California or Bust

Hubby's in Budapest.

Before that it was London.

Before that it was Paris.

Before that it was Stockholm.  Where he left three shirts (DANG!), one of which he said was his favorite that I gave him for Christmas.  I don't know which one it is, I don't know if we'll ever see it or its friends again.

He comes home tomorrow. (Snoopy dance!)

The next day we leave for California, our (nearly) annual trip to stay with my parents in the condo they rent on the beach.  For a WHOLE WEEK!  A week of sun and beach and Disney and whatever else we want to do and no snow!

I expect fabulous things from this vacation.  And yes, it always delivers!

I believe that the day after we get back from this vacation Hubby leaves for India, New Zealand... and I don't know where else.

It'll be a nasty stretch.

Thing 1 is nearly done with wearing the splint on her broken arm.  Her arm seems completely better, and we are so happy she picked the splint instead of the cast as she has started taking it off briefly when it completely annoys her.  This means she doesn't completely annoy the rest of us.

I still haven't sent out my Christmas letter.  I have actually written one, I was just trying to get some cute photos to go in it...  I was planning on doing a Valentine's letter, but can see that's not going to happen.

Last week was the book fair, I only volunteered for one shift a day, but seemed to have somehow lost more than the two hours a day I spent at the school.  And it would seem I caught a nasty bug there - Friday morning I started coming down with something that had me flat on my back miserable all day Saturday and Sunday, barely seeing the light on Monday.  Tuesday was marginally better, and today I can at least function, though I still sound like I swallowed a frog.  And on top of all the catching up I need to do, there's the class Valentine's party I need to put on tomorrow, and the kids valentines that we have to do tonight, and riding lessons and art lessons and packing and getting everything ready to go, and getting the dog to the kennel, and the guinea pigs to the friend's.  We ought to be all packed up by Thursday night because my goal is to pick the kids up from school just after noon on Friday and keep on going!

I rarely meet my goals.

But that doesn't stop me from making them!

Another Broken Arm

Hubby bought a season pass to the closest resort, and has been going up whenever he can, an hour or a half day here and there.  He's kind of caught on the snowboarding thing, and has been really enjoying it.  The girls have just gone once for a private boarding lesson Hubby took them up for, then three times with the school program.   I hadn't gone at all (except for the day I did ONE RUN as chaperone for the girls program, but that's another story.)  So we went skiing (me) and snowboarding (the girls and Hubby) on Martin Luther King day.  

With the girls we kept to the bunny hill, and they were doing great.

Then Thing 1 was trying to do some toe turns, and some snow bunched up behind her heals, and she fell backward.  She'd been falling on her butt so much she was worried she broke her tailbone, so she put her hands out to catch herself, and...

It didn't look like anything bad to me, like she'd just rolled onto her butt.   I skied down to where Thing 2 was a little further down the mountain next to the lift, expecting Hubby and Thing 1 to come meet us.  But they didn't.  So sure was I that Thing 1 wasn't that badly hurt that Thing 2 and I went the rest of the way down, and got on the lift for another run.  Surely Hubby would have called me if there was anything wrong.  As Thing 2 and I were lifted up over the trees I saw Hubby and Thing 1 walking down the mountain, him carrying both of their boards.

He told me later he knew it was bad when she couldn't move her fingers. 

They found a ski patrol person who took them to the clinic on the mountain, where they took an x-ray and found Thing 1 had a "buckle" break, which is kind of like a crimp in the bone.

Thing 1 was in a splint for a week, then went in on Monday to the hospital to get a cast which she would have for three weeks.  Only the doctor gave her the option of a cast or a splint.  We chose the splint.  The cast was the choice for kids who wouldn't leave a splint on, he told us.  The more comfortable splint can be removed for bathing.  And for going to CALIFORNIA.  The cast/splint could officially come off February 18th, and we leave for California on the 15th.  This solved all the problems, and Thing 1 has been super about leaving it on, to the point that she was trying to put the bathing bag on it the other day.  She figured she didn't want to take it off too early.  Then even when I did take it off of her, she wouldn't get it wet.  I had to assure her it would be okay several times, and would feel good to wash her arm and hand.

Needless to say she's being very good about keeping the splint on.

Because my first ski day in 14 years was spent on the bunny hill and worrying about Thing 1, Hubby and I went back up on Wednesday for an adults only ski day.  It was horrible weather, snowing like crazy and very cold.  I had a ball.  I really love the skis my brother sold me (out of the goodness of his heart, a gesture I think he has regretted since and I am sorely tempted to give back to him except THEY'RE SO WONDERFUL THEY SKI THEMSELVES!) and had a great time skiing with Hubby.  Hubby, however, was quite disappointed with the weather, and just about the end of the day he took a spill getting off the lift and landed hard on the ice right as you get off the lift.  I think he bruised his pelvis or something.  He could hardly walk.

He felt much better the next day, but it did alarm me that snowboarding has already taken it's toll on 3 of my family members - Thing 1, Hubby, and my niece who took a nasty fall a couple weeks ago.

Yet Hubby wants to get us all season passes next year.  He is undaunted.