No one had to work today but me (*sob*) but I was cheered up by some special visitors!! The boys quickly settled into an office routine, with jake setting up his own office space on one of my tables and Liam taking diligent notes at my desk.
Jake's new office space
"Ok, the first order of business is that I propose is that we increase the number of snacks that are distributed per day"
We went to lunch at joe mamas (yum!) and of course, it wouldn't be a trip to Oakland without visiting the Pitt panther statue!! Liam was quite hesitant to sit right in front of it at first (by hesitant, I mean that he repeatedly said "NO PANTHER! NO PANTHER!"as if it were going to come alive and eat him) but of course, once Jake sat down in front of it, he was fine. By the time we left, he was waving to the panther and telling it goodbye, so I think he made peace with the beast.
Jake hammed it up and yelled "Hail to Pitt!". It was a proud moment for me.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter weekend!! Enjoy the sunshine while it lasts!
No need to adjust your screen or have your eyes checked....that picture is really one of me skiing. I'll give you a minute to collect yourself from the shock you've just experienced.
All better now? Great. Ok, so for years Brian has been saying that I should try skiing. I went skiing one time in high school...it was not a pretty sight. I was cold, whiny, and overall just hated the experience. Fast forward to this winter, and Jake has asked me a few times if I was going to go skiing with him. I kept putting off the question, then finally a few weeks ago Brian pointed out that we were nearing the end of ski season, and it was supposed to be warmer during the upcoming weekend, so it might be a good time to go. I'm such a sucker, I agreed to this plan.
I will admit: it was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. In fact, between us, I enjoyed myself. I wasn't cold at all, which helped tremendously. It was 42 degrees, no wind, and Brian got me some great cold-weather gear that really helped (I was actually hot after the first few runs!)
The only bad part of the day was that I took a pretty bad fall on the 5th run or so. I had been having trouble stopping, so we got to the top of this run and Brian told me to wait to go down, he wanted to go in front of me so that I could see exactly how he came to a stop. Well, in the middle of him trying to position himself in front of me, I couldn't seem to stop (go figure) and ended up going down the hill. So there I was, careening down the hill, and somehow I ended up turning backwards. As you can guess, it did not go well from there....I ended up falling backwards, cracking my head (I actually felt it bounce off the ground, OUCH! Thank God for that helmet!), and then landing in a heap of tangled skis. My head actually ended up hurting less than my back; I think when I fell I instinctively tried to land on my right side. However, my skis didn't come off, so when I tried to turn, I just became tangled in them and my upper body moved, but my lower body stayed in the same place. My back and neck were quite sore for a few days....along with the muscles in the rest of my body that haven't been used in an embarrassingly long period of time.
Here is a video, though it does not feature my fall (sorry to disappoint you). It's my 2nd run:
Here is a longer one a bit later in the morning (somehow, I still look just as awkward as I did during earlier runs), and also features Jake doing some small jump things at the end:
So, there you have it, internet world. I skied. I lived to tell the tale. I was only sore for a week. Funniest conversation of the day was as follows, while on the lift. We had been skiing for about 2 hours at this point, and Jake was clearly having to slow down a lot on all of the runs to wait for me.
Jake: Mommy, did you know that some people like to hang out in the lodge?
Me: Oh yeah? That sounds nice.
Jake: Yeah, it's true. (pause) You can hang out in the lodge, if you want to.....
Me: Oh that's ok, buddy...I'm having lots of fun with you and daddy!
Jake: Oh...well, ok then............
I'm pretty sure he was trying to get rid of his slow poke mother. Jake's wish was granted though after lunch; once I sat down I really felt the soreness from my fall. And the warmth of the lodge called to me....so I settled in with my book and let daddy & Jake head back out for another hour or so by themselves. He didn't say so, but I'm sure he was ecstatic!
I had mentioned in a previous post that Jake's room had started to feel babyish, and that I hoped to update some of the accents with a superhero theme. We made the transformation this past weekend (and I use the word "transformation" very loosely-really, we just pulled down some of the old animal decor, put up some superhero signs and changed the comforter)-but I was happy with how it turned out, and Jake loved it, so that's what matters. In typical 2nd child fashion, Liam will inherit the animal decor once he moves to a big boy bed.
Here is the before:
And, the after!! (don't mind the mismatched curtains, they were out of the color that I wanted, so hopefully I can replace those soon)
Comforter from walmart, Spiderman doll was a gift from GG & Pappy for Christmas
LOVE THIS
vintage looking signs that I picked up in NY.
Basketball hoop (Christmas gift from GG & Pappy)
Posters on the back of his door (Thanks, Beth!!)
Comforter: $24.99 at walmart
Shams & Skirt: $16 at walmart
Signs: $20
Vinyl decal on wall: $12
Spiderman trash can (not pictured): $4 at Target
I posted the video of Jake skiing last week with the promise of more details about the kids trip. Some other daycare dads and Brian had decided that they should take the kids skiing together, so they headed out for a day in the snow!
Here is Maddie, Jake (messing with his goggles), Nick, and Zach (also messing with his goggles!)
The kids had a great time!!
Zach and Jake
Maddie, Jake & Brian on the lift
Here is a video of Jake going over some jumps....it's very clear that he has inherited Brian's sense of athleticism and coordination.
I'll have to do a full post with some pictures, but here is a video of Jake skiing yesterday....he, daddy, and a few friends from school played hooky for the day & hit the slopes!
