I Tried, I Failed

Getting an entire family packed up to go skiing takes a lot of work so you can imagine my disappointment when we arrived at the ski resort to find out it was closed.  Closed?!  Who does that?  And here I was thinking I was so smart for taking advantage of our day off from school for teacher prep day, envisioning a nearly empty ski resort.  Well, it sure was empty!  I talked to some cross country skiers I saw in the parking lot and they said it was posted on the website which I told them I most definitely did not see when I was online. 
"Oh, well you have to click on 'schedule' and then scroll down to today and then it said 'closed.'" 
No wonder I didn't know!
However, the boys wasted no time getting their gear on to play in the snow.  I love that a quick 45-minute drive up the canyon takes us from our mild 45-degree weather to a winter wonderland.  It's definitely one of the perks to living here.  Plus, I don't have to do any snow shoveling.  Although this is where I need to mention that New England is having a very mild winter with only one snow storm so far and temps not much cooler than what we have here.  If that had ever happened even once in the seven years of East Coast living we might have considered staying there! Ok, enough venting.  Where were we....

  So the boys played in the snow.

Sledding penguin style

Around the base of the pine trees there was little to no snow so the boys could drop down inside these "tree wells" and tunnel around under the branches.  The scent of pine was so fresh and strong we kept pausing to sniff and sigh.  It smelled better than any Christmas tree farm I've been to.  Marcus said, "This must be what heaven smells like."

We got home and the boys were beyond hyper.  I made them get out of the van at the bottom of the driveway to bring up the garbage cans as I pulled into the garage.  Unfortunately with all the noise and commotion, I forgot I had the car top carrier on and pulled into the garage, assuming all the racket was coming from the garbage cans getting dragged around.  I realized too late that the frantic screaming was directed at me and gasped in horror when I realized what I had done.  I was afraid to even get out and look at the damage.  Luckily, it wasn't as bad as it had sounded.  The garage door wasn't broken and other than a big crack in the top of the carrier and a lot of white paint streaks, the carrier is still in one piece.  I almost cried with relief but it sure made my day feel like one epic failure after another. 
But at least we got to play in the snow!