Day Three...another early morning...

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 16:15:22 GMT

The morning started early...5:16am. I noticed myself waking every hour since the 9pm hour we went to sleep. Then at 5am, I heard the TV and talking. I got up and went to the bathroom. That was it I was up and there was no going back to bed. Somehow I had to keep the kids later tonite.

I knew there were some parently responsibility i was lacking...actually dozens. The kids hadnt had a good breakfast in days, not bath or shower and then i recalled Liam hadnt gone "number two" since christmas! i also noticed that someone pee was brown (sign of impending dehydration of one of my kids). I quickly asked who has the brown the pee and Ethan responded instantly...LIAM! Liam laughed and asked me why. i told him he needs to drink more water and that his body was drying out. he understood and quickly downed 8 oz. now onto the plugged bowels. I told liam we were going out until he moved his bowels. he instantly sat down and out it came.

I thought to myself...wow, i am on a role! what other responsibilities have i been remiss? BATHTIME! I got them both thoroughly bathed and hair washed before 7am! Wow, gina would be impressed. unfortunately, breakfast will loose me some points...a chocolate dipped chocolate chip cookie and some kettle corn with a few BBQ Lays chips to wash it all down! Hey high-carbs for energy, right?!?!

Well time for the one hour ritual of bundling them up to go outside. Skies are clear, no wind but tempature is below 15 degrees. The question of the day is what to do with the kids...another day of lessons or do they ski with me? If you ask liam he is ready for the largest hills by himself. He must have told me 50 times he doesn't need any lessons as he already knows how to ski.

I make the parental decision of another day of lessons. But since we got up so early i could spend an hour or so skiing with the kids and we can see how they do. After the bundling and re-bundling exercise we went over to the POMA (a toe rope that goes up a 200 foot high bunny hill). Mind you Liam has NEVER done this...grab onto a rope while wearing skiis and get pulled 100 feet up the mountain. Having just watched 2-3 people ahead of him I figure he would shy away from trying...NOT Liam. He grabs on like a champ and off he goes! nearing the top and following behind him and nervous to the core...I am shouting coaching instructions to him; "hold on, honey"..."keep your skiis straight up the hill"..."you are doing GREAT".

Now, reaching the top, I yell to him to let go!!! He lets go just as instructed but fails to turn his skis so he quickly comes to a stop....then begins going straight backwards...right past me, gaining speed down the mountain! I am terrified for him thinking is must be about to go into cardiac arrest and shock. I immediately abandon the toe rope myself and head down after him screaming to just to; "sit down...fall down"! He looks like a tiny balls of blue nylon with a black dot on top streaming backwords down the hill. I thinking the trip is over at this point. Before you it his legs start to spread and I am not sure if this is good he will finally fall or what. He is down...I rush to his side and he is laughing and we both have a good laugh together... mine of pure relief and his of excitement. He actually liked it. He said; "dad, was I going fast?"

The next few runs were of similiar gravity controlled (as to human controlled) down hill skiing. Each time he crashed near the bottom and was undawnted by the experience.

The first two days...

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 16:10:43 GMT

So we finished our second day. We got off to a rough start to say the least...

The trip started with our nanny bailing as I had told her she could NOT bring her sister 48 hours after telling her she could. I saw the confirmation email from the condo and they had in bold type : NO MORE THAN 4 PERSONS INCLUDING CHILDREN. I got scared and told her not to bring her sis as sis was the 5th person. She quickly cancelled. I figured it being the best as I didn’t want to get thrown out if we got caught. In retrospect, we would not have gotten caught. I see whole tribes of people in the condos on both sides ...well more than the 4 people rule! Oh well....

On the drive up we were an hour away from Mammoth and got clipped by the CHP for 89 in a 55....cant wait to see the bill on that one. Any money just saved by not having to pay for the nanny just went to the state of California! Thinking about 89 in a 55, I started to wonder...I am driving a Toyota RAV 4 (Stands for 4-banger or 85 horsepower max)...I don’t think it even goes 80 downhill! God knows I won’t be coming back to INYO County, CA to fight it! Chalk that one up for the tax payers. The first thing Liam says as the lights are flashing behind me is “AWESOME!”

After getting the ticket the officer politely tells me the road is going to close in about an hour and I better hurry and get some chains on my car or I will be turned around and spending the night in Bishop - if I can find a room! Now the mad dash to get chains, get up but NO MORE SPEEDING! Yeah right.

Then we stop at some mountain hick café and there is a line of 30 people waiting to use the two toilets. Being the efficient person that I am I take the kids in with me and figure we can “share the bowl”. We start doing our business and as soon as I start, Liam SCREAMS; “OH MY GOD, DAD! YOUR PENIS IS HUGE!!!!” surely, this is heard through the paper-thin doors to the endless cue on the otherside. I start laughing so hard I cant control my stream...and Liam rebutts: “Dad! You just pee’d on me!!!” At this point, I can’t breath and am thinking about going through the window to avoid the embarrasment of having to face my peers waiting to get in next.

As the elevation goes up....5000, 6000, 7000 feet the temp drops quickly from 65...55...45...35...and then the snow starts falling...the kids are electrified... (remember they have never seen snow before)

Just as we arrive in town the road blocks go up and they are pulling people over who don’t have chains on... I roll past the pull over point and right to our place... Phew! The snow is really coming down now! I pull into the parking garage and then have the kids stay in the garage (out of the almost blizzard conditions) while I register and get our keys. I come back and find them licking the snow off the garage floor that had blown in from the wind! I was like oh no! I obvisouly need to hat them on which snow is edible and which is not! Good thing there was no yellow snow around.

We get into the room and they immediately go onto the balcony and start having a snowball fight and begging to go outside. I let them go out in the drifts for a bit and of course they're covered in snow and soaked but the soaked clothes and 30 degree temp don’t even register with them... I am shocked.

After being up at 5am EST and it is now 6pm PST I encourage them to go to bed. No way! They want to go out to eat. So we go to the resturant across the street which is a 4 star place but I will go anywhere and pay anything not to be outside or drive the car which still has the chains in the container in the back and I have NO IDEA how to put them on. We order and not more than 2 mins later first Liam then Ethan...their heads bow and they are asleep at the table and are now the talk of the resturant. I am somewhat embarrased as this is a pretty expensive place but what am I gonna do? I carry Liam home with food in hand and they quickly go back to sleep!

It’s 4:38am PST and Liam comes in and asks if he can go outside! I coax him into bed and we all sleep till about 7:30am. We eat dry cereal we picked up while getting the chains at Kmart (probably the smartest move). Overnite we must have gotten 2 feet of new snow and the wind was blowing it around at about 40mph. Drifts outside our windows were 10+ feet high! Still no chains and the 4 star resturant across the street is not open for breakfest...dry cereal and cold chicken nuggets...breakfast of champions!

The kids just want to go outside but as a parent with the winds and drifts and the recent news reports of people getting lost in the mountain storms...I wasn’t gonna let that happen. I figure the most productive thing to do would be to walk the 2 blocks or so to the Ski lodge and get see if the lifts will even open today! It takes me about 30-40 mins to suit them up properly...wishing I had some help already and being afflicted with a case of high altitude deficiency I was having to sit down for 2 mins between each boot, each glove, each layer of clothing for the kids! Still all they want is to go outside. So off we go on foot.

We get about 50 feet before the wind is against our face with tiny ice crystals pelting us like a sandblaster in winter. I am winded and in pain myself and the kids are saying: “Daddy, help...it hurts...I wanna go inside! ” (Didn’t take long!) At this point we were about halfway to the lodge and only a few yards from shelter from the wind or otherwise we probably would have bagged the whole day! First stop...the sport shop where I drop a couple hundred on goggles, face masks, new gloves and the likes to weatherproof them...only hoping it works and my money wasn’t spent in vain.

Then I drop the $400 on the rentals, ski school and lift tickets...as they same I am pot-committed at this point, hoping their enthusiasm for the outdoors returns before the class starts or the weather gets better or both. Running back and forth preparing the kids, helping them get their rentals on, bundled up to the end, looking for any possible air holes those tiny ice shards and cruel wind can get through...then inspecting seals for places snow could get caught, seep in and torture their virgin skin. Going through my mind was a million things from: "why am I so ethical (I should have brought those girls or anyone else that would have helped me)" to "perhaps just get back in the car and go to LA" or "maybe I should fly gina up here to help me". All the while trying forever to catch my breath that always seems to be about 5 mins ahead of me. Its like breathing through a straw while running a 50 yard dash...never enough air, never enough...am I gonna be one of those geriatrics who rolls an oxygen tank around at 40??

They are finally in class...I can now go back and get my goggles I purposely didn’t wear earlier as I didn’t think only the kids should suffer the blowing snow. I needed to be there with them in this-yeah right! I check on them once more and they are happy and learning. I rent my skiis and put them on and check on them again...still good. I figure maybe I can skii now...let me just wait till their break and make sure they are REALLY ok.... They are!

By this time the wind has died down, I am finally getting a bit more aclimated to the elavation. I put on the Ipod, crank and ride the ski lift to the top and listen to the music and enjoy probably one of the most well deserved and peaceful runs down the mountain of my life! The space, the air (what little there is of it), the colors and the speed...that is what skiing is about.

After a few runs I check again on the kids and they are doing fabulous...but every few runs my attention goes to them and I feel the need to come back to reality and make sure they are ok. Each time they fine and doing EXTREMELY well. Liam wants to go up School Yard Express (a chairlift to the 11,000 foot level)...we will see about that (NOT!). Ethan cant decide if he wants to switch to snowboarding tmrw.

After 6 hours on the slopes they want to go sledding...I oblige... And sit in the bar just outside the bunny hill drinking a diet coke and watching them wondering if they are too cold, getting wet, or over tired....the life of a parent.

More tmrw. Enjoy the pics

Trip to Mammoth with the Boys

Day Three...another early morning...

The first two days...