Snow Skiing - One Run, But Fun!

I was really looking forward to snow skiing with Collin during Christmas break but was really disappointed when I found out there was not much snow so far on the mountain. Only one run, a green beginner run, was open. At least it was a long one starting from the top of the mountain.

On the first day, Collin wanted to warm up on the beginner short run before skiing from the top. After 3 times going on the short run, he was warmed up and ready to ski from the top. Even though he barely  turned going down the mountain, he did really good!  This is the reason I called him Speedy because he was so fast. He was not too fast for me to practice my turns and parallel skiing, or what was Collin calls French Fries. 

We skied three half days this past week and had a blast.  I loved skiing next to him and have him look over at me and smile really big. I knew he was having fun when I saw that. 

Christmas at the Mountain House

Because we ended up having Christmas with my side of the family on Saturday instead of Christmas Day, we were able to leave for the moutina house earlier than we expected. The only problem was that Santa needed to know which house to go to. Collin came up with the idea to leave Santa a note on the back sliding glass door letting him know the address of the mountain house. 

We had a quick, thrown together dinner with the family before opening presents. I at least had time to cook the turkey but had to make sides with what I had at the house. Plans had changed because Uncle Paul had day surgery that day before that landed him in ICU because of pulmonary edema. He stayed the night and most of the next day. We came for a long visit with me Leaving only to start cooking the turkey. When he was discharged, he came directly to our house for dinner and to open presents. We only had one cousin with us because the other two where at their other grandparent’s house because of Paul’s surgery. 

We cleaned up and then packed to leave the next morning at 4am for the 14 hour drive. We wanted to be at the mountain house and not a hotel for Christmas morning. We made it in 13 hours and in time to have dinner with the family that was already there from the week before. 

The next morning, Collin slept in but we did get up before the rest of the people there. He was so happy that Santa found the house and filled his stocking. He got a lot of things for road trips, rock kit because he is fascinated with rocks, joke book, mini Google Home, another PlayStation controller so his friends can play and several board games. 

After opening presents with the rest of our friends, we went snow skiing. Only one run was open but it was a really long green run. Collin and I went in the bunny slop a few times for him to warm up before tacking the longer, higher green run. He did GREAT today. He is also so fast mainly because he skis straight down the mountain with very few turns. We skied the run at least 5 times only stopping for lunch. I cannot wait to ski again tomorrow. 

Project Gingerbread House

Since Collin was born, he and I have built and decorated a gingerbread house together every Christmas. There was one year we build train instead of a house because the train came as part of a kit.  I call it a gingerbread house, but we use graham crackers because these are sturdy and can be easily broken to crate the shape needed. 

If an effort to do “Christmas Lite” this year because of everything going on and to focus on the meaning for the holiday season, I cut out most of what we normally try to cram in our schedule. I did ask Collin what he still wanted to include. He said he still wanted to look at Christmas lights and also to make a gingerbread house.  Because most of our evenings are free as a result of us not trying to do too many things, I thought it would be fun for he and I to design the house and make it ourselves instead of using a kit or crackers. We still have plenty of leftover candy for decorations from prior year gingerbread house making parties. 

I found an easy recipe for gingerbread. Collin helped especially when it was time to roll out the dough. He asked to have some dough leftover so he could play with it. That’s fun!  During the design, he mentioned that he wanted a really tall and large house with a garage and fence. He helped make sure I was cutttjng out the dough for the sides needed. I was challenged to make sure I cut out all of the parts we needed for this custom house. I would hate to forget an integral piece. 

Here is the house and fence after it was baked. Not bad!

We had to let the gingerbread cool so we didn’t have enough time that night to make the house. Several more nights went by before we were able to sit down and start decorating the house due to interest and basketball practice. When we actually had time to decorate the house, Collin was not interested. I sat down anyway and started “gluing” the pieces together with royal icing. He then came by and help me out especially with decorating the house. He said the house needed a sidewalk and a driveway which he designed first before decorating it with candy. We had to have a laugh with how hard some of the candy had gotten from the last year and reminded each other tonight it for sure! The icing was really good though. Yum!

I thought the house turned out really nice. What do you think?

Reading Update

We found high school student to tutor Collin two days a week. We thought that if a high school boy worked with Collin instead of working with another adult, he might be able to relate to him better. They are focusing not only on his homework but also giving him tools to use while reading to comprehend the passage and to be able to answer questions. The student, Blake, is very patient with Collin. He’s really good too.  I appreciate how Blake responds to some of Collin’s questions and if Collin tries to be lazy or not focused on their hour session. One time, Collin said he forgot his homework. Blake responded with, “What can you do next time not to forget it?  You know homework is important. How can you fit it in when you bring it home tomorrow?”

Collin still does not look forward to the tutoring hour but, during that hour, he is generally studious and I can tell that he is already improving after four times that they have met together. Maybe we are turning a corner finally.

Color Guard at School

For the last day of school, Collin’s Cub Scout den performed the colorguard to start the pep rally. Collin carried the US flag as part of the colorguard. He didn’t have a speaking part which he was pretty happy about. I love how I packed his entire uniform for the morning and he only chose to wear his shirt and neckerchief. At least you could spot him in his bright orange sherbet colored shorts!

Basketball

Collin enjoys basketball so much! He is playing again this year And really excited about it. Not that he practices much when he has free time. Because of the 4th grade school play and going out of town for Thanksgiving for the entire week, Collin has only been to one practice. Therefore, he was a little rusty during the first scrimmage game last Saturday. The entire team did not work as well together as the other team did. Today’s game was much better. The boys worked really well and hustled more than last time. They still lost but it was a much closer game.

Collins’s jersey is number 4 and he is easily spotted because of his bright red basketball shoes. 

Here are pictures from last Saturday’s game.

Here are pictures from today.  Collin does need to learn how to be more aggressive and to get rebounds. He still more concerned about where he supposed to be for each play. 

Boy Scout Rain Gutter Regatta Rigatta

Instead of Pinewood Derby this year, the Pack decided to do the Rain Gutter Regatta. We had such a busy few weeks that I was greatful for the lack of time really needed to build the boat. Collin looked up a few videos and then started building his boat. I did help a little with painting it. We used Sharpies instead of getting out paint. It was WAY easier and hardly any time needed to dry. 

His boat is the one with the blue sail. 

Because of the snow and below freezing temps we have had, we were fortunate that it was above freezing for the morning of the race. Collin did really well for not practicing and not knowing what to expect. He won several races but did not end winning overall for his Den. I was happy to see that he did not cry or get frustrated when he did not win a race. Yay!  My boy is growing up!