Archive for January, 2007

Let it snow!

Tuesday, January 2nd, 2007

We got our first snow at the house today. It didn’t really turn out to be more than a dusting, not really anything to write home about. (Although, here I am, writing home about it) It started as the heaviest sleet I’ve ever heard. I didn’t see it because it happened at around 2 am (which, I think, was about 25 minutes after Kaitlyn fell asleep… ok, not really, but it seemed like it) It was beating on the house loudly enough to wake me up, which is really saying something. When my alarm went off, I asked Bill if he’d heard it. Heard it? He got up and went downstairs to clear out the garage and move my car inside. So that’s not so bad. Before leaving for work, he rushed back upstairs to tell me it was snowing. It’s still pitch dark out at 6:45am so I had to take his word for it and wait for the sun.

            Once I could see it, the snow was coming down like crazy. For about a half hour, then it tapered off. Then it whipped back up. Then it stopped. Then it started to melt. Then it snowed like mad with flakes as big as Kaitlyn’s hands. Then it was back to a simple flurry. The weather played this taunting game until 5pm when the sun went down and I couldn’t watch anymore.

            I’d invited a friend of Kaitlyn’s to come over and play this morning, because Kaitlyn sorely misses the company of other three year olds while she’s on a school holiday. When her mom called, I warned her it was snowing up here. She wasn’t sure about making the drive up our road, and said she’d call if it was too treacherous. When she arrived, she told me the snow on our road started at the edge of our yard. Apparently, we’re just high enough on the mountain. As long as I can get off the mountain to go to Carrefour!

            After what felt like hours of finger paints and Play Doh, the lure of the snow was more than the two little girls could resist. We bundled up a bit with promises not to be cold and went out to play. As soon as you’d step on the snow, your footprint would reveal the grass. That’s how little there was. They were still determined to make a snowman. We made a snow lump. There wasn’t even enough to bother dragging out the sled to go down our little hill.

            I guess we’ll have to make the trip back up to the top of the mountain to see if there’s more snow at the ski resort. I have my tire chains in my car, just in case. Not that I could put them on even if I had to. I guess that trip will have to wait for the weekend when my chauffeur isn’t at work.

resolution?

Monday, January 1st, 2007

        I think it is safe to say that our new year’s resolution is not to spend less money. That’s not to say that we really have made any resolutions. I keep mentioning putting a treadmill in the spare room but Bill doesn’t even react to the idea… when I say it it’s as if I’ve said nothing at all.

        So, back to the spending.

        We’ve just returned from the trip to Colmar. We didn’t tally what we spent.

        We’ve just booked our hotel for Rome. The Albergo del Senato. (http://www.albergodelsenato.it) Great location. Looks fantastic. Rave reviews on tripadvisor.com (which steered us to the ideal hotel in Honolulu last summer) Cheap? Hardly. But that’s ok. We got the plane tickets cheap. Ok, pretty cheap. Add a couple of tours and lots of big plates of pasta accompanied by equally big glasses of red wine and, well, I’m not going to tally that up, either.

        Bill has found a train trip he wants to take. It’s the Glacier Express through Switzerland. Add that to the growing to-do (and to-spend) list.

        Then today, Bill said he thinks maybe we should take Kaitlyn to Disneyland Paris for her birthday. That would be fun. And how crowded could it be in January? We went to Disneyworld one January for Bill’s birthday and walked onto every ride. (Mind you, that was back when I was a castmember enjoying lovely discounts at the hotels and restaurants… not to mention having passes to the park) So while Kaitlyn napped, I jumped onto my friend the world wide web and checked it out. There are plenty of hotels there. Let’s see… there’s the Cinderella suite in the Disneyland Hotel…. a cool 2000 € or so a night. A NIGHT! I knew I wasn’t going to be able to afford that, but I had no idea that one actually needs a fairy godmother or a prince to pay for it. So I tried more normal rooms and got prices that are “total” for two nights, park passes and breakfast (not in that order) At the a regular room there… 900 € .. nope…. the NY Hotel complete with a replica of the ice skating rink at Rockefeller Center (and I do like to skate)… 800€ …. Yacht Club like the one where we stayed on our honeymoon…. 700€ … better… the lodge that might have some Chip and Dale kind of things that Kaitlyn would like 620€ . That’s the cheapest I can get, the budget hotels are booked. And I refuse to stay at the Davey Crocket glorified campsite. We can take the TGV (high speed train) from Grenoble to the stop at Disneyland. 400€ . Kaitlyn can get a special Mickey Mouse birthday cake. Although the park is only open till 8pm… is it worth it? I like vacations better when I don’t add them up.