Snow and Ducks

Howdy friends and family,

Monday after work Jacob offered to give me a free, guided trip to snow board in Park City Utah.  The tricky part was that the plane departed in 12 hours.  Can a corporate geek, father of twins, and husband do something this spontaneous?  Why, yes.  yes I can.

I checked with Kendra first because she is my first priority.  She agreed to manage the house and school day for the twins.  I wasn't around to make messes so that was probably a bonus for her.  :)  I cleared my work calendar with a few flex-time work hours, then bought the cheapest pair of snow board pants in town. My goggles hadn't been worn in 10 years since the last time I strapped myself to a board and ate snow.  I can't believe it's been that long, but we don't get many snow days here in Phoenix where the powder conditions are right for snow boarding.

Anyway, my day started with a 4:00 AM wake up and didn't end until I crawled into bed at midnight.  4 hours of sleep followed by 20 hours of travel and snow boarding.  That was a recipe for tired success.  The trip was excellent including every last detail.  travel timing, weather conditions, no broken bones...  I love it when a plan comes together, like the A-team.

Meanwhile back at the ranch...  Earlier this week I took Easton and Layla out for an afternoon of adventures which were much less extreme than snow boarding.  We fed the ducks.

Layla dressed herself and I didn't realize Kendra cared until after we arrived home and she said, "did you go out in public with her outfit like that?"  I said, "depends on what you mean by public?"  I like the quirky outfits the twins pick out to wear so it doesn't even cross my mind to correct them.  When I look at pictures of myself as a child where my parents dressed me in semi-stylish clothes my outfits still looked atrocious even though they were probably cool back in the day.

Easton and Layla know fractions!  I know this because I asked Easton to tear a piece of bread in half, then give one to Layla.  He split the bread into two unequal pieces then decided which one to give to Layla.  Can you guess which one he gave her?  Of course...  the smaller piece.

Selfishness is not taught or learned.  it is our nature and must be fought from the time we are able to choose until the time we die.  Layla did the exact same thing with a piece of sandwich meat today also.  It cracks me up to see witness the maturing process right before my eyes in duplicate.  So much to learn and so little time to teach them.  

Easton and Layla are 1 week away from turning 4 years old!  Kendra and I are happy for them to reach the milestone, but mourning how they need us less and less.  It sure is nice to sit and talk to Kendra in the middle of the day while the twins play Barbies and Cars (yes, together).  Their imaginations are expanding so quickly.  

We are discussing what to do for Easton and Layla's schooling.  We could send them to public schools, home school completely (K-8) or do a hybrid where the kids go to school 2-3 days per week and Kendra home schools the other days.  I just want the best atmosphere and environment for them to become the most intelligent well-rounded individuals possible by the time they are ready for college.  Based on the escalating costs of college I figure a free ride to college will be worth about $300k by then.  So I have $600K in costs riding on their schooling.  No pressure though.  LOL. 

See you soon!