House of Estrogen

Midweek Brain Dump

I feel like there are all these odds and ends going on that I should blog about, but my brain can't catch up. Lots of things are happening. A lot is on my mind, but between chasing sleep deprivation, my decaffeination continuing, and J.C. out of town, I don't think a coherent blog post is going to happen any time soon. Thus, the midweek brain dump.

• Nina had oral surgery on Tuesday. I don't think I slept at all Sunday or Monday night in anticipation. She had two baby teeth extracted and two permanent teeth extracted. That was the easy part of the surgery. The awful part that haunted me at night was the tooth exposure she needed. I'll spare you a graphic photo of her mouth and show you this model of the procedure instead.

She now has that freaky little gold chain coming out from her gums to pull her tooth down in the right direction. It sounded barbaric and painful, but she weathered the surgery much better than anticipated. She can't eat much yet, but otherwise, she is fine. I'm still recovering.

• Did you know that tea bags are good for stopping bleeding? Now you know.
  

• Elise had her first experience with playing in pep band at a middle school football game... a fun first.
• My friend Allison Tate wrote an excellent essay in the Washington Post this week. She is such a great writer and always nails her topics. Way to go Allison!  Go read it. Parenting as a Gen Xer: We're the first generation of parents in the age of iEverything
• Ebola - holy crap. 
• I moved to a new office building this week. It is cool, posh, and modern, but moving is never much fun. Also, my new building doesn't have a Starbuck's like my old one did. That's a problem.
  
• I upgraded to iOS8... turns out it isn't recommended for the iPhone 4S. My phone now rivals a paperweight in its usefulness. Good times.
• We went out to Noodles & Company this week. We looked at the menu, and Addison said, "I want barf." As her sisters laughed, she got angry and indignant and said, "That's what I order here. I order the barf."  More giggling ensued. Finally Nina recognized Addie's error and saved the day when she said, "Addie - you like the BROTH! Not BARF!"  I'll never be able to look at broth the same way again.
• This is closing weekend for downhill biking at Snowshoe. Can I get an Amen?

Snowshoe Exposed

J.C. spends several weekends of his summers up on Snowshoe Mountain, WV, downhill biking with a bunch of buddies. During the winter, he spends his weekends counting down the days until ski season is over and he can get back up to Snowshoe. For years, he has been saying, "We should go up there for a family vacation! I always see families up there having fun! The kids would love it!" No matter how many times he has said this, I had a hard time wrapping my head around the six hour drive. Call me a wimp. Call me spoiled. You won't hurt my feelings. I can own it. I just really hate being in the car. I have restless leg syndrome, and car rides are my own little personal version of torture.

Besides the drive, I just couldn't get past picturing Snowshoe solely as a place where grungy, muddy bikers...

ride their ridiculously expensive downhill bikes...

at breakneck speeds down the mountain. (I use the term "breakneck" very deliberately. Two of his biking buddies are out of commission this season - one for a broken collarbone, the other from a broken humerus last summer. On his trip up there last month, one of his friends came back with broken ribs.)

J.C. would tell me, "No! It isn't just for bikers! There are all kinds of things to do up there! There is a pool..."

"and a lake..."

"and the kids can bounce on the bungie thing!"

He would say, "The weather is gorgeous, and we can ride the chairlift! The girls will love it!"

Somehow, none of his arguments could convince me to take the trip. I don't fault him. He really did his best to accurately describe the place. I think I just had so many images ingrained in my head of the world of Snowshoe that is downhill biking. A lot of his biking buddies are my coworkers, so I have heard about Snowshoe from all of them for years as well. After years of seeing photos and videos of the rocks, mud, ramps, jumps, and biking gear,  "family vacation destination" was never what I pictured. Plus, there was still that six hour drive.

He finally convinced me to go though, and I'll go ahead and admit it now... I was wrong. There. I said it. J.C. now has it in writing. Snowshoe is absolutely a wonderful place for a family vacation. Don't let the scary jumps that my husband flies off on his bike make you think otherwise. (Yes, he really rides off that thing.)

We all had a blast. When we first arrived, as if eager to welcome us, deer were hanging out in the backyard of the condo.

As J.C. had promised, there were plenty of non-downhill-biking activities to keep us occupied. The older two went zip lining through the village, and...

a huge smile was plastered on Addie's face any time she was bouncing on the bungie thing.

The lake was loads of fun for swimming,

sliding,

paddle boarding,

and paddle boating.

Everybody tried out the slack line.

Mostly, we just enjoyed the cool mountain air,...

hung out in the village,...

rode the lifts,...

and took in the views.

In the evenings, we could relax in the hot tub with a view of the mountains,

make s'mores,

and enjoy the sunsets.

So... while Snowshoe is very much a Mecca for scrappy downhill bikers, it is also an absolutely lovely destination for families!

I even managed to survive the six hour drive there and back and would do it again.

Snowshoe, Picture A Day, Day 3

Lake fun today!

Snowshoe, Picture A Day, Day 2

Happy 4th of July from Snowshoe Mountain!

Snowshoe, Picture A Day, Day 1

Since we are 9th and 10th great-granddaughters of Pocahontas, we couldn't resist taking a picture in front of the Pocahontas Supply Company sign!  Snowshoe Mountain is in Pocahontas County, WV.

May Madness

The holiday period around Thanksgiving and Christmas is always such a frenzied time with holiday parties, wrapping, shopping, Santa visits, and family gatherings. I have come to the realization though that with school age children, May is just as busy, if not more so. It seems we are running non-stop - shopping for graduation and teacher gifts, graduation parties, end of year parties, pool opening party, kindergarten orientation, middle school orientation, rising kindergartener parties, end of grade testing, field day, end of year picnics, fifth grade service project, end of year Girl Scout parties, Girl Scout progression ceremonies. The list goes on and on. For the most part, it is all good. It is all fun, but also... it is all exhausting. We're bouncing from one calendar entry to the next.  It hasn't left much time for blogging, but I thought I'd share a few pictures from the weekend. Once we get through this crunch time, I hope to be back to blogging more often.

Spring Cleaning

A little Starbuck's time while J.C. was out of town downhill biking in Snowshoe, WV. As one of his buddies put it, he "pre-broke his face" before going. Nice. Thankfully, he didn't come home with any more bumps, bruises, cuts, or stitches than he had when he left.

ACC tournament championship game

Priorities

J.C. bikes a lot... like, a whole lot. When people walk into our garage, they ask if he is running a bike shop on the side. No, no bike shop... just gotta have a bike for each use - a dirt jump bike, a kid-trailer-hauling bike, a downhill bike, a tandem bike, a cross-country bike, a road bike, and I'm sure I'm forgetting others. No, I'm not exaggerating. He's just a wee bit obsessive when it comes to bikes.

He goes downhill biking in Snowshoe, WV, several times per year with a  bunch of buddies. They haul all the bikes on a trailer. JC decided they needed a box fitted to the trailer to hold all their muddy, sweaty gear, so he built one.

 

Then he said, I think I'll let the girls paint it. They would have fun doing that.

And they did.

 

 

they planned,

 

made handprints,

 

blew paint dry,

 

painted with a steady hand,

 

and got a bit messy in the process.

 

When they were done, their masterpiece went to Snowshoe.

 

When I saw the finished result, I said, "Aren't the guys going to give you crap for hauling a trailer with a rainbow and flowers painted on the back?"  He said, "Oh yeah... I'll get endless grief over this. I'm a dad of three girls above everything else though."

 

And that, folks, is priorities in order... "I'm a dad of three girls above everything else."  The trips to Snowshoe may challenge my every ounce of patience and energy while single parenting, but I'll always know his heart is at home with us as the rainbow trailer is pulled along the winding roads of West Virginia.

Happy (belated) Birthday, J.C.  I love you.