Just Hangin' Around

February brings us to our annual ski trip. This year was not quite the same experience we have enjoyed in the past. One might say "well, it's an adventure that will be remembered". Grandpa Ludka bought us lift tickets this year for Christmas...which is a huge savings! So, we thought "Lets head up early and stay the night, we can take the kids tubing because it's only $10 for 3 hours. Then we will get a hotel and get a good nights sleep before the rest of the church arrives." Ah good idea! Think again. We headed out Friday in the worst storm CT has had this year...it was slow going! The wind shield wipers on the drivers side were not working well. About every 15 minutes John had to reach around the front of the van and knock the snow off the wipers...yes, while driving! Joel was pretty cranky most of the trip. About 45 minutes upon our arrival we found out why...thank God for fast moving hands and an empty coffee cup to catch his lunch! Yuck! Of course this led to more traumatic behavior "I want to go home, I want my bed!" We arrived at the hotel. Joel went straight to bed, but wouldn't settle until he had me in his vice...of two arms and two legs clamped around my body. John decided to take the boys sledding on our great $10 deal...to find out it was double the price! Why did we come up early? Oh yes, the great adventure that will be remembered...must keep reminding myself.

Ahhh Saturday has arrived...a new day and everyone is rested and healthy. We'll skip over the story about the 1000's of people that were at the ski lodge because Bonnie forgot it was Winter Break for school kids. After a looooong time in line and hearing "is it our turn yet" we finally got our skis and snowboards. We refreshed Joel's skills on the Bunny Slope. John says "he's ready, I'm taking him up the mountain" Is it possible to forget everything you ever knew from the Bunny slope to the mountain?? Well Joel completely went brain dead on us. Poor John had to inch down the mountain picking Joel up every 5 minutes all morning. He didn't mind, but i am sure he was itching to zoom down the mountain by this time. So after lunch I said "I'll take him, you go ski!" By this time, I told Joel we were turning his snowboard in for skis...thinking he would be more balanced. Nope, lets just say my arm was burning in pain from having to hold him while trying to get down the mountain. I decided we would find John and let him know "Joel is DONE!" After waiting at least 30 minutes at the bottom, there was still no John. He should have been down by now! But then again it was his first run of the day...maybe he's a little slow. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that the same people were sitting on the chair lift when i arrived. Hmmm wouldn't it be funny if John was on it? Well, as time ticked on...it wasn't funny anymore! He was stuck on the broken chair lift with Jonathan for an hour and 15 minutes! He said his legs went numb in the first 15, then the side of his face then his hands. They had to rescue them with a rope to get them down! At least he got a free lift ticket and a cup of hot chocolate. By the time he made it down, it was time to go home...the man didn't ski one time this day! Why did we come..."oh yes, to have an adventure to always be remembered!"