Making the Grade

Emily and I got an A!

Influenza A that is.  What great luck, I know.   Late Sunday night she started running a fever.  By Monday morning, my throat hurt and we both had a cough.  By 11:30 that morning we were at the clinic with a prescription for three for Tamiflu and directions to stay home for 5 days.  Lucky for Aaron, he was out of town all weekend, and came home to a 10 day prescription to prevent him from getting it.  Emily and I are on a twice a day routine, and for the record, Emily will tell you it tastes stupid yucky.

We are on day 2 and cabin fever is setting in.  Neither one of us feels truly awful, a little tired, slightly achy, a cough.  We've done a lot of play-doh, coloring, and puzzle books... and that was all before 8 AM.  We took the dogs for a walk around the block, and it's a bummer to be stuck when it's so nice outside.

And we have three days left to go.

And we had such a great weekend before this all started.  Friday night was Family Skate Night for all three elementary schools, so Emily had a great time ice skating with two friends from class amongst a whole lot of other children (hmmmm, did we pick up the virus there?)  Saturday was the start of the second session of ski lessons.  Her instructor from last time thought she needed to be bumped up a skill group.  She had such a great time skiing both Saturday and Sunday.  I even joined her for a couple runs Sunday after lessons (maybe we got the virus there?).  And Saturday evening, Emily went to her first ever birthday pool party (at the hotel pool, maybe that's where the evil virus was lurking?).  We definitely kept busy while Aaron was away.  Now we are having a hard time finding anything to do!

Emily and I had our first ever ski day today.  It was the end of the first session of ski school, and we had a great time making some runs after her lesson.  But there's no break before the second session, round 2 starts next weekend.

And this video clip is of her riding Stuart Little last Thursday.  As you can tell, Stuart is a stubborn little pony who usually does what he wants!

Back in the Swing of Things

Emi is on the right in the pink helmet

Winter break really felt like the Hughston version of the winter olympics: snowmobiling, ice skating, snowshowing, sledding, and finishing up with skiing the weekend before returning to school.  Emily started the Spuds program at Dollar Mountain, skiing both Saturdays and Sundays for almost three hours.

Saturday went really well.  She got moved up out of the beginner group, and was doing run after run down Quarter Dollar with the middle skill group.  Sunday was a bit more of a train wreck with a few more falls.  Tired?  Yes.  Achy legs?  Yes.

Monday meant back to the routine of getting up early and out the door in a hurry.  Despite stating she didn't want to go back to school Sunday night, Monday went fairly smoothly.  The swim instructor had to cancel Monday's lesson, so the two of us went swimming which is so much more fun now that she's a swimmer.  Wednesday we both skipped out on school to go with Aaron to his appointment in Salt Lake; luckily the roads were good when we headed down Tuesday night, arriving much too late and having to get up much too early to do anything fun.  Thursday meant a return to riding Stuart Little with Erin, Emily's new instructor.  Friday was welcomed, and Emily is looking forward to another couple days of skiing (which will hopefully involve less falling!).

Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve was a fairly quiet one around the Hughston household.  We had plans to go out and meet friends for fireworks, but our little lady fell asleep on the couch around 7, and with bitter cold temps we really didn't really feel like venturing out into the cold.

But then, someone woke up around 11 from her power nap really wanting to see the fireworks and friends that were supposed to happen at 9.  So, we put on our party wear and watched from the window as only Dad braved the cold to set off a few bottle rockets for our own personal firework show.

The days of winter break are going by quickly.  While most of them have involved some organizing and rearranging to make room for the new items, we have been able to get out and enjoy the days.
Emily went for her first snowmobile ride the day after Christmas up to Baker Creek.

And she spent an afternoon swimming at the pool, and I didn't even have to get in!  She swam around with her friend, and then spent the last thirty minutes of the time with swim instructor Jennifer.  

And she was very, very happy to get her ice skates on and go a day of skating at the rodeo grounds.  A lot of friends were there, so we weren't the only silly ones going out on a very cold (but sunny) day!

We also had a girls' trip to Boise Monday and Tuesday.  Monday started off with an eye doctor appointment for Emily, seeing the ophthalmologist we've known since the NICU days.  Emily got a great report, and we don't need to go back until we think that there is something wrong with her vision. Monday afternoon meant running a lot of errands, but we also had lunch at one of Emily's favorite spots, PF Changs, where she dined on California rolls, edamame, and lettuce wraps (she's not a cheap date!).   That night she was pretty wiped out, so with all the grand plans of fun things we could do for the evening, she settled on a swim at the hotel pool and going to bed.  

Tuesday we went to see the dermatologist for her annual check on the bald spot on her head (another doc from the NICU days).  More good news, it hasn't grown at all, so no need to discuss having that spot removed yet.  

Just a few days left of winter break, going to try and make the best of them!