Does anyone else find the last day of vacation to be a form of torture? Sundays are always slightly torturous because you know that Monday is taunting you from just around the corner. It's sitting there just waiting to jump on you with one unpleasant surprise or another. The Monday after vacation is even worse. As it looms closer I thought I'd take a moment and remind myself of the fun we had this week--so when I get hammered tomorrow I'll know it was worth it.Our four sons had their winter break this week. We usually go away for the February break. The idea of being stuck inside with four boys for a week is less than appealing, so we decided to take them upstate for some skiing, snow tubing and other family fun activities. They're relatively new at skiing so the place we went was perfect for them. It had two very easy ski slopes and one ski lift so no one could get lost. It was great to be able to give them the freedom to go up and down the "mountain" on their own. They had one or two falls but no one had a "yard sale".
The resort we stayed at (and I use that term loosely) was great for the kids. The adults however--not so much. It's up in the Catskills and it is about the only thing up there, so the only activities, restaurants and so on....are at the "resort". This place was like a cruise ship without the ocean--or something out of "Dirty Dancing". We got a kick out of watching the boys splash around in the indoor pool. I thought their heads would explode when they saw that it had a slide. However, I refrained from actually going in. The bathing suit is not my friend.
The game room was complete with a ball pit, pool tables, ping pong, boccie ball and shuffle board. We tried the shuffle board. I spent most of the time laughing because the boys were still incredibly competitive even though they had no idea if we were playing it correctly. It wasn't entirely old school--there was an arcade of course. The sports complex even had a little bowling alley.
All in all we had fun. It was great just to be together as a family. So as Monday creeps closer, and the impending responsibilities at work creep into my mind, I'm clinging to the moments of this past week. My husband playfully teasing his sons at dinner--and all of them bursting into fits of laughter. The look of pride on Ian's face as he made it down the mountain on his snowboard-- without wiping out. Leo's laugh bouncing down the mountain as he raced ahead of his brothers. The sight of William as he whizzed fearlessly down the mountain and perfected his "racing stance". Jack doing flip after flip in the pool and asking, "Did you see me Mommy? Did you see me?"
I saw it all and that's what will keep me going.
1 comment:
Thought I'd stop by and say "hi."
I do not come from a family of winter sports enthusiasts, although, as a kid, when it seemed to snow a lot more than it does now and last a lot longer, we'd sled down the slopes of our backyard and go ice skating at a lake now covered by garden apartments. Mom would have hot chocolate and Chef Boy Ardee raviolis waiting upon our return.
Always have been more thrilled with soaking up rays somewhere and being lazy although, back in bathing suit days, I did quite enjoy splashing around like a maniac.
Now, on Sundays, I generally drag my dad out so he can catch a little Vitamin D. During lunch today the Olympics were on, men's downhill or something else involving flying down huge elevations of snow at very swift speeds.
ME: You couldn't pay me enough to get me to stand on top of a mountain and launch myself off it with little pieces of wood strapped to my feet.
Dad, agreeing: Saw enough snow in Germany. (By this he means during THE BIG ONE.)
OTOH, he also dislikes the beach and back in the days when he was forced to take us, he always wore Dad khaki chinos and never swim trunks. Never saw him swim, until one vacation when we drove, among other places to Lancaster, PA. At the motel, we taunted him about not being able to swim. He dove in, swam from one end of the pool to the other, underwater, without taking a breath, and then climbed out and stalked off to change into dry clothes.
Not an easy fellow to taunt, really.
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