Typical Tuesday?

Yesterday was not a typical Tuesday for me but I wonder if it will be for the next few weeks?

The kids started ski lessons and this is how the day went. Can I check "yes" to the things I want to repeat and "no" to the things I would like to leave as a distant memory?

7:25, I wake to Johnny opening his door.

7:28, I get up, go into Johnny's room to turn off his light and realize he is back in bed tucked under the covers. I glance towards Alex's door, she's still asleep. What happened to my early bird? Regardless, I head downstairs to start breakfast and shortly after, the smell of hot cakes brings Johnny down the stairs.

7:35, It starts snowing.

7:45, I wake Sleeping Beauty and rush the kids to get dressed and finish breakfast before the bus rounds the corner.

8:45, Drop Johnny off at his new preschool, hoping it'll be worth the change and he will like it. I now have 2 hours to shower, get dressed for skiing, sew the velcro back onto Johnny's jacket, gather & label skis, boots, helmets, gloves, jackets, hoods, goggles, layers for them to dress in as soon as they get home, pack a lunch, charge the camera in hopes the sky might clear for two minutes so I can get at least one shot in (all in vain).

11:30, Pick a very excited Johnny up from school. Then get him bundled up as soon as we get home.

12:10, Meet Alex's bus outside with no Alex on it.

12:10:30, Answer a call from Ponderosa Elementary that Alex told her teacher I was picking her up today so she's waiting at the office. What ever happened to the "no note, no way" rule? So I grab Johnny, our ski bags, her layers of clothes and rush off to the school. She changes in the bathroom and we head up towards the mountain hiding behind a cloud of white. By now it's raining and we're watching for it to turn into snow as we climb in elevation. The kids work on their sandwiches and before long Alex is getting car sick so we drive most of the way with the heater blaring and her window rolled partially down.

1:45, we make it to the Bogus Basin parking lot and finish getting dressed in boots, jackets, helmets, goggles and gloves. Much more work than last year when I only had one kid to get ready. Leaving my stuff behind, I grab their skis and brave the icy wind. It never really did start snowing, I would call it "icing" because it hurt your face when it hit you. Carrying Johnny AND the skis part way we finally make it to the "Mouse House" and get the kids checked in, spirits still high with anticipation.

2:05, I head back to the truck to get myself ready and head to the ski lifts. But after two runs of total white out, not being able to see where I was going or how I was getting there I ended my run down the coach's hill and found Alex turning her skis down the mountain all by herself and Johnny getting off of the magic carpet with his sleeves hanging far too low, his hands obviously not in his gloves anymore. I watched for a little while as Johnny continues to tell his teacher that he wants to go faster and gets a lift up onto the coaches chair lift on his first day. This was also Alex's first time on the chair lift as well, last year she stayed on the magic carpet. Both of them did great and enjoyed themselves.

3:45, I pick Alex up on time.

4:00, Johnny's class finally makes it through the door, apparently it took them longer than they had expected to get down the coaches hill. I avoid Johnny's "I want hot cocoa" tantrum with a promise of Transformer fruit snacks and cider in the truck while picturing myself carrying two sets of skis and a kicking, screaming, wet bundle of clothes to the truck. I hurry to the rental shop to exchange Alex's skis because her instructor told me they were a bit too long. After we got all set up they realize my exchange was for longer than just today so they told me I needed to head down the mountain and do that at their rental store in town. It is raining/icing and the wind is blowing so we rush to the truck, throw our wet clothes anywhere they'll fall in the cab and hurry out to make it to the rental store before they close at 5:00.

4:15, Johnny says he has to pee. "Can you hold it until we get off the mountain because it's wet and freezing outside and there are no bathrooms?"

4:20, Johnny's "pee pee is about to come out!" I pull over at the next slow vehicle turn out and empty a water bottle. Thank goodness he's a boy. Johnny passes out in his seat before too long and Alex tells me that her Dad already made it home before us.

"Oh ya, how do you know that?"
Alex: "I can see what other people are doing in my head"

"You can see what other people are doing in your head?"

Alex: "Ya, can't you?"

Then randomly throughout our drive down the mountain she would blurt out something like.

"Now Daddy's sitting down to watch a show, I don't know what it's called but there is a bad guy in it"

"Now he's getting up to get himself a snack of chips"

"Now he's taking a rest in his bed"

5:05, We pull up to the rental shop and I slip in before they lock the doors and make a quick switch.

5:45, We meet Brad at McDonald's and half priced Happy Meals with "surprise" toys in each meal (ie: we have lots of leftover toys we need to get rid of). I sneak over to Albertson's for some cookies and cream ice cream and a movie before the kids finish their nuggets and french fries.

6:30, Showers, warming up by the fire, apple cider and bedtime, on time.

A whirlwind of a Tuesday and it leaves me wondering what my next few Tuesdays will be like. Can I make a few requests? Sunshine, or at least no rain so I can tack some pictures, Alex making her bus, time for potty stops at a real restroom, a jacket that fits Johnny a little better, a backpack to carry all of their stuff to and from the lessons, no ice on the roads? Can Alex see next Tuesday in her head and tell me if it'll be worth it? I'll ask her when she gets home from school today.