Drama on the Mountain

What's worse than driving up a mountain in the middle of a snow storm?
Driving up the mountain in the middle of a snow storm without chains, without 4-wheel drive, and without a pilot and co-pilot who have experience driving in a snow storm.

Did I mention that one side of the highway was no less than a 100 foot drop to the valley below?

I am aware that the snow storm I speak of has nothing on a snow storm on the East Coast, but for a native San Diegan, who sees sunny days ninety percent of the year, this snow storm was a blizzard!

It's a good thing I was born and raised on the West Coast, because today I learned that driving in the snow is NOT for me. After a fun time of making snowballs and throwing them at one another, it was time to head back down the mountain. We waited for a line of other cars to pass ahead so that we could follow in their tracks. After travelling a mile down the highway, we were stopped by a number of cars who were scattered about on each side of the road. They were warning drivers to pull over and wait because the road conditions were so bad.

I failed miserably at remaining calm for my kids, who clearly wore panic on their faces. I imagined our car, plummeting....100 feet....to the white covered valley...below.

Just as I was preparing what my final words to my family would be, Mark warned us of the car that was coming our way.Two seconds later, we felt the thump of the truck that was unable stop on the icy roads. It smacked right into the front of us, causing an eruption of even more panic!In my mind, we were going to be sitting on the side of the highway until the snow stopped. I was planning how I would keep my family warm over night.

I was worried because we had already eaten the bag of homemade brownies that my mom had brought along for a treat, and there were only 4 more packages of peanut butter crackers left in the box. That wouldn't even be enough to satisfy the appetite of our infamously hungry Papa Jim, who was along for the ride.

I imagined the warmth and safety of our beautiful home, and wanted to be there...BADLY.

While Mark got the driver's license number of the man who hit us, a Sheriff drove through, urging us all to make our way slowly down the mountain. He warned that conditions were only going to get worse.

The only thing that could be worse in my mind, was making our way slowly down the hill, WITHOUT brakes! How could it possibly be worse?

With tension high, we pulled in behind the Sheriff and crawled down the road, trying desperately to keep our tires in the tracks of those in front of us.

With the passing of each 15 feet, and the continued decent in elevation, I knew our chances of surviving this whole ordeal were getting greater. The roads began to clear and the snow fall began to cease. I could finally see my future again!

I've never been happier to be home in my entire life. I gladly opened the front door to the complete disarray that was left on our way out. I didn't care that I had 4 loads of ski-clothes laundry to do and 4 soaking wet children to bathe.

I'm just happy to be alive!!!

(Though my account of what happened today at the top of that mountain may sound extreme, my mom and step dad's account may differ!)

Daddy's Girls

Had I not witnessed it with my own two eyes, I never would have believed it. I'm not talking about the picture of my girls huddling together, looking as if they REALLY love each other, although that is pretty unbelievable also.
They were merely trying to maintain their body heat, wearing spaghetti strap dresses outside in the 50 degree weather!

What was even more unbelievable was the sight of grown macho men, dressed to the hilt in their suits and tuxedos, dancing the YMCA and Hokey Pokee in the school auditorium with their precious daughters at the Father Daughter Dance-Hollywood Style. It was a sight I will never forget.
The proud look on each of those daddy's faces was an awesome sight. The proud look on my husband's face, watching and dancing with his three daughters, was priceless!

We all know how difficult it is to get men to agree to dress up and escort us somewhere fancy.

It's as difficult as uttering the words, "Chubby Bunny," with two large marshmallows crammed in your mouth.

But it didn't take any convincing at all to get this Daddy to agree to escort his girls to the school dance.And all four came home raving about how fun the evening was!

San Francisco Road Trip

It's a new year and I'm already lagging on my blog updates!

I'm going to blame it on the fact that I am just recovering from an "out of whack back" that kept me from my computer chair. Seriously, the act of sitting was enough to put me in complete misery! And it all started on day one of our road trip to San Francisco. I must admit, it made for an interesting four days of sight-seeing through the city, but it didn't matter...the city looked no different from my hunched over position. We had a great time!

Even when we accidentally took the wrong Cable Car and had to walk a good 2 miles to get back to where we thought the Cable Car was taking us.

And even when we had to listen to Angel scream bloody murder when we repeatedly tortured her with numerous drives down Lombard Street, and any other viciously steep San Francisco street!And we even had a great time eventhough the husband and I made one of our worst decisions as parents.....
We took the kids to Alcatraz... and let me just say that we are still talking about it to this day. Of utmost concern is the location of the 3 prisoners that successfully escaped from the "inescapable" island and remain "unfound." Maybe I shouldn't have told the kids that those prisoners come to the homes of naughty children to keep them in check. Not really...that would have really been cause for panic!

What did cause great panic was when I threatened to stay behind to be voluntarily locked up in solitary confinement. Sounds heavenly! Doesn't it?I'm not sure if Alcatraz was more frightening for the kids, or Rainforest Cafe was. Yes, that's right....my kids almost crawled out of their skin when we ascended to the restaurant that was being rocked by a thunder storm that resembled Hurricane Katrina. It was all make-believe, of course, but I couldn't get them to believe me. I'm pretty sure they were already frightened by the realistic, life-size models of gorillas, elephants, and jaguars that threatened to devour them on all sides.

Just picture the scene...mom, hunched over at a 55 degree angle, dragging coaxing four wailing children up a dark staircase, all for an over-priced, not-so-tasty meal. Should have saved myself the grief, and the money!

If nothing else, they loved the hotel! The room was perfect and the indoor, heated pool was a luxury.

Almost as luxurious as the ice cream sundaes we indulged in at the Ghirardelli Ice Cream Shop.

Bon Voyage

This morning I witnessed a conversation between Angel and Annie that was priceless.

In her infamous, whiny voice, Annie was expressing her distaste with the fact that we were going to go on a family road trip.

Because Angel is always trying to keep everyone happy, (mainly because I think she wants to keep ME happy), she tried to talk some sense into her little sister.

"Annie, don't you want to go to another country? Where they speak another language?"

Truth is....we're heading to San Francisco!

Pondering Christmas

There are lots of things that parents don't get credit for throughout the lifetime of their children. This year I realized that most of this "discredit" happens during the holiday season.I worked my tail off this Christmas to buy presents that I thought my children, who already have EVERYTHING, would really enjoy.

I braved the malls when five million other people were doing the same thing.

I spent money on things that my kids didn't REALLY need. I wrapped for hours to make sure everything was hidden and discreet.I tucked all of the presents neatly under the Christmas tree in preparation for Christmas morning.
I stayed up late on Christmas Eve, waiting for my excited children to fall asleep so that I could fill their stockings to overflowing.And on Christmas morning, when my kids came running into my bedroom before the sun had even risen, to wake me up with shear excitement, who got all the credit for the overflowing stockings and numerous wrapped gifts under the tree?That chubby, white-haired hair man who goes by the name of Santa Claus.Have you ever thought about that? And have you ever given any thought to just how trusting children are?

This year we were given an "Elf on the Shelf." A little elf, which our family named Melvin, showed up one evening with a story book, to explain his job. He was sent to our home by the big man himself, to keep an eye on the behavior taking place within our house. Each night he would head back to the North Pole to report to Santa. The next morning, and every morning after, until Christmas Eve, he would be found in a different place, carrying out the same job.

It struck me as funny, that my kids never questioned how he got into our house. Or that they never gave it a second thought that, "Hey, maybe Mom and Dad are moving that little stuffed character around the house after we go to sleep at night."

I guess if they never question why Santa uses the exact same wrapping paper that Mom uses, they wouldn't question Melvin's existence!

And just one more Christmas item to ponder since we're on the subject. Have you ever given any thought to the fact that it takes 4 hours to wrap all of the presents and only 4 seconds to unwrap them?

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Rest up until next year!

The Aftermath of Christmas

I am, undoubtedly, an early morning riser. I'm usually crawling out of bed before the morning sun peeks out from behind the mountains.

This morning was a little bit different. Although I was awake, I was putting off crawling out of bed because I knew what was awaiting me....

The Aftermath of Christmas!And now, I am planning a day trip away from home to further postpone the stress of it all! If only Santa could grant me my Christmas wish....That upon my return home, everything would be put in it's proper place, organized, and labeled!!!
I think it's better if I just never return home...

I know...I'm slacking...

My friends keep giving me grief that I don't update my blog like I used to.

I know...I'm guilty as charged. I'm slacking off. I'm finding it more and more difficult to plant my bottom at the computer and write clever little stories about my clever little children.

It's because those clever little children are keeping me cleverly busy!

Or maybe I'm the one who over-schedules. I have been known to do that!

Since my last post I have...

Hosted a Thanksgiving breakfast for my family where each member had a name card with a list of reasons why we are thankful for them.

Transformed the teacher's lounge at my children's elementary school into a festive party-place for a holiday luncheon sponsored by the PTA. (Oh, and see those desserts? I made the ones on the top and bottoms plates!)Let go of some "mess-making anxiety" and hosted a gingerbread decorating play date at MY HOUSE!!!

Toted my kids to a Breakfast with Santa party at my dad's place of employment.

Dolled up my trio so they looked the snazziest at their first grade holiday music performance. (Oh...and did I mention....I decorated the background as a favor for the music teacher.)

I have given my children a taste of the performing arts with a trip to see The Grinch at the Old Globe Theater, all expense paid by Bank of America! We were even treated to a Grinch Buffet prior to the show at the American Institute of Fine Arts which is across the street. My children were surprised to see the Grinch walk into the room, but based on their numerous questions, I'm pretty sure they were more surprised by the endless number of art pieces that displayed human genitalia. You can imagine the comments and questions!

So I've been busy. I've not been sitting around, purposely neglecting my blog. No eating Bon Bons and watching Oprah for this girl.

And as I've said a million times before....I'll try to be better at updating!!!

Although...

My monsters have been released from learning duty for the next three weeks.... and they will be inheriting a disgusting amount of new things for Christmas, on top of the disgusting amount of things they just inherited from 8 nights of Hanukkah that will certainly need organizing... and T-ball season is just around the corner....and all three first graders want to try their hand at acting and join the after school drama program that begins the first of the year....and.....and...and...

Can you give me just a little slack??? Pleeeaaaassse?