Weekend with Hayden

I picked Hayden up Friday afternoon from his after-school care near his home and we headed back north to Poughkeepsie.   We stopped to do our grocery shopping and picked up "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs" (the DVD).  I had not seen it, and liked the book.  As it turns out, the movie is much different than the book, but still fun to watch.  Saturday, after a slow start to the morning, I decided to see if I could introduce Hayden to cross country skiing.  We went to Belleayre Mountain, to the same trails that Mike and I had gone to when he was here.  The ski rental shop's smallest child's cross country shoe/boot was not quite the right size, but with an extra pair of socks we made it work.  The day was clear, sunny, and warm.  There was still a fair amount of snow on the trails, but it had warmed and refrozen, so it was kind of "crunchy" and packed down slick in some places.  Not the nice fresh powdery snow that Mike and I had.  BUT, it was still fun and since it was warmer, at least Hayden didn't complain about being too cold.  We started out with all the requisite falling down, but once Hayden saw that I, too, fell down fairly frequently, I could tell he didn't feel so bad.  At least he had a MUCH easier time getting up once he fell!  That is the hardest part for me.  Much easier to take one ski off than try to get up with both on sometimes.  I guess my ankles and knees are just not as flexible!  Plus, Hayden is much closer to the ground! (shorter)  By the time we were half way through the trail we had both gotten much better.  I felt that I did improve my skills some over last time, especially considering the slipperiness of the trails.  At the end of the trail Hayden did say "That was Awesome!"  So, I hope that means he will go with me again.  Sometimes I feel that he says things like that just to make me think he enjoyed it.  He seemed to like it much more than ice skating, so maybe he will go with me again.

When we got home we called Dad and Rita with Skype, and after some technical difficulties did have a fun chat.  Then it was pizza and meatballs for supper.  AND of course watching "Meatballs" again.  We played a couple of games before bed.  Hayden beat me at the "I SPY" Memory game (similar to playing Concentration with picture cards), but I won at Dominoes.  Then stories and bedtime.  I read one book, and Hayden read one to me, and then we were soundly asleep.  This cross country skiing really makes me sleep good!