My medieval son

Yesterday Eli skipped fencing practice in order to go to an archery meet.  I was a person attracted to balls and the sports involving them.  Eli has forged a path into this medieval sporting world, and I was unsure what it would be like to follow him... So far we have not witnessed a fencing match (game? meet? event?) only practice.  But we went to our first Archery meet yesterday.  Not sure what the overall event is called, but I did learn that each round is called a 'flight'.  Eli was in the 12pm flight, and quite nervous before takeoff.  He wasn't sure how it all worked, but his coach provided him with a mentor and off he went.  Have to say that it was kind of fun to watch.  He showcased an even temperament, good rule-following, decent marksmanship, and lovely posture.  Next time we will know to bring some binoculars so we can actually see where his arrows land!  I'm starting to see how my parents survived all those hours in gyms, watching me play basketball.

Finding alternatives

The winter of 2011-12 was a total bust for skiing.  Hence my excitement with this winter started out with a huge dump of snow timed perfectly for my enjoyment- right before the winter break at school.  And enjoy it we did.  I think over the two week break I was out on my skis about 14 times.  Loved every minute of it.  Then is warmed up, melted, rained, and finally refroze in a brutal cold snap.  But what was there to refreeze was the brownest, iciest, mess I can imagine.  Ugly.  Unskiable.  Awful.  So I turned to other alternatives- the Y with great pals.  Work mornings start off with an early morning tabata routine with three others.  My off days include either a bike in the basement, or lifting with a friend.  Feels good.  And I love the company.  I'd love to mix in a ski or two, however.  Right now as I type the snow is coming down.  It was forecast as rain, so this is a pleasant surprise.  I am cynical about winter however and don't trust this.

I think the main reason I'm frustrated with our snow cover is that I talked 7 other families into joining us for a xc ski weekend up at DuNord.  They have been bone dry this winter as well.  Here's hoping that the trails get some snow cover in the next few weeks.  Although, at least up there, if we are snowless, we are in a beautiful location, either white or brown.  There is nothing uglier than these twin cities covered in dirty ice.  Just hoping the 31 others joining me think so too....

Ice falls

This past weekend Theo and I hiked to two different ice falls, right here in the confines of St. Paul.  One place is reached by a just 10 minute walk after parking just off of the interstate.  You walk through some sunny woods til you come across this frozen creek sneaking out from between two rock faces.  Follow the creek up a few minutes and you come to this dead end with a lovely frozen waterfall.  It's really quite a beautiful place. On our last trip there, we were lucky to come across 4 lovely young ice climbers.  The right kind of ice climbers.  Ones who wear helmets and goggles and have all the right equipment and procedures.  They recognized the four boys I was with as the next generation of ice climbers and were very willing to let us stay and watch.  It was impressive.

The other location is a bit more treacherous to get to, but still only 10 minutes from a major road.  Another walk through quiet woods brings you to the top of the falls. To get to the bottom you could repel, should you have the right equipment.  We chose to slide down a muddy slope.  Once we get into the woods, Theo becomes quite the daredevil, jumping creeks, bounding down slopes, but something keeps him upright.  It's a joy to trundle along behind him.  Except when he scares the crap out of me by dangling over a rocky bluff.

I heart St. Paul

And Minneapolis, if truth be told.  The ski trails in these fine cities are just too much!  Over the winter break we skied at Battle Creek East and West, Highland Golf Course, and Theodore Wirth.  All were excellent.  And everywhere we skied we ran into people we knew.  I love the atmosphere on the trails in the winter.

We were also able to ski outside of the cities a bit, on the trail my 70 year old parents forge out their back door and around the golf course, at a state park, and through the woods at a cabin in Wisconsin.  The kids are getting more proficient.  I've found that if Eli is on skate skis and I'm on classic, we are a good match.

Right now the snow is melting fast and there is not a whole lot more in the extended forecast, so our ski season my be put on hold for a while.  But I don't believe it's over.

Pot Shots to my dignity

Over the weekend, Theo and I were having some nice down time, relaxing on the couch while no one else was home.  Just chatting and reading.  At one point he was laying down, looking up at me.  In adoration.  And then.  "Mom, your eyelids are droopy.  Like Grandpas.  But don't worry.  If you ever need a second career, you could be a zombie in a movie.  You've got the look."  Then a little more about how zombie movies are big right now and it will be easy to find work.

I decided I still loved him.  But then..."Mom, you have thick nose hairs.  Makes you look like you have a man nose."  

At that point I rolled him right off the couch.

Today, my dignity took further abuse, but not at the hands of my youngest.  Today I got to go get my new crown put in, the last in a series of dental appointments after my bike accident in November.  Only, once the dentist put it in (and luckily before cementing it) she and her assistant had a long discussion about the fact that it was too white for my yellow teeth.  So they took it back out, put it in a little padded box, and sent me on my way to the lab.  Where I got to have two more women assess the yellow factor of my teeth.  And then I got to hold my lips open wide while one of them painted my crown more yellow. Then they took it out and baked the yellow on in their special little crown baker.  Then back to the dentist where everyone agreed the yellow was much closer to my natural color.  

I think I'd rather have spent the day on the couch with Theo looking up at me and making editorial comments about my nose hairs.  At least I can shove him off the couch when I've had too much.  Don't think the dentist would take that so well.

Cabin time

Over the winter break we headed up to a small cabin in the woods with my old college roommate and her crazy family.  Into one little space we crammed 4 adults, 5 boys aged 10 to 15, and one brave little sister.  I do believe good times were had by all.  There was a nearby lodge where Theo fell in love with the game of billiards, and I had the pleasure of sneaking out a ping-pong victory over a strapping young man.  When not in the lodge, we were either playing games in our cabin, or out in the frigid woods.  It was cold.  But that didn't stop us from tubing, broomballing, xc skiing, and bushwhacking through the woods.  I think Theo's highlight was our walk down to the river.  We started on a dirt road, quickly branched off on to a snowy trail, and then blindly followed Theo straight into the pathless woods.  We trusted our sense of direction (ok, with occasional peeks at Monte's iphone- the sky was flat gray and it was the type of weather that shakes up your senses) and plowed our way through some lovely woods- over downed logs, through brambles, and across bogs.  It was maybe 8 degrees, but in the woods not a breath of a breeze was stirring and the quiet was oddly warming.  After perhaps an hour we came out to the trusty Namekagon.  It was a stretch we have canoed down on numerous summer days, but seemed unrecognizable in the winter light.  We somehow got all 10 of us completely silent for several minutes.  It was a lovely way to re-center after the rush and gloss of the holiday season.

Resolving

Eli told me I needed to make a resolution for 2013, and I needed to make it something that would not bring me a sense of failure early on into the year.  He then warned me away from a weight loss goal.  I do love him.

So my one and only official resolution is to keep this blog up to date.  I know that there is no readership of this blog, but it's important for me to keep a log of this life I'm leading with my sweet family.  We are not out there taking huge risks, solving mysteries, or writing our names in the sky.  But we are bumbling along here in St. Paul and having ourselves some good old times.  Each December I go through the ritual of copying all of these posts into a word doc, then printing it out and binding it into books.  I make one for us and one for each set of grandparents.  That's it.  But we have 6 books now, and they are fun to browse through every now and then.  Over winter break we read 2007 and 2008 and the boys had hearty laughs hearing stories about their weird ways when they were 'younger'.  I admit I got a bit teary remembering some of the sweeter moments.

So I hereby resolve to keep jotting down the stories of our days, be they quiet tales of heartbreak and woe, or glorious documentation of goals met and victories won.