Mrs. P ~ Mrs. P ~Mrs. P


We are staying with my in-laws this week on vacation for spring break. It's not the amusement park type of week where you run from one attraction to the other and need a vacation when you come home. It's more like laid back, family time real R&R. Which is something I think we seriously all need more often then we actually do it. Our lives are nuts. When I am here in Laid Back Land...I realize how nutty my life is. The day to day...the running, the politics, the nonsense. 


In the kitchen last night cleaning up after dinner were (some of)the Mrs. P.'s. My mother-in-law, her mother-in-law and me. My mother-in-law's mother-in-law (got that??) is a few months short of 90 years old and let's just say set in her ways. I laugh cause she can make my mother-in-law nuts the same way mine can. So when I told my mother-in-law that mothers in law can be annoying, she agreed. Ha! Wait a second??? "You are talking about me then too???" she said. We laughed. You just gotta laugh about family stuff like that.


But I am glad for my kids to spend some time with their great- grandmother, (and hubby with his grandmother) even if she forgets who they are from one day to the next. I know they really were opting for the cruise this year, but I think they secretly enjoy the do-nothing-ness of this kind of vacation too. There's a lot to be said for sleeping in, laying by the pool, reading a few books and just "chilling" as they say. 


So I will hang with the Mrs. Ps's for the week and chill 'til it's back to running, sports and PTA. Can't wait. 

va·ca·tion;  freedom or release from duty, business, or activity

My family went to Hershey Park this week.  I am not much of an amusement park kind of girl - no roller coasters for me but the kids had been bugging to go so off we went.  Everyone had a great time - rode all the roller coasters and rides - stayed up late and ate lots of  chocolate and twizzlers. I read two books as I sat on benches and waited for everyone to come off their ride. 

That is not my kind of vacation - my idea of vacation is a resort with a beautiful pool and a view of the beach and frozen cocktails.  Kids off doing their own thing in the pool or on the beach (or even better at grandma's house) and not always on top of me.  Moms don't get vacation.  We are still responsible for the planning, the packing, the feeding of the family and making sure everyone is having fun. We are still the mom, just with a change of scenery.

I think I am going to take a vacation day today in my backyard - no cooking or cleaning and maybe I will even break out the blender. 

~ If I am looking for my heart's desire I don't need to go any further than my own backyard....truly.

I don’t like winter sports – I do not like to be cold. I am not a skier or snowboarder or generally an outdoorsy type of person when the temperature is below 40 degrees.

This week I watched my girls learn to ski. Mae has skied before but the last time she was 5 or 6 – she is 11 now. She was scared at first – and cold – and complained quite a bit but after her lesson, I couldn’t get her off the mountain. Lu has never skied before – after a one hour lesson and about 2 hours on the easy course, I couldn’t get her off the expert run for another 5 hours. I set Sam up for a private lesson or a refresher as he hadn’t skied in a few years but like riding a bike, it comes back quickly. Today he learned to parallel ski.

I learned to ski in my twenties. Actually learned is a big of an exaggeration. I took a lesson in my twenties and hated every single minute of it, returned my skis and never tried again. My brother and sister both ski – because my parents took them when they were younger – by the time I came along, family ski trips were out and so I never learned. Skiing is one of those things best learned when you are young and your fears are not as concrete. When you are lower to the ground so a fall doesn’t hurt so much and when you are fearless and a big old mountain is not the least bit scary.

I sat in the lodge for 3 days and watched my kids fly. Laughing and loving life. They stopped once or twice for a drink and some food and then back out they went. It was 22 degrees – and snowing. They were wet and frozen with icicles hanging from their jackets and snow up their sleeves and they didn’t care. They were having a blast. I was sad I couldn’t be out there with them. They kept begging me to come and ski – to take a lesson – but I know it’s not for me. I went to the ice rink with them after skiing and only lasted 20 minutes – it was just too cold. I really just wanted to be inside curled up with a good book in front of the fire. What I can offer my kids is the experience. I will take them skiing – I will be their biggest cheerleader - they can grow up knowing how to ski and loving it and I will be in the lodge, toasty warm, watching out a big window with a big smile on my face – watching my kids fly.