deerhurst

Despite the storm warnings still active in the Muskoka area, we arrived safely at Deerhurst yesterday afternoon. Some of the roads were a little scary (we passed at least three incidents where cars are slid off the highway or into other cars because of the slippery conditions), but Jeff's newish SUV didn't have any problems navigating the steepest of hills. Yes, he was pretty pleased. :-)

Sara and Annie asked if they could ride up in the car with us. They sat in the back seat, side by side in their car seats, and kept up a pretty steady stream of conversation the entire way. My tendency is always to drift off the sleep on long car rides (ok, maybe even short car rides...conditioning from childhood because I tend to get motion sickness pretty easily), but tried to stay awake during this trip.

Annie and Sara seemed to have an uncanny sense of when I was falling asleep.

"AUNTIE DEBBIE!" I would hear 4-year-old Annie call from the back seat, in what I considered frantic tones. Alarmed, I'd jerk awake and turn around. I'd find her looking at me earnestly.

"I rode in a real orange school bus once," she'd say.

"Wow," I'd managed to reply without sleep-slurring my words. "That's great, Annie."



I took a short nap after we got to Deerhurst; the others went "tubing" (tobogganning on rubber inner tubes) and skating. Played with Annie and Sara after they got back. Jeff had bought them a Arwen & Frodo figurine set, and we had a number of exciting adventures with them, almost always with Frodo being kidnapped by a Dark Rider (simulated by Frodo's empty cape) and having to be rescued by Arwen. Eventually Frodo ended up actually being lost (Annie had hidden her but forgot where she had put him)...I ended up finding poor Frodo underneath the kitchen sink.

After dinner, we all went skating. I haven't been skating in about fifteen years; Jeff and I rented some from the winter sports desk. It took me about ten minutes just to climb up the hill to the rink, and succeeded only because Jeff let me hold onto the back of his coat and dragged me up. :-)

Sara gave me some skating lessons, but for the first twenty minutes or so I could barely stay on my feet. I've never been that coordinated at winter sports (except for tobogganning, when all I had to do was hold onto the sides of the toboggan and scream)...even skating as a child, I was always more the type who spent more time holding onto the side of the rink.

But y'know, after about a while it started to come back to me. I stopped worrying so much about falling on top of Sara and squshing her flat, and started focusing on improving my technique.

"You're doing GREAT, Auntie Debbie!" Sara would yell encouragingly as she zoomed along beside me.

We're going downhill skiing today. I'm going to try hard not to break anything, or at least not an arm...else I won't be able to play guitar and flute at Ad Astra next weekend. :-)



Blatherpics

- Annie enjoys her McFlurry at McDonalds on the way up north.

- Upon arriving at Deerhurst, Sara tests out her bed.

- Sara plays hockey for the first time.