Paris, Je t'aime....

I know. I'm a horrible blogger. One month long absences are tres faux pas. And I do promise that in the next few days I will catch you all up on Thanksgiving, winter fun, snow-storms, long drives, Yosemite Valley's amazing splendor, and all such wonderful winter things. But first, I must share. My Christmas present. Paris. In June. To celebrate 10 incredible years. I was lucky 10 years ago, and am still lucky today. So I will catch up, I promise, but for the moment let me be. I'm practicing my French.

Have you seen the shining?

Yes, I mean the movie. I've been meaning to blog about this little adventure we had last week, but it's been a teensy bit crazy around here. So, the boys had almost all of last week off school, due to Veteran's Day and a teacher conference. Being the fabulous, adventurous, FUN mom that I am, I tried to put together a little overnighter for us. I'll set the scene. I thought we'd take the kids up to Mt. Hood, let them get in some early snowboarding, stay in a fun little woodsy lodge, Chloe and I would drink a lot of hot tea and coffee while Shawn, wonderful fabulous FUN dad that he is, tromped around in the snow. (Notice how my fun involves the lodge, coffee and sitting. His involves snow and hiking. I'm no dummy, people.) A few weeks ago, mind you, it was all over the news how much snow was falling on the mountains, SO much snow they'd probably open early this year, and can you believe all this snow?!

Cut to us, driving up the mountain. It's raining. And raining. There is NO SNOW. Then we get to Timberline. There's about 1.7 inches of snow, and it's no longer raining, it's sleeting. Apparently there was a warm front. I make Shawn drop me one foot from the front door of the lodge, and Chloe and I make a run for it. We don't come out until after everyone has played, dried, and we've eaten lunch. All in all, turned out pretty good. The boys had a great time, and other than Chloe's GINORMOUS blowout at the lunch table, everything was pleasant and fun.

Then, we left for our "lodge." Which said it was about 10 min. from the ski resort. Did I mention that it didn't say which ski resort? To make a very long story short, after driving another 45 minutes, up a long and VERY SECLUDED windy mountain road with, remember, NO SNOW, we find our place. We are, seriously, the only. people. there. It's us, and the lady checking us in. The Mr. and I kind of looked at each other like..."um, do you have the heebie jeebies?" Then they kindly informed us that their restaurant was only open on the weekends, the hot tubs were turned off, and would that be all? It took us all of about 10 minutes (and a few references to "REDRUM!") to decide we were getting the you know what out of there. We reassured our crying children that we'd find something fun to do, while racking our brains to come up with something fun to do. Remember, it was sleeting. We ended up going home. We stopped at Safari Sam's in Sherwood on the way - not my favorite place, but apparently just as good as a lovely overnight in a woodsy lodge. Who knew. Anyhow, I'm pretty sure we get points for trying!

anyone see the resemblance?

see below....

Now auditioning for the role of cutest Christmas Elf ever...

Funny..

Direct quote from Aidan:
"Mom, what do you call that thing again? Where you wake up, and you leave your pajamas on, and you eat? Oh yeah. Breakfast."

Thankful for him, and the fact that he's funny at 3. I can't wait to see him at 20.

Thankful...

Today I am thankful that my husband returned safely from his travels. One would think that each time it would get a little less scary to say goodbye, but the was I figure it, every time he goes he ups his odds of being the one. Not to be super morbid, but every time he calls to tell me his plane landed safely in ________, (you fill in the blank) I breathe a teensy weensy sigh of relief. So, today, I'm thankful again to have him home.

And the winner is...

Me. Today, I am thankful that women stood up and demanded to be counted. Today, I am thankful that long ago, a woman who would never know me went to prison, staged a hunger strike, and was force-fed by prison guards so that I could speak my piece. I'm thankful that my husband does not have to speak for me, nor my father, my brother, nor my sons. I speak for myself. And today, no matter who you cast your ballot for, you stand on the shoulders of hundreds of fearless women to do so. They were ridiculed, attacked, mocked, disregarded, and disenfranchised so that you don't have to be. So, I'm thankful for my vote. And the vote that someday my daughter and perhaps my granddaughters will have.

And if you didn't vote, you just made my list. And that's not good.