News del Mercado: Good Timing

I'm pretty sure Austin and Kade are recovering from the flu. Austin woke last Saturday to a fever. It got up to almost 103.7 that day. He looked awful. It was the day after we spent time on that frozen pond. I couldn't believe how fast it came! I quickly realized throughout the day that he would not be going on our ski trip, in two days, on MLK Jr day. The next day, Sunday, we decided we had to make a plan. Since Caberfae ski resort is 3 hours away, we had decided to stay at a hotel there for the night so we didn't have to drive 3 hours at the crack of dawn like I did 2 years ago when I took Austin and Erik. That was the year Austin broke his arm on the second run down and I had to turn around and take him to the ER. This time, Austin wasn't going to make the trip at all. What's up with Caberfae and Austin?? Anyhow, since we had planned for all of us to go this time, I decided that Jason should still take Kade and Erik and I would stay back with Austin and then take him to a local ski resort over the break for President's Day. Jason will have work that day, but I will not and there will be no school for the kids. Plus, since the trip to Caberfae was with friends from church, Jason would have others to ski with. I'm more likely to stay with Austin and follow him on more challenging runs.

Things started to shift as the departure time drew closer. Kade said he wasn't feeling well and wanted to wait for the next trip when I was to take Austin. So Erik and Jason started packing up and I got their food ready. As I was prepping the food and noticing that Austin's fever was low-grade by that point, I began to think that maybe I should go and take advantage of the group rate we would be getting ($40 for a lift ticket and rental) and leave Austin and Kade to care for each other. Kade never had a fever, otherwise I probably wouldn't have left. If Austin's fever was still high I wouldn't have left either. That's the part that made me nervous.

At the last second, I decided that I would just go. I knew I would be bored out of my mind with my 2 sick kids who would probably be sleeping most of the day, or watching movies. I really wanted to ski again, and I hadn't gotten to experience much of Caberfae last time. I figured if I didn't want to go over the next break, Kade and Austin could go alone.

I was excited to spend some time with Jason and only Erik. It was almost like a date! Erik felt pretty special too. The biggest worry I had was the weather. That big arctic blast was due to come in just in time for the day.

We awoke to a real feel of -18, the temperature was -2 degrees. The sun was shining, so that was a plus. It wasn't supposed to get much warmer the entire day. Luckily, we had gone skiing 3 weeks earlier and I knew that I felt pretty good then, with temps in the high 20s/ low 30s. So I brought a few extra layers and made sure I layered everything in the right order with no cotton on my body! Just wool and polyester. I had my fleece sweater under my jacket as my extra barrier against the wind. I even put the hand and foot warmers in at the right time (which was before getting out of the car!) I usually can't stand the ski goggles, especially with my face covered with a buff, but Jason got me athletic sunglasses that work for skiing and they were much more comfortable, especially since I had to cover my face.

I can now say that my body was at a very good temperature- not too cold, but my fingertips and toes took turns on the verge of frostbite, even with 2 layers of wool socks on and those warmers. When going up a lift, I could feel it in my toes and I could sit on my hands and keep my fingers warmer. When skiing down and holding the poles, my toes were working, but my fingers weren't as much. We decided my gloves aren't as good as Jason's. That will be our next purchase. The other thing that got cold was my brain. Yes, my brain. Every time I went down a run and the wind picked up at a certain area (always the same area on the same run and then at other times on different runs) I suddenly got a headache. It would last just for that brief time, then go away. Jason said it sounded like a brain freeze, and I think that's what it was. I literally got a brain freeze from those freezing temps!

It was so much fun, though! Erik had a lot of friends there and was off with them. I got tired of the easy slope and went off on my own a bit, so that meant Jason was on his own a bit because some of those young kids were more daring, but we did get to ride the lift together a bunch and we skied down together a few times. Erik took me to the harder slopes after our last warm-up break so I could try them before we left. I really didn't want to venture over there by myself and there weren't any other moms there from our group without young kids. That really made the time go fast and made me forget my frozen fingers and toes because I was focused on getting down the slope. It was then that we discovered that school would be canceled for the next 2 days due to the extreme cold!

When we returned, Austin and Kade were still surviving and had slept a lot, as I imagined. Kade slept 14 hours that Sunday night! They were pretty happy about school being canceled, especially because they were still sick. With real feels the next two mornings of -20 and -23, plus regular temps being -2 both mornings, it was a good call and the best timing ever to have sick kids. The new semester hadn't even started and they were sick, but didn't have to go to school or even make up any work! I was so happy I went skiing so I could get out of the house on Monday, but really enjoyed relaxing the next 2 days with no worries about school!

Everyone is finally getting their energy back, now that it has been a week.

I have hardly any pics to show because there was no way I was taking my hand out to take pics any more than I did!