Your Mother Wore Army Boots

Sam is getting really into super heroes, soldiers, and that sort of alpha-male thing. Being the bargain hunter I am (see previous entry "Best Money Ever Spent"), I stockpile random toys from the Dollar Aisle at Tar-jay and then sock them away for a "rainy day." OK, let's face it, I whip out one of those suckers out when I need a good bribe, which I call a "reward" to ease my Catholic conscience. So a while back I picked up a bag of plastic Army men, those old-fashioned olive green and drab brown ones, for the next emotional downpour.

At the beginning of Sam's swimming lesson at Morgan Swim School the other day, he was pitching a fit (literally) that he didn't want to go. First I offered him some ice cream after the lesson was over, a usual bulls-eye. His response was, "Can you mix a brownie in it?" That's my boy! (I LOVE ice cream, especially with mix-ins.) Still though, he was a sobbing mess hanging onto the car door. So I resorted to the rainy day bribe supply and offered him the army men if he did a good job at his class.

Needless to say once the class started, he was a-OK. By the time I went to pick him up, he was lying on his back in the pool belting out a few stanzas of "I've Been Working on the Railroad." I was impressed as I'm not quite sure I could do that. On the way home, he made sure to hit me up for the brownie-filled ice cream and soldiers, and I came through. (Bait and switch does not work well on the 4-year-old mind. Then again, no one likes to be conned.)

That night Sam showed Daddy Mac his new soldiers. Daddy said, "Did you know that Mommy used to be a soldier?" Sam was silent for a minute and then asked, "In the olden days?"

Yes, in the olden days. Now go to your room!

LibbY

Bye bye Vail -- and Aspen!

Gosh, this week sure flew by -- in a good way. Daddy Mac, the Saminator and I all had an equally great time in Vail, no easy feat since Daddy Mac and I were up for some faux outdoorsiness, new sights, cool shopping, and interesting restaurants. On the other hand, Sam had an entirely different agenda as is a preschooler's perogative -- trains, new toys, ice cream, cookies, swimming, and lots and lots of TV on his new portable DVD player, worth its weight in platinum for the plane ride alone. Much to its credit Vail surpassed all of our expectations by a few alpine miles. There is no escaping the outdoorsiness here, the little river runs right through town glistening in the sun, even rushing noisily by our condo. (No, I did not call the "super" to complain about the ongoing racket.)

We took a day trip to Aspen to see what we could see. As it turns out, it is a small old-time Western town for uber-wealthy people who want Rocky Mountain casual but also want the accessibility of many of the same designer stores found on Rodeo Drive. As Bernie aptly put it, "It's like living in a college town without the college." Yes, but this college happens to be filled with multi-millionaires with private jets, Porshe 911s just for the summer months, and some pocket change. It seems like a great place to come live for a while, not necessarily geared to tourists passing through town for a week or so, like Vail.

Aspen is about a two hour drive from Vail, so Sam was antsy during the entire ride to get there and get the heck out of the car. OK. Perfectly understandable. The plot thickens -- naturally. Once we were finally there, he immediately said he wanted to go back to our hotel, which of course was a two hour jaunt over a string of large mountains at that point. Not happening, little dude. After getting some ice cream to cajole Sam into submission and numb our own rising frustration, we did some extremely brief window shopping (more like "window glancing") and got the heck out of dodge pretty quickly.

We took a different route home, longer yet infinitely more scenic, definitely worth the three plus hours -- to us at least. Check off the Continental Divide, a truly spectacular sight! Then we truly understood why the richest of the rich chose Aspen above all other location options to have a second (or third or fourth) home. Needless to say, Sam was not so pleased and wouldn't even deign to get out of the car and take a gander at the truly awesome sights. Kids these days, I tell you! (The word "grumpy" comes to mind!) However, the real kicker was that once we got back "home" to Vail, he IMMEDIATELY begged to go back to Aspen the next day and continued to ask all week long. I just don't get it AT ALL. It's a good thing he is so cute, it may have saved his life. Freud would have a field day, I'm sure, hopefully in a valley surrounded by the mountains outside of Aspen. Aaaah, I'm sure God smiled after making those!

LibbY

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted

Remember that happy-go-lucky Go-Go's tune called "Vacation?" It goes something like this, "Vacation, all I ever wanted. Vacation, had to get away." Well, that sure says it all. And if I am dating myself by referring so affectionately back to the 80's, so be it. The 40's are the new 30's, right? Anywho, this is the first "real" vacation we have taken since before the Saminator was born four years ago. (Although it often feels more like four-score years ago.) To clarify, by "real" I use these crucial criteria: (1) getting on a plane, (2) going somewhere cool, (3) just for fun, (4) staying in a hotel, and (5) most importantly -- not visiting ANYONE. So here we are -- one blissful vacation in Vail, Colorado... Well, mostly blissful. We are here with a four-year-old after all. Needless to say, he can be a real pin-in-the-Aspen when he wants to be and even when he doesn't. Since I'm technically a Southerner now, I'll add, bless his heart. As a rare exception to Rule 5, we also did get to hang out with my cousin Hannah whom I hadn't seen in waaaay too long and meet her fiance Jon. It was great to see her and worth bending the rules a bit. Rules are made to be broken, right? Spoken by lawyer no less...

I was a little blt leery of going to a ski resort in the off season & summer, but I've got to say this is one of my favorite places on Earth. No exaggeration, even though I can exaggerate with the best of them. I'm so thankful to be here now when you can really see the many shades of the mountains, the gorgeous flowers in bloom, the intricate detail of the rock formations, and to hear the rushing river while going to sleep with the windows open. Plus the shops are way more accessible without having to bundle up and wade through snowdrifts to get there. You see, all that couldn't happen with 100 plus inches of snow on the ground. When you are walking around Vail, though, you feel like you have been airlifted into a breathtaking Austrian village filled with winding walking streets of tasteful stenciled shops, an impressive variety of restaurants, and spectacular views of the Rockies peeking out when you least expect them.

If you are sick to death of me gushing about how wonderful vacation is, the marvelousness of Vail, and the utter fabulousness of a vacation in Vail, you will be happy to know that someone ran over our mailbox at home last night. Reality bites!