here and there

so, we are finally all healthy. fortunately, the stomach bug stopped with evan. unfortunately, it took him a good 4 days to get over it. let's hope that we got our sickness out for the winter.

we went back up to tahoe this past weekend, and to greta's delight the jolly's were up there as well. greta had another go round on the skis and is already talking about going back up to tahoe and skiing more. evan and i both got two partial days in. saturday was spring conditions with quite a bit of slushy snow at the bottom, but it snowed saturday night and all day sunday, and the conditions were wonderful. the great day on sunday made up for the long drive home that night with snow falling and on the road until ~3000 ft elevation.

greta is enjoying the weekend getaways and now that we are back into a routine and not sick, it is a great way to get a bit of a break. in other greta news, i believe she officially entered the "me" phase with her new favorite phrases: "i/greta do it!" (heavy on the exclamation point) and "look at this/greta". oh the wonders of discovering and exploring self.

the sick week

so here i am, cozied up on the couch at feige (our home away from home in tahoe this winter) while everyone else naps. the week did not turn out quite as i had imagined. we’ll rewind to last weekend.

last weekend, evan joined his brother for part of an annual boys skiing/gambling weekend. they met up in vegas for the gambling part of the weekend. greta and i had a great weekend going to the park with neighborhood friends and spending a time at home. it was in the mid-70s during the day, so it was a wonderful couple of days to be in the area, taking advantage of a mid-winter reprieve.

unfortunately on sunday afternoon, greta came down with a stomach bug. she was not happy and woke up 3-4 times during the night to add insult to injury. we took it in stride and hoped it would be the 24 hour variety. greta and i stayed home on monday and i started my attempt at being full time mom with a sick kid and keeping up with a full time job on the side. greta finally had a normal day on thursday, and needless to say after 4 and a half days of double duty, i was exhausted. fortunately, when greta returned to camp (aka daycare) on friday, she was greeted with cheers from the people who work there and her friends, happy she was back, and she got right back into the swing of things playing with friends.

yesterday, we headed up to tahoe to ski in the spring conditions for the weekend. sick strikes again. this time it hit evan, who woke up feeling “like a truck ran over him”. i am keeping my fingers crossed that it passes quickly and does not get passed.

so, here’s hoping we can get everyone healthy and catch some spring skiing tomorrow. meanwhile, i’ll enjoy my quiet time on the couch (and catch up on some more work emails that piled up this week). we hope everyone else is staying healthy (and warm given not everywhere has highs in the 70s this week).

"i wanna ski!"

this is the phrase we heard repeatedly over this past weekend. greta, a couple months shy of 2 years old, beat her dad to this phrase by a year. we had some terrific weather up in tahoe a couple days over the new year holiday, so we packed everyone in the car and headed up to the mountain.

greta couldn't wait to get out in the snow and ski. we have the handy-dandy strap on skis that were broken in by greta's cousins, hannah and riley, complete with the snow suit broken in by ally, so we were set to go.

we cruised outside (greta carrying her own skis!) and took a few turns on the flat and ever so slightly sloped spots right outside the lodge. greta was hooked. she loved to slide on the skis and did pretty well walking in them too.

she doesn't have the strength to go into "real" skis and boots and may not get there this year, but she is loving the whole concept of skiing and all we heard all weekend is how she wanted to go ski, which bodes well for us.

the year in review…

in high school, a couple of good friends and i started a tradition. we all got together towards the end of the year, sat around in the hot tub and each took turns doing our year in review, reflecting on all the major events of the year. since i have never done resolutions for the new year, this was a great tradition to start (and it’s our equivalent to a holiday card). so here is my year in review.

we bookended 2008 with the same activity to start and finish the year. we are in tahoe at alpine meadows with our good friend the jollys. starting and finishing the year skiing is a good way to go in my book. for greta’s first birthday we flew to vermont, where evan’s parent’s live, and my parents flew out, and we all celebrated birthdays (mark, hannah, riley, greta and evan) together. we also had some excellent snow days for skiing and tobogganing down the hill in the yard. it was a perfect get away with one exception… my mom had a spill and had some hummer bruises to take back with her (but she had a great time).

in april, we joined our neighbors, brian & smita and their two boys nikhil and vivaan, in whistler canada. they have a timeshare their and go a few times a year. it was late season for skiing, but we had great snow and it is a wonderful set of mountains. i unfortunately had to cut my skiing short as i took a fall up on the glacier on blackcomb. turns out that i broke my elbow and had to make a visit to the emergency room and give up my last day of skiing. we were very fortunate that my mom came to visit in california the day we returned since my arm was immobilized for the first week (then physical therapy for a bit and now we’re back to normal).

our streak of unfortunate incidents did not start with that. prior to the trip, we got rear-ended in my car and had to have the whole back end redone, but no one was hurt. a couple days after breaking my arm, i was on the way to work and had a flat tire on highway 17. a couple weeks later, i was on 17 and a deer jumped out in front and wrecked the front end of my car.

the crown jewel of our streak happened on mother’s day. we were doing a few things around the house. evan was up on a ladder 15 feet up and the ladder, the carpet under the ladder, me holding the ladder and evan all slid. evan came down on his right foot and crushed his heel bone. a trip to the emergency room, finding a competent surgeon, surgery two weeks later (involving a plate and 14 screws), a couple days in the hospital recovering, orders to keep the weight off for at least 9 weeks and a schedule of follow up visits altered our summer plans a bit. did i mention that it was his right foot and he couldn't drive? at least with the really high gas prices we saved a bit having to carpool everywhere for 3 months. we also had help from both sets of parents, which was great for everyone.

evan was back on his feet in august, although it was a slow process involving many trips to the physical therapist. we had to cancel one camping trip in the summer, but we made up for it with a fall trip to catalina island with our friends jamie and crissy. it was a great weekend camping and drinking buffalo milk (which is actually a very yummy cocktail).

the summer ended with its own ups and downs. in august, my grandmother passed away. she had a full and happy life which will continue to be a great influence and inspiration to my life. greta and i were able to make it back to wisconsin for the funeral and it was good to be with family and reflect on both the beginning and end of life. the end of summer also marked our 5 year anniversary. it's amazing to the of all the changes packed into those years, and i can't think of a better way to spend the last five years (or a better person to spend them with).

the fall brought more visits from parents and more recovery. we were not able to make it to the east coast for thanksgiving due to astronomical airline tickets, so we joined evan's family in the east bay for thanksgiving dinner and spent the weekend in tahoe with the jolly's readying the ski house we rented for the winter.

we celebrated the first night of hanukkah with friends barry & cristy who hosted a latke party for friends and family and headed to texas a few days later to celebrate the latter days of hanukkah and christmas with family in austin.

throughout the year, we watched greta grow and change. she is now a very chatty toddler, complete with phrases like "no way" and "yeah okay". to think that she just started walking last winter and now we have to run to keep up when she takes off is pretty crazy.

as i look back, it was an unexpected year with more than the usual number of snags, but overall a great year. it's hard to be down when you have a happy and loving toddler in your life (although i admit, i won't say there wasn't some frustration and reminders for patience thrown into the mix). and we are lucky to have a wonderful family, good friends, a place to call home and a certain amount of stability as we roll through life's surprises.

dare i say, i am looking forward to 2009 - the year of the 'terrible twos'! happy new year to everyone!