Vermont

Went to Vermont for a few days, to see my parents, do some skiing, and do the other regular things we do. Here's how it went.

Sunday. Drove up, and it went about how 4-hour drives usually go. Stopped at McDonald's, whoo hoo. As we pulled into the driveway, there was an insane flurry of...turkeys! Huge, more than a dozen, milling about the top of the driveway and in the garage. As we drove up, slowly, stunned, they flew/ran/gobbled off into the woods behind the house. Crazy! Later we saw a couple of deer, also in our yard and driveway, also seeking birdseed and suet and the like. The kids watched in fascination. Emily too. It's like a petting zoo without the cages and, uh, the petting.

Reading the forecast, we pretty much made the decision that we would go skiing on Tuesday rather than Monday, as it would be a little warmer and a little less windy. That meant Black Rock Steakhouse for dinner with my parents on Sunday. Food is great at this restaurant, so we always go. Three of us visitors get steaks and Kate gets a burger. Next time, Kate!

Back at home, it was dark and very cold. But the sky was brilliantly lit up with stars. We stood and gazed and pointed for a little bit, then went inside. But then in stages, we went out again. Emily and Kate at one point, Jack and I at another. We bundled up, walked to the end of the driveway, and gaped. Jack said, "I'm not even cold!" We agreed, yep, not even cold. Looked some more, pointing and smiling. Five minutes passed. Then Jack said, "OK, now, I'm really cold." We agreed, yep, it's really cold. In fact it was like 7 below zero or something. We ran inside and huddled against the radiators for warmth.

The kids love to play with the toys they find in Vermont. For Jack that has graduated from merely toys to Daddy's old stuff in his room. My baseball card collection, and the contents of a desk drawer, were the big ones for him. Including this 35-year-old label maker, which he used to make a label. For his new baseball card collection. Kate discovered my sister's old dollhouse. These fascinated them for hours that first day, and some of the second. Suddenly watching TV and playing video games were afterthoughts.

Monday. Since this was supposed to be the ski day, we were a little uncertain what to do with the day. We decided to begin with sledding, since although it was frigid, it was sunny, and we had hills and snow. So we all bundled up -- I mean really bundled up -- and went sledding on the back hill. No phones, no pictures, just us and the old toboggan and a couple of plastic sleds. The kids laughed and fell in the snow and climbed back up the hill and slid and laughed. A silly 20 minutes or so with no complaining (It's cold! I've got snow in my boots! Jack pushed me! Kate hit me!) -- none.

We were all cold, but not too cold to spend another half hour walking around the back hill. The kids found snow-covered rocks and trees and deemed them Fort and Hideout and other such things. Ignored the temperatures and just made up games. Debated whether certain marks in the snow were bear tracks (they weren't) deer tracks (probably), or some other animal. Drew smiley faces. And finally, suitably frozen, we all went back in for a late-morning snack.

After some hemming and hawing about what to do with the afternoon, we decided on a late lunch/early dinner at Lui Lui at the Powerhouse Mall. It had been a couple of years and Kate didn't remember it, but Jack did. "The pizza is great and you get to make shapes out of dough!" Bread arrived early, so the kids were happy. Mom made friends with the Irish waitress, so she was happy. I picked out a beer for Dad that he liked (Dogfish, 9% alcohol, oops!) so he was happy. And Emily and I enjoyed it all.

Afterward, we went shopping at the adjacent Mall, L.L. Bean and candy store. Mostly I just sat on a bench with my Mom and we chatted. Nice, peaceful.

Stopped at a local farmer's for syrup. Kate got out of the car and climbed a snowbank, and when the farmer saw her he said, Does she want to see some lambs? Now you're talking! That was the real reason we stopped here you know. We all got to see 3-day old lambs. Awesome.

At home we dug out old board games and puzzles. Jack and I played Sorry, which was way more fun than I expected. We all played "Security," a 40-year-old card game with Peanuts characters that Jack says is basically Uno. I haven't played Uno in a while but will take his word for it. Uh, but this had Peanuts characters! I also did a couple of wooden puzzles with Kate, and a nail game my grandfather built way back when, with Jack. It was a strangely full day and we went to bed early.

Tuesday. It was still bitterly cold but it was our last day in Vermont and time to go skiing. I'm going to be brief though: Kate did amazing, having a lesson and happily chattering away all during it when she saw us ("Daddy! We're doing turns now!") and after. Jack still seems like a natural skier, unfazed by steep slopes and other skiers, zipping down, turning and stopping with ease, regularly leaving me in the dust. Uh, not counting the time I mistimed our boarding the ski lift and wiped out, enough said. We stopped mid run for a waffle and hot chocolate that was about the best food ever. Jack and I got stuck on the lift once, some problem at the end (probably some idiot from out of town just up visiting family or something). Kate and I skied down the bunny slope making turns and stops in tandem, with her at one point saying, "Can we do a bigger hill?" Next time, Picabo.

Midday, we had lunch at the lodge, sandwiches and fries and beer and hot chocolate, kids were happy, bubbly, sun kissed, tired. Smiling. A few runs after lunch kept turning into one more run, and we ended up skiing late, driving home in the dark, and the kids snacking for two hours, laughing while drinking frozen Gatorades we had left in the car, having an actual meal at Burger King, then sleeping the final leg of the journey. And sleeping hard when we finally got home.

I don't know that I think of us as a skiing family, or a traipsing around Vermont hills family, or a communing with wildlife family. But for a few days, we were.

Snow days

It's been a relatively snowy winter, especially at the wrong time (or right time, if you're a kid hoping to miss a day of school). Three straight Mondays, in fact, school has been snowed or iced out.

Like anything, snow days are great in small doses -- a fun treat! -- but aren't quite as much fun if they happen too often. Looking back on them with the space of a week or two, I can remember both positives and negatives.

- On the first snowy day, we made little snowmen on the back deck, then went out front, together, to make a big one. Jack said our snowman should have a snow dog, so we made both. I think in the past I've sometimes taken the lead/taken control of the snowman building, so I didn't do that this year. I rolled the biggest snowball and helped them lift their middle and head onto the snowman, but I let them pick and place the rocks, sticks, carrot and wardrobe. Uh, but I made the dog all by myself. And it was totally awesome. So was their snowman.

- On another snowy day (same one? I don't remember) we went sledding at a nearby park with friends. Best part about this trip was that the friends were one of Jack's best friends for years and a younger girl who we're not always sure Kate is great friends with. But in fact, she and Kate played and slid together the whole time, often waiting for each other so they could go together on the same two-person sled, wiping out and laughing, getting up, chattering away about it, and doing it all over again. Really nice to see. Jack spent the whole time with his other friend and picked up various minor injuries including a bloody chin, but was not only no worse for the wear but went back for a second sledding trip after lunch. The kind of day that makes you glad you live near friends and can walk to a snowy park.

- One day wasn't snow but rather pelting, freezing rain. We stayed inside and watched an old family movie on Netflix, Honey I Shrunk the Kids. It was a little slow starting and I was afraid I'd have to switch to a more recent era movie that I'd hate like The Smurfs 2 or something, but once they got shrunk down the film picked up and the kids got into it. We made popcorn and hot chocolate and enjoyed the day.

- We painted, and the kids made wild Aquarium scenes with weird hybird animals, I think prompted by Jack. Why make fish and sharks when you can make some genetic mutant that has a shark fin and tentacles? They wore my old T-shirts and got paint on themselves and the kitchen floor, but the art was colorful and original and beautiful.

- Other times during the day they play together, sometimes board games (though those often turn into fights because Kate never wins), more often with their toys, having school and other activities for Kate's dolls and their stuffed animals. I sometimes sit in on these games but they're speaking a whole other language of playing.

- Sometimes I try to work, or read, or clean up the house, or just relax. The tough part is sometimes feeling like I should be doing more, or less, or more involved with them, taking advantage of a 7- and 10-year-old with a day off because every so often it strikes me that they're 7 and 10. Jack is basically too old for some things we used to love doing with him. Kate is getting there. I love and fear them getting older.

These gloomier thoughts are a little silly. Yesterday I bought Kate a stuffed animal for Valentine's Day and not Jack. And I think I still feel uncertain about it. I know he's too old, know that really neither of them need these things. And yet I am already missing it.

Now they're off on vacation for the next week, with a Vermont trip included. I'm hoping to write about all of it, every other day if not more. (Let's set modest goals, here.) Now I'll go see what they're doing. And if anyone wants to play a game. Or maybe with stuffed animals.