He wants to fly

I appreciate the good thoughts, but I'm fine, really. I was a little numb yesterday, but who wouldn't be?

Kevin's birthday is tomorrow; he'll turn 11 while trying to shred down the beginner's hill on a rented snowboard. We asked him what he wanted to do on his birthday, his answer was "get a snowboard and try it." So today he and Alex took a 4 hour snowboard class, and then spent the rest of the afternoon trying to get the hang of it.

In his head, Kevin soars like this:

In reality, his day went more like this:

But he still had fun, so tomorrow we'll rent the boys boards again, and either Char or I will ski the beginner's slope with them while the other skis the blues with Rachel (she was offered the chance to take the class, but pointedly turned her nose up at it; in Rachel-speak this means "I really want to, but they'll make me look bad, and I refuse to look bad next to my little brother, so next year, when they're really good, I'll want to take the class so I look pretty good for a beginner." I totally understand.) I imagine we'll stay out as long as they want and then head home by evening, give Kevin as much of his birthday in the snow as he was hoping for.

I expected to have to drag the boys off the slopes this afternoon, but they were both tired and ready to go by four o'clock, and starving on top of it. We caved to the pleas coming from the back seat to stop for food, because they were going to DIE before we could get back to the condo (10 minutes away), elicited a promise that they wouldn't cram themselves full of junk, and stopped at a buffet. Alex at a buffet is almost fascinating to watch; he gets my money's worth, and neither of us is sure exactly where all that food he inhales goes. Kevin nearly kept up with him tonight, prompting Rachel to complain that they were "gross" and "embarrassing."

Tonight they're all playing Scrabble (and letting Kevin win), and Char and I are going to just sit here and enjoy the killer view we have from the condo. This beats adjoining hotel rooms hands down and is cheaper, so I wish we'd discovered this place years ago.

The kids were right; this trip has been a hell of a lot more fun with Char along than it would have been. She's a hell of a lot more fun to share a bed with than Alex.