Liam's first skiing adventure!

Brian had been saying all winter that he wanted to take Liam skiing.  This hadn't happened yet for a few reasons, the main one being the horrific polar-vortex temperatures that kept sweeping through our area.  Brian knew he'd need an "assistant" to help with both kids, and since that assistant would be me (even though I'm probably like having a 3rd child along when it comes to skiing but I guess I'm better than no one?), he had to wait until a warmer day as he is smart enough to not even think of asking me to go skiing when it is below 35 degrees.

That day finally came last weekend, the forecast was nearly 50 degrees and sunny.  Time to hit the slopes! Here we are, putting approximately 42 tons of equipment on each child.  I was sweating and exhausted before we even made it out of the lodge. 

Finally, we were ready to head outside and get on the lift!

ski lift selfie!!

Funny story here: while on the lift, Brian told the boys that we would do one run down the mountain, which would then put us near the little bunny hill area that has the "magic carpet" tow system for the kids to practice on.  Jake was fine with that plan, Liam got excited.  Like, really excited.  So excited that, in hindsight, we should have been suspicious because he really didn't know what we were even talking about. But instead, we were all "Oh yeah, yay...magic carpet...Liam is being so cooperative!"  Here is a video during that very first run, where Liam even mentions going on the magic carpet (pay no attention to the awkward woman in the green and white coat, trying to not die):

Fast forward to a little bit later after the first run, and we started to head toward the magic carpet...Brian pointed it out to Liam, who promptly burst into tears and threw himself into the snow.  He was hysterical, inconsolable.  It was not even 11am and I thought we were going to have to throw the towel in for the day.  I finally got him calmed down enough to the point where he could speak, then put it all together:  he thought we were going to the magic carpet ride.  As in, the magic carpet ride that we went on in DISNEY WORLD.  Oops.  That explained his over-enthusiasm when we were talking about it.  Poor kid.  He genuinely thought that we were about to ski to Disney World.  That also explained why he asked if the ski lift was a plane, and not even thinking I responded "Oh yeah, we're high up in the sky buddy, just like a plane!" Thankfully, we were able to get him calmed down and onto the lame magic carpet located at the ski resort. 

After lunch, we decided to go back to the regular runs and avoid the drama with the magic carpet again.  Here are 2 videos of Liam going down the slopes....along with his little special helper, Jake :)  It was very cute that Jake wanted to help him out so much and hold his hands, we just kept having to remind him that he was going to trip Liam if he kept skiing so close to him. 

It probably killed Jake to ski so slowly all day, but he did a great job of helping his little brother and his mother :)  He skied with me a lot since Brian had to handle Liam, and gave me some helpful pointers and encouraging words.  Other times, he said things like, "Mommy....why are your poles so out of control?  Keep them to the side, you are going to hurt someone!"  Thanks, buddy.  :)  Here is a video of Jake, hitting some jumps:

 Overall, Liam did an awesome job and seemed to love it.  We skied from around 10am-3:30pm, with about a 45 minute break for lunch....and even though he had fallen asleep on the lift during our last run, he still cried when we told him it was time to go home :) 

Needless to say, Liam was asleep in about .002 seconds of being in the car and they were both just done the rest of the day. 

The only person in worse shape than Liam by the time we got home, was me. 

Oh, did I mention the part where I fell off the ski lift?  Very first run of the day, I panicked when it came time to exit the lift...and I just didn't do it.  I hesitated and before I knew it, the lift was getting ready to make the turn to head back down the mountain!  I wasn't sure what would happen, but I knew I really didn't want to get separated from everyone and ride it back down by myself (Brian later told me for future reference that they would have stopped it to help me off....WAY TO TELL ME THESE THINGS AFTER THE FACT!) but since I didn't have that bit of helpful info, I proceeded to throw myself off the lift. Sideways, for some inexplicable reason.  Let's just say that my pride was hurt and I'll probably need a hip replacement surgery in a few years.  Also, FYI: snow under lifts is not fluffy, powdery snow that makes for a soft landing...it's actually a very thin layer of extremely hard, compact ice.  There's your lesson for the day, kids.  You're welcome.  Safety first.

That wraps up our skiing adventure for 2014...see ya on the slopes next year!

Disney on Ice!!

Me: Hey guys, remember how daddy and I gave you tickets to the "Disney on Ice" show for Christmas?  That show is this week, we get to go on Wednesday!

Jake: Really?  This week?  Oh, I'm so excited! I can't wait to ice skate with Mickey.  Do we just rent the skates there?

Me: um....

Liam: YAY!  I can't wait to see my fwiends again!  Where's my autograph book?  I give huggies? 

Me: um.....

Fortunately, we were able to talk the kids down and maintain reasonable expectations for the Disney on Ice show. (although now they're begging us to go back to disney world, even more than they were before!)  They had a blast!!  Here they are, waiting for the show to start (forgive the poor picture quality, they're from my phone):

That grin. Look at that grin!

I paid $12 for our seats, some type of opening night special...and we were the 6th row back from the ice!  The seats were great, and the show was very enjoyable.  We will definitely go again next year!

Misunderstood

The boys love to listen to music, and their taste is quite eclectic; one day they will request rock and roll, the next day a Disney soundtrack, and 10 minutes later, the latest pop song.  Not only is it cute to hear them sing these songs, but it's even better when they flub the lyrics.  Sometimes it's less of a flub, more of a mispronunciation...like when Jake sings "Hakuna Matata" from the Lion King and in the part where it says, "...it's our problem-free philosophy", he says "phisosofy" (fi-saw-so-fee)

 I understand their difficulty in lyric interpretation; for years I never knew the name of the Rolling Stones song "Beast of Burden" and I thought the lyrics were "I'll never be in your big suburban".  It wasn't until I was singing it in the car a few years ago and Brian called me out on it, and then pointed out the fact that no one was driving around a Suburban car back when the song was written.  oops. 

My most recent favorite was when Jake was singing the Lorde song "Royals", and instead of singing "you can call me queen bee", he said "You can call me green bean!" with absolute certainty that someone would request to be called a vegetable. 

Liam always questions the name of the song on the radio, as well as who sings it.  If I know the answers, I supply him with that information.  Last week we were driving and "Everlong" by the Foo Fighters came on, so I told him the song and the artist.  When the song went off he said "I really like that song!"  Fast forward to this week and it came on again in the car and Liam said "I love this song!  This is the Food Fighters!" :)

Wordless Wednesday: Superhero Brothers

Move over, Olympians! There's a new skater in town.

 In case you haven't figured it out by now (due to the lack of me in all of the pictures involving skiing or snow), I'm not an athletically-talented person, nor do I enjoy the cold weather.  However, the one exception to that rule is ice skating.  I grew up in a small town (though it has since expanded) and while there wasn't a ton to do, my friends and I were never bored because if we had nothing else to do, there was an indoor ice rink nearby.  That was year-round entertainment! (and bonus points for the fact that it was obviously not too cold since it was inside!)  I spent many, many weekend nights there with friends, for years. 

I hadn't been ice skating in a looooong time.  Brian and I went one time, but it was definitely before I was pregnant with Jake, so it's been at least 7 years. Fast forward to last weekend, and it was a beautiful, sunny, 50 degree February day.  Jake had been asking to go ice skating since watching the olympics, so I decided it was a good time to take him.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it's pretty much like riding a bike. 

And even more importantly, Jake loved it as well!!  Two rotations around the rink and he wanted nothing to do with holding my hand.  We skated for a little less than 2 hours; I think he would have stayed all night, but it was break time for the Zamboni to clean the ice so it was a good time for us to head out.  Here are 2 videos, showing his progress...they were taken about 10 minutes apart.

We got home around 4:30 and Jake was pretty much done for the day at that point.  After vegging out in front of the TV, we forced him to eat some dinner.  After that, I hopped in the shower, and when I came out, I found this in my bed:

Fully dressed, passed out cold.  This was at 6:30pm.  He ended up being done for the night...I was finally able to at least move him to his own bed (though he stayed in his clothes!), and he slept until 6:30 the next day!  Now I know how to tire him out!

Jersey Shore: Toddler Edition

Leave Brian unsupervised in the morning, and later you will receive a video that shows you toddler dressed in an Adidas track suit, memorizing lines from the Jersey Shore, and learning how to fist pump.

Move over, Pauly D....there's a new bro in town.