Spending our New Year's at the Beech

Beech Mountain, that is. It was quite an... interesting trip, to say the least. The day we left, I had the doctor call in a more potent prescription for Erin because her ear infections symptoms were back. We got just a bit lost on the way to our resort (apparently the mapping websites do that a LOT), but made it in by dinner time. After a dose of the new medicine, Erin went to bed at a decent hour and slept til like 8:30am! It was a miracle!

Tuesday was lovely weather-wise. It was in the 50s and sunny. They were making snow on the slopes so we headed over to let the girls (and Mike) play.

My new hat-a present from my dad

Erin's adorable snow gear

It was warm enough to take jackets off. Isn't she lovely?

PawPaw helps Erin roll up her sleeves

The beginning of a snow ball fight

AND the end of it :)

That afternoon we took the kids swimming in the heated pool and played at the playground and hiked a bit through the local woods where Leah found a "treasure" (a golf ball). Mike went night skiing that night while the rest of us chilled in the condo. Erin decided she was done with sleep that night. I think her ear infection was NOT helped by the swimming, but we did not think of that in advance. I put her to bed at 7:20 and she was crying at 8, 8:40, 10, 10:30, and then about every 1/2 hour thereafter until 4am when Mike took over and of course she fell asleep for him. I was on the couch until about 8:15am.

The second day we woke up and it was freakin' COLD! I have never experienced weather in the teens, and there were winds gusting up to 50 mph too! Mike and I bundled up and headed to the slopes for my first real attempt at skiing. I went down the bunny slope several times no sweat.

Seriously that's how relaxed I looked on that slope. It was so much fun. So I decided I was good enough to hit the smallest slope at Beech. This was how I looked coming down.
A little bit more stressed, no? It was SO icy, I couldn't ski without skidding. The snow-making machines were blasting snow right in your face so you felt like you were in a blizzard. Mike said he had never seen the conditions so bad there. But I did enjoy it when I wasn't sliding out of control and smashing my elbow into the ice.

That afternoon Leah claimed she was interested in skiing so we decided to try her out. The skis were so tiny and adorable. Leah really loved Mike leading her around the bunny slope. Here are a few pics:




That night was more of the same from Erin. At about 4am, we decided that, we bad as we felt for Dad, Myrn, and Leah, Erin was crying it out. I think she got into the habit of us comforting her because we were trying to keep her quiet. Again Mike and I got about 3 hours sleep.

This afternoon, I said to Dad & Myrn jokingly, "So we were wondering what you would say if we told you we were dropping you off at home with the kids and going to a hotel room to sleep tonight."

Myrn said, "That's funny, we were wondering the same thing."

It was that kind of vacation. All Mike and I could think was that next July we would go on vacation without the kids. It will be, not a little, but a LARGE slice of heaven.

I know that Erin was probably hurting from the ear infection, which kept her from sleeping, which in turn made her SUPER cranky and cry about everything ALL the time. But even on a good day, she is getting harder and harder to take in public. She just has tantrums when she doesn't get her way and is not content to sit in strollers or carts unless she is eating, and even then only for a few minutes. My lifestyle may have to drastically change or she and I are going to battle it out EVERY day. Not too excited about that.

So on that note I bid you a Happy New Year. I plan on posting my goals for 2009 (thanks for the idea, Keri!) in the next few days so stay tuned.