February Vacation

In New England the kids get a week off from school in the middle of February. Don't ask me why, I just figure that people are so sick of the winter that they just give us the time off to get away. Most families take off to somewhere warmer like Florida, Arizona, or California. Nope not us! We went a few hours north where it is even colder!! If you know me at all, you know how much I HATE the cold. New England winters and I DO NOT get along one bit! The only thing that gets me through it is seeing my kids have so much fun in the snow. At least Juan enjoys the snow, so I can just send him out with the kids while I stay nice and cozy inside.

Anyway, we spent a week in North Conway, NH in the White Mountain region. There are so many great ski resorts up there that we could have gone to a different one everyday and still not have tried them all. For Sophia and I it was our first time ever skiing! I was soo nervous about it because I am so not coordinated. Sophia on the other hand couldn't get up the slope fast enough to zoom her way down. It was so fun to see her take off down the slope, she wouldn't even wait for me to go with her. I took a lesson to get me going but Sophia wouldn't have anything to do with that. At first she was just going straight down the slope and somehow stopping before running into the crowd, but after a few runs she figured it all out on her own. She was getting on and off the magic carpet on her own, turning inbetween cones, and stopping properly. I was truly amazed at how easy it was for her to catch on to it, where as I wasn't feeling like I had the hang of it until about the third day!

Owen tried snowboarding for the first time and like Sophia he caught on to it right away. He was beaming the whole time we were there. He just couldn't get enough of it! He didn't let the falls frustrate him. He would bounce right up and keep going. I've attached a video of him that Juan took. It's a little short because as soon as he saw Juan with the camera he thought that Juan wanted to take a picture of him so he stopped and posed. But then he kept on going. It is incredible the control he has! Owen and Sophia never wanted to take a break, they were like the energizer bunny! They just kept going and going. We had to force them to stop for lunch and they were the last ones off the slopes when it was time to go.

Zachary has skied for a couple of years now so he wanted to give snowboarding a try this year. Because skiing came so easily for him he was getting frustrated with how difficult snowboarding can be. But I am really proud of him that he stuck with it and didn't give up. By the second day he was able to move on from the learning area and go on the chair lift with Tabitha. Owen had had enough of the learning area by then too and even went down a blue trail! Owen and Zack had the best snowboarding teacher around...their dad. I am glad Sophia was happy with staying in the learning area with me because the rest of the gang took to the more advanced slopes, while I was perfectly content on the bunny slopes.

As for Tabitha, she is the most experienced among us.  She has participated in her school's ski & snowboard club the last two years so she has had more opportunities to practice.  She makes it all look so easy.  

I am so glad that this is something that we all enjoy and can do together as a family. For me, I could really take it or leave it, but seeing that everyone else in the family has so much fun doing it, I'll stick with it and hopefully begin to enjoy it as much as they do.

Pneumonia or Cancer?

A couple of weeks ago Tabitha was having a persistant cough with a fever that would come and go. I figured she just had a cold or some virus that just needed to take its course. But after a weekend of no sleep because she was coughing all night I decided it was time to take her to the doctor's office.

I love our pediatrician's office! They have an hour each morning from 7am-8am that you can walk-in without an appointment to see the doctor. This is so great to me because I only have to take the sick child with me and the rest of the kids can stay home since Juan doesn't go into the office until 8:30. So that Monday I woke her up a little bit earlier than usual and told her to get ready to go to the doctor's office. After getting dressed, she came downstairs and said to me, "I'm sure I'll be fine, as long as it is not pneumonia or cancer." In my head I was thinking..."What the heck! Why is my 9 year old worried about cancer?!" I tried not to laugh as I could tell she was being serious about it. I wanted to calm her worries so I told her that if she had cancer she would probably be feeling a lot worse than she was and if it was pneumonia there is medicine that will help her get over it. I'm still not sure what prompted the worry of cancer, but I think that she was nervous about the pneumonia because her school teacher last year was hospitalized with pneumonia and ended up retiring because she was so sick.

So at the doctor examined her and right away said that she had pneumonia. I just about fell out of my seat! I couldn't believe it! Tabitha is my only child who doesn't have asthma and she very rarely gets sick. I thought that the worst the doctor would say was that she had bronchitis. On the ride home from the doctor's office Tabitha asked me, "How do you think Papa is going to react when we tell him I have pneumonia?" I told her he would probably be surprised since she is hardly ever sick. Then she said, "Maybe we should tell him to sit down before we give him the news." I couldn't help the smirk that came across my face! Tabitha is rarely this serious about anything.

Thankfully, after two rounds of antibiotics (which leads me to believe it was viral and just had to run its course), she is now well. I guess I should also be thankful that it wasn't cancer!

We are here! We are here! We are here!

Hello to everyone in cyberspace! I have finally figured out how to create a blog! Thus, you have been invited to check in on the happenings of The Brea Family. I'm sure our family is no more exciting than yours, but we hope to give you a glimpse into our day to day lives. I doubt that we will be posting something everyday, but hopefully regularly enough that you won't forget about us!

A note about the family picture above. It was taken in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The most amazingly beautiful place to capture the changing of the leaves in autumn. We went on a hike to a waterfall named Diana's Bath. It was a very leisurely hike, probably only a mile long. Owen was very curious and thought it was a funny name for a waterfall. The conversation the whole way was, " Who is Diana?" and "Are we going to see her naked? hehe". Well to answer Owen's question Diana was not there taking a bath. I think he would have found it quite hysterical yet embarrassing had someone been there.