Lessons Learned

After three camping trips this summer you might say that we have become experts!  During these three trips we learned some very valuable lessons.

1.  When in Canada celebrating Canada Day it is best to try and fit in with the locals.

2.  Gummy worms make your hot chocolate taste better.

 

3.  My children love posing for pictures especially when there is a hollow tree to stand in.

4.  Camping with friends is a lot of fun. (Just ask Maxx)

5.  When going with a four year old you will need at least two extra outfits for every day that you are camping.

6.  It is all fun and games in the hammock until the sting breaks.

7.  Riding your bike around with a dog on a leash is not as hard as it looks.

8.  When purchasing a swimsuit peach may not have been the best color for Olivia since it often looks like she is not wearing anything.

9.  It is possible to read an entire book on a weekend especially when your kids spend 3 hours doing this:

10.  Moving your camp on your last night from here...

  to here is totally worth it to get away from the motor home with the really loud generator.

It will allow you to sleep in until after 9:00am!!

Land of Legos

A few month back Caedan's cousin gave him a basket of Legos.  Apparently when you are 14 Legos are no longer 'cool'.  The basket was huge and it was very hard to find the pieces that you needed to build something.  So Caedan and I (ok, mostly I) spent the last week cleaning off the train table and organizing the Legos into bins.  We re-purposed some bins from other parts of the house and also purchased some new bins to help with the organizing.  Now all of the Legos are nicely organized by color.

When we finished we ended up with 11 bins of Legos.  We learned that grey is the most popular Lego color and amazing there are very few purple legos.  Don't worry I will be putting in a call to the Lego corporation on Tuesday to get that problem corrected.

I am sure that after spending the last week sorting legos with me that Caedan appreciates all of the time and effort that went into this organization project.  I am also sure that he will always do his very best put all of the Legos back in the correct bin.  And while you may be thinking that I am a little crazy expecting a 4 year to keep his Legos organized in bins by color I can assure you that you are wrong.  Ok so maybe I have reminded him several times to put the Legos in the bin with the matching color.  And maybe right before he goes to bed I check to make sure that there are no Legos in the wrong colored bin.  And maybe it stresses me out just a little bit when I hear Legos spilling out on the floor from another room of the house.  Surely this is not a sign of OCD.  It is not like I have labeled the bins with the color that should be in the bin or sorted them by shape and size.  Now that would be crazy!

Small Fry Race 2012

To celebrate a beautiful Easter Sunday we headed to the mountains for a day on the ski slopes.  Today both kids participated in the 59th running of the Steve Madison Small Fry race at Stevens Pass.  I am sure that everyone remembers the post from the race last year.  But just in case you do not have it bookmarked so that you can watch the video often like I do here is the link: Small Fry Race 2011.

This was Olivia third race this winter, but Caedan's first.  He was so excited to get his chance after watching his sister race earlier this year.  Caedan's field of six and unders had nine racers, six of whom were affiliated with a race team.  Olivia's field of seven and eight year olds was 13 skiers strong and was made up almost entirely of race team members.  The six and younger skiers had a nice long 15 gate course this year which included a steeper faster pitch.  Olivia's age group was moved to the full size course typically used by the nine and older racers.  This favored the more experienced racers as it was longer overall and the second run course was quite technical, "tricky and confusing" in the words of one of the race team coaches during course inspection.  So tricky she had her girls inspect the course twice so they wouldn't miss a gate in the delay to flush to delay finish.  Olivia was unfazed and excited about the second course set.

Waiting for the race to start.

Caedan at the starting gate.

Olivia in the starting gate.

Caedan collecting his SECOND place trophy.  The kid who came in first is seven.  Like any good parent I was ready to protest the 0-6 race that was won by a seven year old, but I had trouble finding the race officials!  

Olivia receiving her trophy for ninth place.

The kids took their trophies on a tour of the mountain after the awards cerimony.  Here they are at the top of Hogsback.

After a long day of racing both racers fell asleep in the car on the way home.  Notice that Caedan still has his trophy in his hand.

Olivia claims that she was not sleeping.  She was just resting her head!

In order to remain competitive Olivia has decided that she would like to commit to a racing team next season.  The start up costs to join a team are a little steep.

Racing team $1140

Racing skis $300
Ski suit $175
Season's pass $279
Race team jacket $50 (This is not required by the team - just Olivia)
Race helmet $115
Cow bell $10
The total for just next year is $2069.

This total doesn't contain gas, food or seasons passes for the rest of the family.  Why should the rest of the family sit in the lodge while she is learning to race? 
Since I know you all want to someday cheer for Olivia in the winter Olympics I have come up with a way for everyone to help Olivia achieve her dream. 

SPONSORSHIPS

We are now accepting applications for sponsorships for the 2012-2013 racing season.  Logos can be placed on her helmet or prominently placed on her sleeve.

Because we are crazy...

We currently have a very full schedule on our calendar. Between softball practices and clinics (including coaching the team), T-ball practices and games (and more coaching), soccer practices and games and still finding time to ski (thank you Steven's Pass for extending the ski season a few more weekends) you would think that we would not be able to fit anything more into our lives.  But being the over-achievers that we are we decided to add something new and totally unknown.  

Robert spent 3 days building this structure.  (This is not the completed project).

So that these ladies would have a place to call home.

Meet Spotty or Bella on the left and Ellabella or Chicken on the right.  We are still working on the names.  Other names under consideration are Lunch, Dinner, Omelet, Quiche and Chicken Pot Pie.

After a short 12 hours living with us Olivia's chicken, Spotty, surprised us with an egg yesterday.  We think that the other chicken is responsible for an egg today.  We are two days, and two eggs, into this new adventure and so far the chickens seem to be happy in their new home.  These two eggs cost us $122 each.  Who would like to buy one??

Ganik is convinced that we are crazy.  He is also not sure why we decided to put the chickens in a cage.  He thinks that they would be a lot more fun running around the yard with him!

Spring

The beginning of Spring brings with it the beginning of T-ball season.  This year our league decided to let 4 year olds play for the first time.  Caedan was so excited for his first game today.

Ready for the game to start.

Caedan's first hit as a Red Sox.

First time in the field.

First time fielding the ball.

T-ball always has it challenges and funny moments.  The Red Sox played the Mariners and when the first Mariner players arrived at the field someone said "The Mariners are here." and Caedan said "The REAL MARINERS are here?"  I think he thought Ichiro was going to watch his game.  We are off to a great start for the season and we can only hope for more beautiful days like today.

Best Friends

Best Friends.  We all have that special person in our lives who we consider our best friend.  They are there for us through the good times and the bad.  We can call then up when we are having a bad day and they always know the right thing to say.  They make us smile!

Best Friends also come in unlikely combinations.  Yet the friends find a way to make things work for their special relationship.

Olivia has a special friend that has been in her class for the last 3 years.  During school they are inseparable.  They walk around the school arm in arm.  If her best friend had not been in her class this year I am sure that there would have been tears.

Caedan also has a best friend.  They met last year while skiing and instantly had a special bond.  Even during the summer months when we were not skiing Caedan talked about his best friend.  Then November rolled around, the snow was falling in the mountains, we were back on the ski slopes and Caedan was back with his best friend.

This is Caedan and his best friend Mitchell.  Yes, Michell is an adult.  Mitchell works at Steven' Pass as a ticket validator.  When you are little and a really good skier you get noticed.  When you go through the lift lines the lift operators notice you and give you high fives and cheer for you.  Last year Mitchell started giving Caedan high fives every time that we saw him.  Now, whenever Mitchell sees Caedan he will go out of his way to talk to him.  Caedan has decided that Mitchell is his best friend.  Yesterday while skiing we once again saw Mitchell.   

When Mitchell was done working yesterday he could have gone home or spent some time with his buddies.  But instead he asked Caedan if he wanted to ski with him and they set up a time to meet.  They rode the chair lift together (special perks when you are riding with a lift operator - you get through the line faster) and Michell followed Caedan down his favorite runs.  Mitchell showed Caedan some of the jumps on the runs that he likes to go off.  This lasted for four runs until Caedan needed to go into the lodge to warm up. 

So far the only downfall of Mitchell is that he is a snowboarder but we are willing to over look that fact in this case.

Just another day in Paradise

With all of this snow falling around us the Connor family is in heaven.

When it started falling on Saturday we were outside in the yard playing in the inch that was on the ground. 

Before we could play there were chores that had to be done.  The snow needed to be removed from the sidewalk so that it would be safe for visitors.

The patio and stairs also needed shoveling.

All that snow was then piled up at the bottom of the slide.

If you look closely Olivia is sliding on a snow shovel.

On Sunday we left the snow at home behind for a day of skiing in the mountains.

The day started out clear and beautiful with 7 inches of fresh snow on the ground.

We took a few runs through the terrain park.

Even Uncle Nic got in on some of the action.

Olivia, Uncle Nic and Auntie Sarah.

With more snow on the ground we enjoyed another day of playing in the snow today at our house.  We currently have a 3.5 inch base in our yard.

The kids enjoyed sledding in our yard for hours today.

Don't tell my boss but I am secretly hoping for a snow day tomorrow.  I love spending the day playing in the snow and warming up by the fire with a cup of hot chocolate.

Back in the Park

Two days into the new year and the Connor family was back on the slopes.  Having already skied eight times this season Caedan convinced us that it was time to try out the terrain park.  So we headed up the top of the terrain park to watch the safety movie that everyone must watch before entering the park.  Caedan watched the 12 minute movie and when it was over I asked him was he learned.  His response 'I don't remember.'  So as responsible parents, we figured that he was ready and we set off for the jumps. 

Olivia catching air.

The take off was good but the landing was a little ruff.  Even after crashing he was ready to keep going.  After his biggest jump, and biggest crash, he got up saying "Awesome!"

Olivia enjoying herself.

This one he landed.

Even Robert had fun.

Caedan sporting his new terrain park pass for the season.

As the photographer for the day I was not able to get any pictures of myself on the jumps.  But I am sure that if there was a picture it would have looked something like this: