Day 24 is the Best Yet! Snowshoeing, Mountains, Handstands in Snow, and a Day to Ourselves.

I have a confession to make.  My kids have never been skiing.  I know, I know... we live in the ski town (granted, we've only been here for about 2 years but still...) of Bend, Oregon where Mt. Bachelor is only 30 minutes away and my kids are those kids that don't know how to ski.  I'm blaming it on traveling (not a real excuse).  This last November/December we went on a three week trip to Thailand as a family.  So, instead of spending money on ski passes, rentals and lessons, we paid for plane tickets and adventures in another country!  Totally worth it.  However, no more excuses.  Next winter will be a winter of skiing LOTS. In fact, Mt. Bachelor has a killer deal called Ride in 5 where you can get 5 lessons, rentals, passes, and then upon graduation, a season pass and 50% off a season pass for the following year.  Gosh, can't beat that!  I don't really like downhill skiing (it feels like paying to be cold, scared, and out of control) but I think that having my kids learn how to ski is something you do if you live here.  It's a cultural literacy if you will.  At least that's how I see it.  After they've been exposed, they can choose for themselves.  Maybe they will be like me and find snow shoeing, cross country skiing, and snow trail runs to be far more fulfilling of winter sports than downhill skiing.  

We may not have taken the family up to ski this season, but I have had some really breathtaking days of snowshoeing and winter running!  Today was one of those days.  Probably the best day I've had all year.  Truly. Definitely a RARE week day kind of treat where I happened to mention to my husband that we take some time to snow shoe together since he's been working so much lately (on weekends and nights too sometimes) and we hardly ever get a weekend day where we aren't running kids around.  Lucky us...it the stars aligned and the day was all ours! 

Love him to the moon and back!  He's been my rock and so much more.  

It's a GOOD GOOD day when you get to snowshoe hike up a mountain (Tumalo Mountain) with the love of your life on a blue bird spring day!  It becomes an even better day when you get to enjoy panoramic views at the top of the mountain while drinking a favorite cold beer (and yes, this experience was worth breaking my efforts to NOT drink beer during the week...a beer never tasted so good) without another soul in sight.  It then gets even better when you have a partner that will tear down at top speed (we were practically skiing on snowshoes) so you can make it in time for lunch in the sun before picking the kids up from school.  Life feels so so good.  

I think one of my favorite parts to this story is the part that reminded me just how lucky I feel to live here.  When we got up to the mountain, we noticed two things.  We didn't have our snow pass to park and there were signs everywhere saying that no dogs were allowed.  We needed to drop our dog Ashe off and get a pass so we drove back to town, dropped the dog, got a coffee and a pass and headed back up with time to summit, come down, get lunch and still have time to get the kids.  I can definitely take where I live for granted some days but today was NOT one of those days. 

OH, you know...just drinking a beer on the top of a snowy mountain with my shirt off.  ha ha...this picture makes me laugh but for real, it was HOT after climbing a mountain in record time!  

My heart is spilling with gratitude today.  Gratitude, love and JOY.  I love this man I married.  He's the very best kind of man and today was a reminder of why I fell in love with him in the first place.  I think we really do need these special times to be alone and reconnect with our partners.  It's so easy to get stuck in the every day motions and "to dos"... day in and day out... carting kids around...paying bills...work...chores... So easy to push these kinds of times to the side for another day. So glad we didn't push it off today.  I don't think we need these kinds of dates in order to love each other and have a wonderful marriage but I am so grateful for this time!  It gives our relationship a sort of recharge.  

That's all for Day 24.  Plenty of gratitude and intentions and making the world a better place in this one post to where I'm scraping the Project Begin Again format.  

Happy Tuesday,
Amanda