Natural Disasters

In the time of my life I now refer to as 'pre-kids', I knew everything there was to know about parenting. I could've written a book. Whenever I'd see someone having a tough time with a child, I knew the answer. Parenting was really simple. Now I think I need to make a 'My Name is Earl' list of all those parents I silently reprimanded in my head, and get some notes out to them apologizing for my ignorance. Why? Because I'm sure they were looking at me and thinking, 'just wait -- your turn will come'. Of course they were right, and now I'm learning how difficult it is to apply your theories to reality. Makes me want to call some of my college business professors as well. :-)

At some level, I guess I knew this would be the case, so I've had a pretty realistic approach to being a father which has served me (I think) fairly well. There is one thing I still haven't adjusted to, though... the natural disasters. I used to visit friends with children and be amazed at the state of their homes. Bear in mind that Lauren will be the first to tell you that I'm more Oscar than Felix, but I do think that since the EPA nearly took away my college apartment, I've been reasonably neat. And I think most of my friends are, too. So you can imagine my surprise at the sheer volume of toyspillowsclothingbooksunderpantsactionfiguresfood that filled by friend's living rooms, kitchens and bedrooms. What had happened to their Pottery Barn existence? How could they let things pile up like this? Had they given up? Couldn't they clean up once in awhile? Clearly these were piles of debris that had been collecting for years, right?

"Here comes the story of The Hurricane"
- Bob Dylan

Wrong. That was pre-kids thinking. And that was before I met Hurricane Tyler and Tropic Storm Alyssa. It is 8:30 pm right now. Our kitchen is clean, the dishes are done, the living room is clean and the toys are put away. This is the result of finishing *work* at 5pm, dinner at 5:30, and shifting directly into 2 straight hours of cleanup. Two hours! Our house was TRASHED.

Have we been letting the messes pile up? Neglecting to take a few minutes to straighten up here and there? Nope. We did the same thing last night, and we'll do it again tomorrow. If you come by at 9pm, you'll think we have a maid. But when the Tropical Storm and The Hurricane wake up tomorrow, it will take roughly 11 seconds for them to undo my cleanup job. I have never seen anything like it. Their appetite for destruction is unparalleled... except by the appetite shared by all of their 3 year old colleagues. Which brings me back to my original point -- my deepest apologies to anyone I ever judged with my pre-kid notions of a post-kid existence. And maybe an understanding of how you could eventually just say... 'maybe I can find something better to do with all of those hours'. I mean, your work will just be undone in the morning anyway, right?

I also now realize that all those times I was shocked by the state of my friends' homes, my friends were probably shocked, too. After all, they'd only turned their backs on the kids for 11 seconds to go answer the doorbell...

The End of the Season

Just as quickly as you could register two fairly significant March snowstorms, the month turned towards spring in a major hurry this week. Warm temperatures and quite a bit of rain. I think our house has the most snow left in the immediate area, but it is going fast. Not sure I've ever seen such a fast melt. Snowbanks that were several feet high 10 days ago are now bare grass. Hopefully the flooding won't be too bad, but it sure seems like some of the low lying areas could be in for some adventure in the next couple of weeks.

Those conditions probably mean that our ski season has come to an abrupt finish. We took the kids out on Saturday (along with their grandparents and Uncle Steve). It was good to get out one more time, but I suspect that Ty and Ally have pretty much had enough for this year, and they showed it by being ready to retire after about four runs. That was also a byproduct of wanting some quality time with their grandparents, but I was happy to see them finish strong and end their season on a happy note. The passion for skiing wasn't there for the kids the past couple of weeks, and I have a strong feeling they are ready to move on to spring activities. It's all good with me -- they learned a ton this season, enjoyed almost every day on the hill and I suspect will be looking forward to next season soon enough.

So spring is getting here quickly and the kids seem ready to embrace it. We've enrolled them in a really cool course at Shelburne Farms called 'Spring Adventures'. It's a 3 hour class where they get to visit with the animals at the farm, spend some time exploring outside and make some new friends. Perhaps the best part will be that it's a chance for them to spend some time in a classroom away from home and mom & dad... not that we don't want them around, but it's good preparation for preschool in the fall. So far they are really enjoying it. Last week they planted beans and marigolds -- fun stuff!

I think Lauren and I are starting to look forward to some warmer weather, too, and as such, just signed up for the Big Lake half-marathon in May. That means we've got some training to do in the next few weeks! I'm looking forward to re-establishing some fitness goals, as I've let the beers and wings of apres' ski accumulate a little bit more this year than last, and sense that it is time to get moving again. As someone who still doesn't consider himself a *runner*, it still strikes me as odd to say this, but running a half-marathon in a few weeks will be a lot of *fun* and I'm really excited for the race. Wow. What a difference a few years makes. :-)

Tyler's "Nap"

Had a great day yesterday with Tim and Chip trying to tame the woods of Mad River Glen. Beautiful weather, great views, and as noted by the whiteboard at the top of the single chair, 'the conditions we dream about'. The double chair was out of commission until about 3pm, which meant the legendary single-chair was our only ride up (equaling some very long lift lines), no one was complaining. Awesome snow, great friends, and in reality, by the time we were done, I didn't have many turns left in my legs anyway. If you ski and haven't been to Mad River, you really should check it out. I think it is to skiing what Fenway Park is to baseball.

Needless to say, after two straight weekends of grown-up skiing, Ty and Ally were anxious to return to the mountain today. We got a nice early start this morning, and arrived to jacket-shedding 40 degree weather. Looked beautiful for the first couple of runs, but it was not meant to last. Some nasty rain chased us back to the lodge for an early lunch, and we ended up calling it an early day. A bummer from a ski perspective, but the report looks good tomorrow, and the rain seems to have subsided pretty quickly. The good news is that the kids would get a much needed nap today, as they've both been fighting some spring colds.

Maybe. As I write this, Ally is putting the finishing touches on a 3-hour nap bender. Much needed. Tyler, on the other hand, has been a bit more challenging. One of those afternoons that really ought to be captured for posterity:

1:05 pm: Both kids down for naps
1:07 pm: Ally is out cold
1:15 pm: 'Do you hear something, Lar?'. 'Yes, it's Tyler.'
1:16 pm: I go in to settle Tyler down. Got to be quiet, buddy. He's missing a stuffed pumpkin from Halloween. All set now.
1:20 pm: 'Do you hear something, Lar?'. 'Yes, it's Tyler.'
1:22 pm: Tyler needed to tell me that he wanted to ski more today. Fair enough, we'll go longer tomorrow. Get some sleep, buddy.
1:25 pm: Actually quiet.
1:45 pm: Lauren is now napping, so I have to talk to myself... 'Do you hear something?' I think I know.
1:46 pm: Tyler needed to tell me he was happy that my truck was back from the shop (new tires). Great, pal, thanks!
2:00 pm: Ty, we really need some quiet time. You're going to wake Ally.
2:25 pm: I give up. Come sit on the couch *quietly* with me. Wrapped up in a blanket, we'll fall asleep watching college hoops together, right?
2:30 pm: 'No talking, Ty. Quiet time.' 'Okay, Daddy'.

The next 30 minutes are something like this: 'Please be quiet.' 'okay'. Ten seconds pass... 'my foot itches'/'is it time to get up yet'/'Where are Mommy and Ally'/'Quiet please'...'okay'... 20 seconds... 'can I have a toy?'... 'not right now... please be quiet'...

You get the picture. I've finally given up -- the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, and a quietly playing/reading Tyler lets Lauren and Ally sleep. So we're in my office, blogging and reading stories, when after 2:45 minutes of trying to get Tyler to take a nap, countless attempts at getting him to lay quietly with me, lay quietly by himself, watch basketball, read books, you name it...

3:52 pm: "Daddy, I'd like to go have a nap now, please."

Knights of Columbus, that's COLD!

My apologies to Ron Burgundy for ripping off his schtick from 'Anchorman' but WOW, was it cold this morning. Tyler was asking about going skiing, but as I hauled the trash out to the curb this am, the porch thermometer read -24 F. YIKES! Sorry buddy -- inside games today. It was cold like that yesterday, too, and no signs of relief until Friday. This is a forecast even Brick Tamland could nail.

So, I think this week is showing us a little bit of the other edge of the sword with encouraging Ally & Ty to be so outdoor focused. They are not cool with being stuck inside. Considering that they spent Saturday building snowmen, it seems hard to believe, but three days later I'm clearly seeing early warning signs of cabin fever. There was absolute bedlam at the delivery of "pull ups" diapers earlier today, and thrills at the prospect of getting to go grocery shopping. Just happy to get out of the house, I guess. The weekend looks much warmer -- we should be able to get out to the mountains again on Saturday.

Speaking of the cold weather, it's been a pretty odd couple of weeks in the news from the global warming front. We've been trying to explain environmental stewardship to the kids, and why we changed some lightbulbs and need to be diligent about recycling, etc. And while I fully understand that they are only three, and probably can't comprehend the full extent of what I am saying, I think they are getting the basic concept. Which, as it turns out, is more than can be said for the hero of the cause whom we've now learned uses something like 25x the amount of energy of the average American. How can Gore justify this? I've never been a big fan, but I was willing to follow for the greater good. He needs to start walking the walk... Ally and Ty may not comprehend the whole thing, but they could tell you very easily that he needs a timeout for not listening.

On top of that, there are a bunch of new reports coming out like this one which suggest that the problem may not be all about our lifestyle, but simply nature. That's a vast oversimplification on my part, but it is an interesting article.

My mom always suggested 'all things in moderation', and I suspect that is pretty good advice in this debate. I'd like to think that we are not doomed to a life of oceanfront property in northern VT, but I'm also quite sure that those who suggest this is all bogus science have another agenda in mind. I'm guessing the truth lies somewhere in the middle, and regardless of what you believe, who can argue with seeking cleaner, cheaper and more economical fuels? Global warming or not, isn't a less polluted world a good thing for all of us? We're trying our best to get 'greener'... I think it's a noble pursuit either way.

In the interest of keeping this thread fun, here are a couple of articles discussing the lighter side of global warming. Probably not suitable in helping the kids understand the concept, but some good fun nonetheless...

Global warming and the world's oldest profession...

And some activities are still safe for the environment...

Enjoy!

Good Times at Okemo

What an epic day spent at Okemo this past Saturday! Big thanks to our good friends Rob & Joy for extending an invite (and a couple of free passes) to join them for a day of skiing. Probably even bigger thanks to Joy's sister Janet who was willing to babysit all of our kids so we could get out together for a day. I think we were so fired up at the prospect of getting out together and so sure of Janet's ability to take great care of the kiddos, that none of us ever really stopped to do the math on the adult/kid ratio. Sometime around 2pm, Joy mentioned that she herself had never taken care of four toddlers alone... I realized quickly that I certainly had not, either. Somehow, we'd asked poor Janet (who does not yet have any kids of her own) to dive into childcare waters none of us have even attempted to navigate! Not only have I not navigated them, but I'm not certain I'd even try... But of course we knew she was up to the task, and not surprisingly came home a little later to find four happy kiddos and one tired Janet. THANK YOU JANET!!!

A couple of thoughts about Okemo... I had skied there once many years ago and didn't remember much about the terrain. We have stayed there at the end of Rob's race (the 100 on 100) and knew the accommodations were pretty sweet. As it turns out, the skiing was really very good. Definitely not the steeps that you can get at some of the bigger mountains, but the runs were nice and the conditions were excellent. The weather was warm and left the new snow kind of heavy, but we dug around and found some really sweet bump and tree runs. On the other hand, we were all having some good laughs about the number of crashes we were seeing. I can't remember the last time I saw so many people learning to ski at once... I did a lot of stopping and enjoying the views of seas of snowplowers trying to clear out the new snow. Rob made the good observation that there really are some outstanding skiers at the more northern mountains in VT. Sometimes I take that for granted, but it really is fun to watch the pros.

My favorite part of our day came after we'd discovered a really nice little woods run. I've been pushing Lauren towards bumps and trees for a couple of seasons now and until our trip to Jackson in '05, she had maintained that the woods just didn't hold any fun for her. I keep saying that people who can't find fun in the woods don't know where to look. Anyway, her skill set and desire for off-piste adventure is beginning to peak, and after a pretty challenging run through the trees, we were at the top of the lift again, waiting for Lauren's choice of trails. The decision? Right back trough the same trees. :-) Who loves you, baby?

Looking forward to at least another 6 weeks of spring skiing. I'll leave you with a parting shot of the aftermath of one of Rob's aerial maneuvers:

Weekend Update

Some random thoughts while quietly awaiting "The Blizzard of 2007 pt. 2"... Even though I've now lived in VT for the majority of my adult life, I still think there are few things cooler than the buzz associated with a potentially big snowstorm. As it would be in most areas, the storm ends up being the lead on the news, and a front page story in the paper. But the difference here is that although everyone has the same concerns about travel/warmth/safety/etc, no one can hide their excitement. People want it to snow, and there is something that is so cool about that. Like being a little kid again and praying for a snow day. Having lived in Boston for several years, I can say that that city gets the same buzz when the Red Sox are playing well. There is an absolutely tangible and infectious feeling that seems to take over, and everyone has a little extra smile and energy.

I have this cool browser plugin for weather -- that's what I call a forecast!

When compared with the more significant challenges we face in life, extra powder to ski and the success or failure of the Sox are of relatively little importance, of course. With that said though, I love those activities for allowing me to temporarily block out the stresses of life by focusing energy on some uncomplicated fun. I hope you have some similar pursuits.

Speaking of uncomplicated fun, Ally and Ty have just discovered a HUGE box of Legos (a gift from their elder cousin Ian...thanks!) and are really into them. Not sure I've seen them so focused on a toy as they have been recently with these. I've just given myself a short break from work to help them put together a Lego house (complete with helicopter landing pad). Uncomplicated fun. :-) Now back to my day job...

Enjoy your weekend!