orichalcum

So, we spent the last five days or so skiing in Beaver Creek with julianyap, redhound, jendaviswilson and Julian's friend G. It was wonderful on a large number of levels. The conditions were amazing - 50 degrees or so the first two days, then a day of snow and oodles of fresh powder, and then a last day of groomed powder and sunny if colder (30 degrees) skies. Pretty much every day was warmer than Chicago. The company was also terrific and very tolerant of the needs of a toddler. :) I wound up with a morning of private ski instruction which did wonders for both my form and confidence.

On the last evening, we took a "sleigh ride" three quarters of the way up the mountain to 11,000 feet to a cabin for dinner. Going up, the sleigh ride was disappointing - a cart dragged behind a cat-tractor where the snow was blowing heavily in our faces. But then we got there, and had venison carpaccio and Elk Wellington (and Mac had a brownie sundae which he adored). Then the sled/sleigh arrived again, and this time, on the way down, we just gazed up at the stars. More stars than I think I've seen in the night sky since the Himalayas, and maybe even then. You forget, living in the cities, how much depth the night sky really has. It wasn't just that we could see Orion's bow and the Pleiades and Mars; it was that you could see that some stars were closer than others and feel like th universe really did stretch into infinity.

Mac behaved very well in general, and loved Jen's tickling - he would run up to her each morning and say "Tickletickletickle!" Conveniently, he also seems to have massively enjoyed his two days of day care, playing in the ball pit and with legos and so forth, although he did come home both times with some mysterious bruises. redhound's theory was that they put the toddlers in the ball pit for cage fights and only gave crackers and juice to the winner. He did amazingly well during the two dinners out - lively, but not too sulky and very cooperative about eating. We did lose one of his red shoes in the airport on the way home, sadly, but he had almost outgrown them in any case.

He has a couple of new words and gestures - "Sit down!," blowing kisses, and a new and highly helpful habit of holding his hand out flat about two inches from any food, stove, or fire and saying "Hot!" Also, this morning, I had him give Eowyn a treat from her treat box. He gave it to her (after briefly trying it himself) and then pointed to the box and said, "Good Girl Cookie!"