Under Quarantine!

I never thought the winter of 1997 would repeat itself--but it is! Went to visit my sister and family up near Syracuse this past weekend--My whole family was together--had a nice second Christmas gathering.

Kids went sledding and DS1 drove a snowmobile for the first time! He is hooked. Stayed an extra day to take advantage of my sister's gift--Lift tickets to a local ski area.

Mom was supposed to go back to Virginia on Monday morning with my other sister and her family. At 5:30 am we received a phone call that would change the next three days! My 2 nieces and BIL were all horribly sick. Mom was stuck in NY for at least another day.

My sister, my 3 young nephews and my kids went off skiing anyway on Monday. My kids had a great time--My nephews had mixed experiences--One remembered everything he learned from last season, his twin took 40 minutes to come down the beginner hill--that was after falling from the chair lift when he and my oldest were loading and then forgetting to get off at the top. I came along to help and let the anxious teen go off and explore the mountain. I took over to help this twin from a small tree he slid into and wrapped himself around. He kept refusing to to try and after one run he was done! My sister was struggling with the 3 yr old who had never been on skis before. She chastised me for not being more help.

She thought I had experience with young skiers! Well yes and no. My 2 have been on skis since they were 3--but in ski school with one instructor for every 2 kids for kids ages 3-4. We would ski with them, but we let the instructors do all the work. We only went solo with them when they mastered lifts and the lower trails at Jay. Now they like the woods and we stay on the groomed trails. Our whole family still goes to ski school when we get away for a week at Jay Peak.

My kids had fun for the day and realized they were spoiled by learning to ski at Jay Peak. We love the powder and the conditons. It has been rare in the winters since 1989 for there to be poor conditions at our favorite mountain,

Anyway back on the small ski hill in NY, my sister was beginning to not feel well--she left with the boys and we stayed until the lifts closed and knew when we got back to the house we were grabbing our things and leaving to go home. We were not sticking around to get sick.

By the time we got back to my sister's -- my mom was sick and so was one the twins as well. Whatever this is was moving like lightening. I prayed the whole 6 hrs home that we would be OK. At 11 we arrived home and at 3 we had our first casualty with another to follow at 5:30 am.

So long New Year's Eve party-- The phone calls and the text messages went out to declare our home a Quarantine zone. There's always next yr.

It'll be quiet here and now we are freezing in a house where I opened all the windows to kill the germs. We're also hoping that DH doesn't get what we all had. His 36 hrs has expired and now we'll just wait and see.

Gotta go make some soup--HAPPY NEW YEAR!