Mathews Casa: Vermont

So, I am WAY behind on posts. We went to Vermont March 15th - 20th. I fell at the top of the first slope I attempted to snowboard down and then got sick the following day. I am about to play catchup.

We flew to Albany, NY, got a rental car and drove the remaining 2.5 hrs to Plymouth, VT. Jack & Abby were angels on the flight. It was about 2 hrs and they behaved really well. I was getting a little nervous at first because Abby was pitching a FIT before we even started moving. Luckily, I thought to borrow Denise's DVD player so we were set. Dora and Diego saved the day. Literally. Once we got to Albany, we had to wait almost an hour for the car seats we had ordered. They brought the wrong ones, broken ones, etc it was a total Charlie Fox. Plus, we were in a parking garage with 2 little kids who had been couped up in an airplane, so they wanted to run. Not a good place due to all of the cars. We finally got on the road (in our BRAND NEW Ford Explorer!) and again the DVD player saved our lives. They did both take naps on the drive to Plymouth, which was nice, so we had a little break on the way there. It was crazy to see all of the snow on the ground.

We finally arrived in Plymouth after a couple of hours. Nathan and Jill were wonderful the entire trip. They bought a pack-n-play and a booster seat so we wouldn't have to rent or bring one, it was so awesome. Jack and Abby felt right at home immediately. We had to get out the snow boots and snow gear as soon as we got there so they could go outside and play in the snow. It really wasn't all that cold out, which was strange since it LOOKED so cold out.

The next morning Doug, Nathan and I went snowboarding. They hired a snow boarding instructor to help me remember what I was doing. It had been 15+ years since I had last been snowboarding. I should have started on the learning area, but didn't, jumped on the lift with Meesha and went to the first slope. Big mistake. I immediately slipped and landed right on my tail bone. I hit so hard it knocked the wind out of me. Then from that point on, any time I fell I was in agony. So, instead of taking 15 min to get down the mountain, it took me over an hour. I did finally get down though. Meesha was so patient with me. I was ready to throw my board and have a Jack style fit. (For the record, I am writing this a month later and it STILL hurts). When I arrived back home I walked into the house and heard total pandemonium. Graham greeted me in the dining room with "Jack got attacked by Gator (their den terrier) and I had a hard time pulling him off". Um, yeah. I was a little nervous about what I was going to find. Abby was hysterical for no good reason and went beserk when she saw me and Jack was crying. He seemed ok, he had a bite mark on his eye and some bruising on his arm. He was a trooper and didn't cry much. They bandaged his arm and stuck a bandaide by his eye to make him feel better. Jack decided at that point he didn't like Gator. I didn't blame him.

I woke up the next morning sick as a dog. I felt just awful. I couldn't remember the last time I was that sick. My vitamin D & E had failed me. Jill was so awesome to hire Meesha to come over and help me with the kids so Doug and them could go snowboarding. Doug didn't want to, but it made no sense for him not to when we flew all the way there to snowboard. So, off he went. I did get to see my good friend, Grace and her husband, Matt Emelett. They drove down from Waitsfield to visit. We were going to go to lunch, but I was so sick, I didn't want to go anywhere, so Meesha made us lunch. We had a great visit.

We pretty much just hung out the rest of the trip. Jack and Abby played in the snow. We had extremely warm weather, to the point where Nathan was only in shorts, working on his tan. It was awesome. I will have the pictures tell the rest of the trip.

I must mention the flight home. Both Jack and Abby fell asleep, but that wasn't the remarkable thing. The remarkable thing was when Doug asked for 2 screw drivers and got 4, FOR FREE. Talk about the hook-up. Oh, and the ultimate lovely thing was I left my car keys in Vermont. Luckily, Dell, the bestest person in the world, dropped my keys off at Hartsfield so we could drive home. What a trip!