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The Winter Resolution: Blah, Blah, Skiing, Blah, Blah …

Thanks to all of you for reading my last post “The Winter Resolution: Fighting the Winter Blahs” and sharing your own tips for how to survive this never-ending season. It helped me feel a little less like this woman in this video. (But just a little. In fact, I wonder if this is a secret filming of me in my driveway?)

Winter Blah-Blahs!

Shortly after I published it, my son spiked a fever. Then a sore throat. Then a rash. My neighbour emailed me to let me know her daughter had come down with Scarlet Fever. Yikes! Did my son have Scarlet Fever too?

But wait. My daughter then developed a fever. A sore throat. And yep, you guessed it, a rash. But she was in a far worse state … extremely lethargic, with no appetite. Okay, we better head to the doctor!

Doctor’s conclusion: Fifths Disease. But he took throat swabs as well.

Then I spiked a fever. Then my throat got sore. Then my throat got so sore it felt like I was swallowing glass.

I get a phone call. Both kids’ swab tests came back positive for strep throat. Yep, Fifths disease and Strep. It was awesome sauce. My throat was so bad that I didn’t even dare try to swallow those massive vitamins I showed you in my last post or even bother trying to get a minimum of steps in a day.

But, I tell you what? I am so grateful for the invention of penicillin! Less than 48 hours after starting my prescription, I was back to the land of the living. And so were the kids.

Skiing!

And that meant we could still enjoy our planned ski weekend at Calabogie Peaks Resort. Phew! Because my son had bounced back very quickly and he had been counting the minutes until this trip (he kept asking, “How long until we go to Cal-a-BO-gie?!”). We all would have been so disappointed if we’d had to cancel on our generous invite from Ontario’s Highlands Tourism Organization.

Plus, I’d even gone as far as to buy downhill ski gear for the first time in my life. Neither Hubby or I grew up in a skiing family, but he had quickly acquired a taste for it years ago and now the kids had too. All three were completed kitted out and often took in a ski evening or afternoon at one of the local hills in the Ottawa Valley. But Mom? No, this ol’ Mom tended to stay home and catch up on work or, better yet, grab a nap.

Not having ski gear was a convenient barrier for me. I’d think, “Nah, I don’t want to get up to the ski hill and sort out rental equipment. Too much hassle.” Well, I crossed that little excuse right off in a single visit to Play it Again Sports in Kanata.

For the cost of $250 (including taxes!), I was now part of the “downhill ski gang” that my family had become. The skis were $130, the boots were $70, and the poles were $10.

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So now my combat artillery against the dreaded “Winter Blahs” includes not only multivitamins and walking, but downhill skiing. Or at least that’s my plan. I’ll let you know how it all panned out next post!

Note from Julie on November 15, 2015: Hey, are you curious to see how this whole Winter Resolution thing has been working out? Check out this post for an update: “What I’ve Learned from Saying “Yes” to Winter.”

Comments

  1. Good for you!! We have yet to take our boys skiing and I feel guilt about it. silly, but real guilt. We are hoping next year to sign them up for lessons. For us, this is the only way we will go. If we pay for it and make that commitment… we are not skiers ourselves, so a lesson or two for us would also be worthwhile, though I’m not sure about it. we’ll see.

    have a great trip! hoping everyone will be healthy for it :)

    • Hi Sarah – I never downhill skied when I was a kid. My parents cross-country skied, but I don’t think they’ve ever done downhill … so that’s just the way it was. I don’t see the need for guilt! (But then again, I have irrational/silly guilt too. Like, are my kids the only kids on earth who haven’t been to Disney? We parents can be pretty hard on ourselves.) Julie

  2. same with us. we cross country skied as kids but never down hill. it was too expensive. as for the guilt, it is ridiculous I know! but, alas, it is there. we did, at least, make it down to the canal finally today! so I can stop feeing guilty about that!

    lol re. Disney! did you go with your parents? we sure didn’t! we were happy to get to the EX every year!

  3. I’ve skied once in my life, and I’m terrified to try it again. haha I’m such a chicken!! I play broomball all winter in outdoor tournaments during the weekends. It sure helps to make the winter go by faster. :)

  4. I’m so glad you guys are on the mend and could enjoy your trip. I hate it when my kids get sick, but it’s even worse when mom gets it too, hard to run the house. I’ve never been skiing but have always wanted to go. It’s on my bucket list.

  5. I am falling into the Winter blahs…. 4 kids dealing with this 4 day flu (yep 4 days) horrible! Anyways glad you got out skiing, something I have never tried and not sure I will?

  6. Good grief! You and your family were so sick! Glad everyone has come out of that blast of sickness! I really need to get out skiing! I’ve only downhill skied three times, but absolutely love it! Thanks for the huge belly laugh with that video! I hadn’t seen it yet. I have felt just like doing that a few times this winter, lol.

    • So far, I’ve been skiing once this season, once in the 2013 season, and once in the 2012 season. My goal is to get in a couple of more times this season. It’s hard to get into the “rhythm” when you only go once a season! But I’m really hoping my gear will help me get over that hurdle (no rental fees, etc).

  7. haha that video made me laugh, you should see me trying to get the kids out of their car seats and in the house! It is amazing all of us have not ended up in the snow banks

  8. Ha! So it was you that decapitated Frosty.

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