A meeting at Five Rivers in the morning; preparing heart-shaped carrot slices for the Boy's Valentine's class party at lunchtime; some mad-dash shopping with my daughter in the afternoon; and this evening I was down at the rink checking people in for their skating lessons (a duty the "skater moms/dads" have to take a turn out every now and then).
It meant I got to watch the Girl trying out the harness - a sort of rope and pulley set up that gives the skater more elevation while she (they're nearly all "she") gets to grips with a new jump. The Girl has never used it before. I'd have snapped a photo, but she still ended up in a heap enough times that I thought I should spare her blushes. Even so, she seemed to have a lot of fun and is looking forward to more of the same next week.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
KitKat activist
I managed to get out and about for the first time in a few days, finally starting to feel (and sound) a bit better. So that's a relief.
The Boy is busy tonight, sticking fair trade chocolate hearts onto pieces of card to hand out to his class tomorrow for Valentine's Day (no individual Valentines allowed - it's give to the whole class or no-one, to avoid any Charlie Brown-type humiliations).
The Boy has quite a reputation at school when it comes to FT chocolate. Completely off his own bat (I didn't even suggest it) he recently wrote a letter to Nestle USA to tell them that it would be nice if they sold fair trade KitKats over here like they do in the UK. Then he got a hundred classmates and teachers to sign it before he sent it off. Yay - good for him!
The Boy is busy tonight, sticking fair trade chocolate hearts onto pieces of card to hand out to his class tomorrow for Valentine's Day (no individual Valentines allowed - it's give to the whole class or no-one, to avoid any Charlie Brown-type humiliations).
The Boy has quite a reputation at school when it comes to FT chocolate. Completely off his own bat (I didn't even suggest it) he recently wrote a letter to Nestle USA to tell them that it would be nice if they sold fair trade KitKats over here like they do in the UK. Then he got a hundred classmates and teachers to sign it before he sent it off. Yay - good for him!
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
School projects
The Girl made it back to school today - with a medal to show, if not much of a voice for talking about it.
The Boy had a full on day of school, starting early with band practice before classes. At some point there was a bus trip to another local school for a kind of mega-band practice (there's a district-wide music event coming up). This evening he was back at his own school for Science Fair night (he'd paired up with a friend to make a display of optical illusions).
I'd forgotten what a crazy year 5th Grade is - projects and special events every week. Right now the Boy is working towards a concert, a musical, a Waxwork Museum evening...and as of tonight he needs to work out how to make a model of a blue whale, too. It's all good stuff - but there just seems to be so much of it at once.
The Boy had a full on day of school, starting early with band practice before classes. At some point there was a bus trip to another local school for a kind of mega-band practice (there's a district-wide music event coming up). This evening he was back at his own school for Science Fair night (he'd paired up with a friend to make a display of optical illusions).
I'd forgotten what a crazy year 5th Grade is - projects and special events every week. Right now the Boy is working towards a concert, a musical, a Waxwork Museum evening...and as of tonight he needs to work out how to make a model of a blue whale, too. It's all good stuff - but there just seems to be so much of it at once.
Monday, February 11, 2013
Home sick
Having missed out on skiing yesterday, the Girl and I have spent today at home too, not feeling well at all. It's some kind of chest infection. I took it up to Lake Placid and the Girl caught it off me before we got back. We both have nasty coughs and creaky voices and frankly we feel rather sorry for ourselves.
We hope to be better soon and that the rest of the family (and anyone else who has been near us) will manage to keep the bugs at bay.
We hope to be better soon and that the rest of the family (and anyone else who has been near us) will manage to keep the bugs at bay.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Going downhill
The Man writes...sadly both Albaniana and the Girl have gone down with colds and bad coughs, so they had to skip skiing today.
The conditions on Willard mountain were excellent: virtually all trails on were open, with plenty of soft snow, and the weather was sunny. The lines at the lifts were longer than usual, but they moved quickly and were never a problem. All in all, the Boy and I had a great time, but it was a real shame that the others missed out.
Here's a quick clip of the Boy in action:
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Placid morning
The Man writes...woke this morning in the Pines Inn, Lake Placid, to find the snow had stopped and the sky was a brilliant blue. Everywhere you looked had a picture postcard quality.
After breakfasting at some great bakeries in the village, we dropped it at the Olympic Center to select a souvenir photo of the Girl.
We drove home, not knowing what to expect weatherwise, but in fact snowfall in the Capital Region had been relatively light. It only received 6-7 inches, compared with a scarcely believable forty inches further South in parts of Connecticut and Massachusetts. And a kind neighbour had even ploughed our driveway!
After breakfasting at some great bakeries in the village, we dropped it at the Olympic Center to select a souvenir photo of the Girl.
We drove home, not knowing what to expect weatherwise, but in fact snowfall in the Capital Region had been relatively light. It only received 6-7 inches, compared with a scarcely believable forty inches further South in parts of Connecticut and Massachusetts. And a kind neighbour had even ploughed our driveway!
Friday, February 8, 2013
A day of ice and snow
When we arrived in Lake Placid yesterday it wasn't particularly snowy. When we woke up this morning it was already very snowy and still very much snowing. So rather than slip-slide along to the Olympic Center in the car, we walked from our hotel - the Girl rather incongruously kitted out in a floaty skating dress and clunky snowboots.
There was a long wait at the rink for her group to skate. When at last their turn came, she was last of five out on the ice. She made a strong start - looked good, like she has in practice - but towards the end of the programme it all went a bit off... Oh dear. After all that hard work.
We put on brave faces and waited an even longer time for the results to be posted. And when they were - surprise! She came in joint second in her group! There's just no second-guessing figure skating judges.
Needless to say, our Girl is thrilled. She can hardly wait to get back to school to show everyone her silver medal.
School... oh yeah, another great thing about being in the Empires was that she got to miss school when all her friends didn't. Though as it turns out, they did too. We're in the middle of what the media is dubbing the "blizzard of the century". Lake Placid locals are scoffing at that, but I gather things are rather worse further east and along the coast. We're heading home tomorrow and preparing ourselves to find 12-18 inches of snow piled up on the driveway. What larks!
There was a long wait at the rink for her group to skate. When at last their turn came, she was last of five out on the ice. She made a strong start - looked good, like she has in practice - but towards the end of the programme it all went a bit off... Oh dear. After all that hard work.
We put on brave faces and waited an even longer time for the results to be posted. And when they were - surprise! She came in joint second in her group! There's just no second-guessing figure skating judges.
Needless to say, our Girl is thrilled. She can hardly wait to get back to school to show everyone her silver medal.
School... oh yeah, another great thing about being in the Empires was that she got to miss school when all her friends didn't. Though as it turns out, they did too. We're in the middle of what the media is dubbing the "blizzard of the century". Lake Placid locals are scoffing at that, but I gather things are rather worse further east and along the coast. We're heading home tomorrow and preparing ourselves to find 12-18 inches of snow piled up on the driveway. What larks!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)