5 main reasons why my trip back sucked

1. My taxi bill from the hotel to the airport was much lower than when I arrived, so I am pretty sure the first taxi driver seriously overcharged me.
2. They made me check my bag because it was “too big to be a carry on” - never mind that it was a carry on in my first two flights.
3. I got a middle seat, in between two relatively large guys.
4. I had a connection in Minneapolis, one of my least favorite towns.
5. We landed in the farthest gate ever, and it took me forever to walk back to baggage claim - carrying a bunch of stuff.

There was one reason why my trip back rocked:  It allowed me to be home!

5 main reasons why my stay in Las Vegas sucked

1) I came by myself
2) I couldn’t find a direct flight
3) The conference was boring
4) It was sunny, but too cold to walk outside
5) It was the end of the month and budget was tight, so I couldn’t even go shopping in my spare time

There was one good reason why it eventually got better: I left early!

Solo yo!

Truth be told, in many situations I totally hate being by myself. I simply can't help to feel lonely when I happen to be alone.

It probably doesn’t help that when I am traveling by myself for work - such as this week - I constantly seem to get subtle references about "how weird" it is that I don’t have any company with me: From the guy at the registration desk who insisted on asking me more than once if I needed more than one room key, to the people at the restaurants who ask "Table JUST for one?", to the older couple sitting next to me at dinner tonight who gave me a very sympathetic look as soon as I sat down. Makes me think about all the people who are truly alone in this world...

I probably wouldn’t mind being alone in a quiet, relaxing setting, where it can just be me and my thoughts. But in a place like Las Vegas where I can’t even hear myself think, where everybody around moves so quickly and people don’t necessarily have their "Nice, sweet-self on", it sure would be nice to have my friends or family to form my very own, personalized, human shield. The point is that when you are with your loved ones, the surroundings tend not to matter as much.

To closeout my lonely dinner tonight, and in a gesture similar to that one of eating lots of ice cream directly from the bucket during sad times, I had couple desserts: One crème brulee, and one flan. I figured it was Ok since I went running earlier today. After that, I couldn’t wait to get back to my room - and now I can’t wait to go to sleep. Tomorrow I am heading back home, and needless to say I just can’t wait!

Por estaturas

The girls had their haircut today, and even though we have been there a million times I had never noticed that they have a sneak on the wall so kids can see how tall they are. So we checked it out. Bella is 3 feet, 4 inches, and Sofia is almost a whole foot taller at 4 feet, 3 inches.

A rare find...

Vail - Part 2

Vail - Part 1

Vail Views

Last night

And just like that, our ski vacation is over and tomorrow we are getting up early to head back home. The girls made lots of progress in skiing - Bella made it to level 2 and Sofia made it to level 4. I got in 3 more days of skiing practice, and Lionel and his Dad had a full day to ski wherever they wanted to, without having to babysit me. As for Monique, no skiing for her but she was the one that got the most quiet and relaxing time.

I will be posting some pictures of the vacation in the next few days. For now, it's time to say good night.

Bed time

For someone who normally goes to bed around midnight, the thought of going to bed at 9:00pm is pretty ridiculous. And yet, that is exactly what I intend to do for the third night in a row. Even Bella, who normally struggles falling asleep, is completely out by now. No whining, no requesting 20 hugs, no reading a book. That is just how much skiing can take out of you. So good night to all...

Loud!

Tonight, for dinner, we got seated right next to a party of 20 people. They were very loud, and in Bella's own words "very annoying". They were extremely loud even for me, and I found myself really looking forward to dinner being over. The entire time I kept thinking: "This is my dad's worst nightmare". The only good thing was that if my kids had started screaming nobody would have been able to hear a thing.

Today's ski report

Here is today's ski report:

Lionel: Zero falls
Lionel's dad: Zero falls
Me: 4 falls - with potential for a lot more
Sofia: A handful
Bella: Probably a bunch

On the plus side, Sofia will probably go up another level tomorrow to level 4 and Bella will finally move one level up, to level 1.

Vail - Day 1

Last night I was way too tired to write about the day, but overall it was a good one. Even though Bella kept repeating how she did NOT want to go to ski school, she ended up going and staying without whining. I am pretty sure that the fact that I stayed outside and had Lionel drop her off, had a lot to do with that. Of course it looks like she didn't make much progress as is still not learning to stop, but given how the day went I think it is safe to say that she is going back today.

Sofia did well. She started at level 2, and is going to level 3 today. As for me? I managed to survive the day even though it was very cold, it was snowing - which meant the snow kept crashing in my face - and Lionel took me to an "easy" black diamond because according to him I could do it, and just needed to trust myself. I did fall a handful of times, maybe 3 or 4, but didn't hurt myself. In fact, it was nice to lay in the snow for a few seconds. It was like a mini break.

Quiet time

Today I barely spoke all day. Between being on the flight for two hours and a half, an equal amount of time on the ride from Denver to Vail, and feeling like a zombie due to the exhaustion from the previous night, I probably didn't even talk a quarter of what I do every single day at work. Not that I am complaining - talking less means that I was able to spend more time with me and my thoughts.

Bad hotel

Last night we stayed at a hotel in Columbus by the airport, since our flight today was somewhat early in the morning. After a very long and restless night, I can honestly say that it was the worst place I have ever stayed at - at least that I can remember. The restroom didn't flush correctly - if at all - and it clearly had a water leak that we could do nothing about. The sink didn't drain, and it was very noisy at night. Not to mention that in the morning part of the room smelled like cigarretes - probably due to a closeby room being fair game for smoking. Needless to say, we couldn't wait to get out of there!

Sentimental

Tonight we left our house to head to our winter ski vacation. After riding in the car for about an hour and a half, we arrived at the hotel where we are spending the night. Both girls had fallen asleep, and when they woke up I noticed Sofia started to cry. "What is going on?", I said assuming she was crying because she was really tired. "I really miss Zoey", she answered continuing to tear up. Bella, who is clearly the less sentimental from the two, looked puzzled and quickly addded: "I miss Zoey too, but not THAT much".

1/2 Pig Marathon Training

Today I had my first run for the 1/2 pig marathon training. The marathon is in early May, so we basically have 3 months to train. The training is not going to be easy, especially because every week our runs are increasing by a mile. Although I will try my best, God only knows if I will manage to run the entire 13 miles. But I rather try and fail, than to watch everybody else try while I stay down.

The lesson

Today I got to think about a very important lesson that I have known for a long time. When you surround yourself by people who are better than you at something, everybody gets better. But if you surround yourself by people who are worse - maybe because you are afraid of the competition or because you are simply more comfortable that way - everybody gets dragged down.

The lazy family

Yesterday I threw the biggest tantrum. Even today, I feel my stomach in a tight knot. My level of frustration reached an ultimate high with the girls because I wanted to do something special with them and have fun, and instead they whined and whined because they didn't want to go. It frustrates me to see how all the families we know- rich and poor - take advantage of all the things around us, and we consistently JUST STAY HOME! During the week we work and work, and by the time the weekend comes around we waste the days just doing chores. Work hard? We sure do, but play hard? Not so much...

We are lucky in that we get to go on vacation or short trips couple times per year, and many people don't even get to do that. But I don't want to live my life looking forward to just a few days out of the year. Although I would love for it to be warm and sunny all year, I am doing my best to embrace as many winter sports as I can so we don't have to hide at home from the weather - at least not because of me. But while many kids were out and about all around the neighborhood looking for places to sled, my kids sat around and asked to watch TV. Their reason? They didn't want to wear those big [snow] pants. By the time we finally got out of the house it was to do chores; return one thing here, and go buy food there. Those are our family outings: Go out to eat, or go buy food. No wonder why more often than not I find myself going shopping for "fun". That is one thing I can certainly do by myself without having to beg for someone to come with me.

And why do I even have to try new things, you may ask? Well, because I don't want to wake up one of these years and realize that I no longer have energy to do things I should have done when I could. And because I want my kids to take advantage of how damn lucky they are by having a mom that tries hard, and is able and willing to help them experience new things.

Maybe one day we will change our ways. Maybe one day somebody other than me will want to go ice skating again, or bowling, or tubing, or to a museum, or to practice some tennis or hang out by the pool at the gym. Maybe one day - God forbid - we will even do a spontaneous day trip...

Banderas

Sofia brought this home the other day for Lionel and me. She was excited that she had a gift for us. Her poor Mexican flag was missing couple states, but she tried...

200

According to my iPhone app, from June 2, 2012 until now I have already reached the 200 mile mark.

A kid's point of view

Sofia: "I love traveling because you get to go to the airport, and that is such a fun place, with all those stores ... And then, you even get to take your shoes off when you get there!"