and some half-hearted attempts were made to sort through old toys to make space for new ones. We muddled through the first week of break splitting days off with our neighbors, doing our best to fill the time with trampoline at House of Air, a viewing of Jumanji, and lots of foggy hikes. While I understand people travel from around the world to visit San Francisco, I wouldn't put it on my top 10 list for Places to be in Winter with a 6th Grader, 4th Grader, and two 1st Graders. So I was relieved to knock off work a little early on 12/31, hop in the car, and drive to Tahoe.

Time to ring in the new year on the snow!

Cover remained on the thin side, as there was next to no snowfall the entire month of December. Luckily, we had brand new ice skates from Gangi to break in, which was a fun alternative to skiing over sticks and rocks. Lucie particularly likes skating - she tries to bring her skates every day we ski, and will stay out on the ice until we make her leave.

Brennan thinks skating is OK, but is convinced the ice is harder in the mountains than it is on the holiday rinks that spring up around the city. After getting them out of bed, into ski gear, up the lift, and back on the slopes after lunch, I don't have the strength to cajole him into another activity. So if he wants to sit by the fire and share a waffle* with his mother, I guess that's OK.

*and by "share a waffle", I mean devour his own, and then help me finish the half-eaten one Lucie pawned off on me so she could get back on ice rink ASAP. Since she's already full from chugging down a cocoa.

Along with firmly held belief systems on the relative hardness of ice rinks, Brennan was also convinced that we had waited too long to go skiing and had missed all the snow. Thank God we got a little dusting Thursday and then 6 inches or so on our last day of break.

New snow cheered him up a bit. But morale improved even more in a few weeks, when we were able to bring his buddy William along.

We are still working on a ski buddy for Lucie, but finding a a) girl who b) is a friend of Lucie's at Grattan and c) can ski intermediate runs quickly and without tears, with d) parents we know well enough that we aren't afraid to spend a weekend with them has proved a bit of a challenge. In the meantime, we try to make up for the 3rd wheel experience by putting her in charge of candy selection and distribution.

She takes this job very seriously, BTW. This is the face she made when I told her to let someone else be in charge of the Skittles:

We do know one classmate who can keep up with her, with completely fun and likable parents and older sibling, but sadly, Jax is a BOY, and is also the middle of some complicated 1st grade love triangle involving Lucie and one of her many frenemies, Aya.