Kimberly

We headed to Kimberly on the February break with a few other teachers and their families. We decided to take this trip last June and I was really apprehensive. The plan was to leave the younger two behind. This made me extremely worried about nursing. I know that might seem crazy, but if you recall that wasn't long after my boob exploded, so it was a real concern.  I spent a fair bit of time pumping on the trip, but other than that, my absence from being Lawson's milk machine was unnoticed (she took a bottle like a champ from Grandma F). Boone and Lawson are our extroverts, so we knew they would be completely happy without us around and we were exactly right. Boone and Lawson had a great time and so did my parents (except for the 48 hours my parents had the flu!).  

Calder was so excited to drive through the mountains again after our trip to Vancouver this summer. As we came upon Fernie (which you hit before you get to Kimberly) we could see Fernie's ski hill from the highway. We pointed it out to Calder. He almost shouted, "You didn't tell me we were skiing ON a mountain."  No. No, we did not. We said we were going to the mountains to go skiing, but we never said the hill was actually on the mountain. Now that I type that. . . Hill. On a mountain. No wonder he was confused!

We had a bit of a rough start to our time on the hill. On our first run down Hugh took a spill. No biggie, except that his cell phone slipped out of his pocket and he didn't notice until we were almost to the bottom. Seriously. He did not zip his cell phone pocket up.   I did my best not to lose my cool on him. I knew that at that point there was nothing to be done about it and I didn't want to let a lost phone ruin what could be a beautiful day and trip. It was hard. . . . I don't know if I blogged about it, but this summer Hugh dove into the lake and went for a swim with his phone in his pocket. There wasn't a bag of rice big enough to soak the water out of that baby.  After the wipeout, Hugh was down 2 cells in a little over 6 months. . . By the time we got to the bottom hill there was no time to think about the phone. We needed to get Calder into his lesson. Unfortunately, after the lesson began we realized we picked the wrong level for Calder.  I had to do a bit of maneuvering, but the instructor agreed Calder needed a different group.  This meant that instead of Calder being with a boy we were staying with, he ended up in a group where he didn't know anyone. Calder is our introvert and this change was hard, but it was the right move for him. Finally, an hour after the phone was lost, Hugh and I made our way to the top to retrace his steps and see if we could possibly find his cell phone. . . . Not shockingly, the only thing we found as we retraced our steps were our quads. They burned the entire way down as we slowly snow plowed with our eyes glued to our feet. Fun stuff.

We gathered our wits and decided we were making a fresh start. Following our luck for the day, our next run was the worst run of the trip. We hit a run that was so flat we had to unbind and walk on multiple occasions. By the time we got to the bottom we were exhausted and ready for lunch.  

Cue the phone call from the ski school. Calder has a stomach ache and feels like puking. . . Long story short, we took him back to the condo, fed him (there goes the $25 lunch we paid for with the lesson), had a heart-to-heart, and sent him back to his lesson at 1:30. Calder has trouble with new things and change. In the end, his stomach ache was caused by anxiety. I give our boy lots of credit. With our help, he worked through it and finished off his afternoon lesson like a champ.  

Meanwhile, during the time we were sorting to the bottom of Calder's stomach ache, I got a text FROM HUGH'S PHONE. Someone had found it on the hill. It was a Festivus miracle. 

Please admire me with my goggles on in that picture below. Once we got Calder back in his lesson and Hugh's phone securely zipped in his pocket (it was working perfectly by the way), we had one amazing run. Hugh and I took our first deep breath of the day on our way up the chair lift. It was seriously going to be an amazing afternoon and rest of the week. At that exact moment, God laughed.  My goggles slipped off the top of my helmet and fell to the snow below. Seriously. Wasn't this day over, yet.  Hugh and I raced to the bottom once we got off the chair lift. They weren't where they fell. We checked Guest Services. They weren't there. Almost in tears, and exhausted by our luck, we headed back on the chair lift only to find someone must have picked up my goggles where they fell and gave them to the chair attendant. 

Hugh and I felt like going on a spending spree. Between finding his cell and my goggles, we figured we saved $750! 

Day two was amazing. Calder went back to a lesson for the morning and was going to ski with us in the afternoon. Hugh and I knew a couple of runs we hated and a couple we loved. Armed with that knowledge, we had a few really good gos. On our 3rd run of the morning, Hugh and I got to the top of a chair lift we hadn't been on before. Before I had even put my foot into my bindings I noticed the name of the run off the lift. "Nate's Way". As my brother-in-law's name is Nate I thought it only fitting to take a shot of myself about to board down "Nate's Way" to send to him. Just as I started to put my phone back into my pocket (AND zip it up), a woman started toward me and sharply said, "What were you taking a picture of?" I started grinning and told her that my brother-in-law is "Nate" and I wanted to brag to him about the great time I was about to have on his run. She then snarkly said, "You weren't taking a picture of me?" Taken back by her rudeness, I sputtered, "No, it was a selfie of me and a sign . . . My brother-in-law. . . His name is Nate." As she started skiing forward she continued her attack by saying, "It better not have been a picture of me. You don't have my permission and I will be pissed off if it was."  I barely got off, "It wasn't" before she was gone.

Let me tell you, I WAS ANGRY. I felt like a small child getting reprimanded. And I didn't do anything wrong. Why in the hell would I take a photo of some random woman. She was dressed similarly to me (and the majority of people on the hill). She had black ski pants, black helmet, and black goggles, paired with a dark grey jacket. Heck, I wouldn't have been able to tell at the distance I was from her if she was a woman or a teenage boy until she opened her mouth. To top it off, if you have ever tried to  frame a selfie with something in the background, you know that you have to really stretch your arm out and hold it up in the air to do it. I'm pretty sure the only thing I would have framed out the back of the phone was a mountain and some clouds dozens of miles away.

I have never put my bindings on so quickly or boarded more recklessly. Adrenaline was pumping. I was going to catch up to this lady and give her a piece of my mind. I was hot. Luckily, Hugh was ahead and the random lady followed his route down the hill. For the record, I would have left Hugh in the dust if she turned off. I was embarrassed and not impressed at how I was treated. I finally caught up with her when she stopped with a group a few minutes later. As I approached, I shouted out as sharply as I could, "You wanna see my  phone." Maybe she could hear my fury. Maybe she realized she was an idiot. Either way, she immediately backed on and said, "No that's fine." I wanted to be clear that she was wrong, so I very sarcastically repeated, "Are you SURE you don't want to look at my phone." She again, responded no, and I stormed on my way. Thank goodness for everyone that she was at the back of a group and it is hard to maneuver through people with a snowboard, because I wanted to throat punch her.

Calder thought my selfie encounter with the angry woman was pretty funny and wanted his own shot by the sign. 

Our 3rd day was so foggy and snowy and wet and amazing. Hugh, Calder, and I spent the entire day together. Fitting as it was Tripp's birthday. There were many moments on the hill that I took a breath, breathed Tripp in and felt lucky to be on a mountain with Hugh and C.

In the photo above, Calder got stuck trying to off road (his favorite part of skiing). Hugh had to unbind and rescue him on this one. Hugh sunk down to his waist in snow. CRAZY.

By this time on day 3, Calder was completely tired of selfies, but Mama needed to document. We had the most amazing trip and can't wait to make it a yearly or every second year tradition.

Have a great Thursday!