Janet's Cabin Hut Trip

Luka in the snow cave that he and Ada made at the hut.

On Christmas Eve morning we left to go to Janet's Hut -- a cabin in the 10th Mountain Division Hut System. It was 6 miles skiing in, pulling the kids in their special sled. It was quite the adventure! The trail starts at the boundary of Copper Mountain ski resort. We started there with our friends Ann and Michael and then met our friends Corinne, Dan and Ada at the hut. They ended up being right behind us. Going in, it was pretty cold and snowing. Coming out, the weather was more mild with a tiny bit of snow here and there, but some sun too and mostly clear. The kids slept most of the way back. Pulling the sled was hard work for Reynald and I was behind a lot of the time keeping it in line behind him.

Janet's cabin is a luxurious backcountry cabin with indoor composting toilets and a wonderful kitchen. Water is melted from snow on a huge container on the wood stove. Wood is provided as is propane for the burners. The beds were comfy with pillows and the rooms had 5 or 6 beds to them, with bunks included. Our room included Luka on a bed, Axel between Mommy and Daddy on a bottom double bunk bed, and Michael and Ann on the top bunks. One wall was a window with a great view. The hut also had a sauna that was relaxing.

Luka and Reynald on porch at hut.

Axel and Luka did well with the trip and with the high altitude. We had plenty of water and lots of good food and snacks to eat. I made a spaghetti dinner one evening from my dehyradated sauce that I had prepared, as well as dehyrated organic beef for those of us who are not vegeterian. I dehydrated that plus our lunches to save weight, as you have to pack everything in and out (including any uneaten food, garbage, diapers, etc.). Corinne made very tasty burritos the night before. And Ann had great snacks for all and diversions for the kids.

I skinned up and skied down for the first time in the area around the hut with Corinne. I used Reynald's skis and it worked well. We wear the same shoe size! For the trek into the hut, I used snow shoes. These worked well for the most part, but when the snow was really soft, I sunk often up to my waist. That was more a problem going in than coming out, and it was tricky at times.

Axel had a great time with the toy car Santa brought him on Christmas Eve at the hut and really loved the ball there for kids to play with. Ada and Luka had a great time playing in their rooms at "prarie dog," slap Jack (or Ace or Queen or King or Eight or Nine), Go Fish, Don't Eat Pete and other various kid fun. Reynald had a good time skiing too and also checking out the trails around the hut.

Quite a Christmas adventure!

Reynald going to the cabin, pulling the kids - notice the snow falling!
Our friend Michael behind.
At the juncture of the Colorado Trail and the trail to Janet's Cabin

Top picture is Eve on the way out, and bottom picture is Reynald on the way out, with what we had covered behind him.

For more great pictures of our hut trip and an interesting summary by our friend Corinne, go here: http://www.translatewrite.com/main/janetscabin.php

Christmas came early!

Fore more Christmas photos go here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bodeux/sets/

and click on Christmas 2006 and then Slide Show.

Santa came last night (two days early). Looks like he knew we'd be at the hut for Christmas morning so he brought the kids' presents early. He left a note saying he realized it would be hard to carry all the gifts back down the moutain, and he said we might see him yet again this year (!) - at the hut maybe?! We started opening gifts on Thursday so as not be overwhelmed, Friday and then finished with Santa's today. But, more are coming from Alaska, so it will go on next week...!

I remember finding years later a list that my dad had made of what we all asked for Christmas when one year when we were kids; his Santa list. I found it in a dresser and I think it was after he was gone. That was fun to see the notes. I recall that what I had wanted included paints. I also remember that we basically got whatever we wanted. Santa was a nice Santa. As I recall, we asked for reasonable stuff, but it was a big deal to get all those toys and gifts for 7 of us!

One time, I sent a letter to Santa. Usually, I gave them to Dad so he could "post" them. But, one year, I thought I'd save him some trouble and actually mailed it. I remember him saying, "Oh, darn, you should have given to me to mail from work" or whatever. Funny. I am sure he thought of some way to get out of me what I had asked for. I also remember one year accidentally (really!) going in the back room and seeing gifts (Laverne and Shirley game included).

So, in case Luka and Axel have fun reading this years from now, here is a list of what they got this year (so far, that is):

From Santa:
big puzzle map of the world - Luka
"teddy" (Curious George stuffed animal) - Luka
Playmobil pane with little guy in it - Axel
110 Wooden blocks - Axel and Luka
Plastic fish container for snacks - Axel
socks for hut trip - Axel
high-tech mittens - Luka

From Mommy and Dada:
wooden articulating worm - Axel
additiona train tracks for his Thomas set - Luka
Playmobil astronaut (as in shuttle launch and astronaut class) - Luka
Bath toys - Axel

More gifts!
Wooden doll house with furniture and moving garage from Grandma for both of them
Bozo the clown punching bag - Luka from Uncle Charles and Aunt Mona
French letter, number, picture blocks - Axel from Uncle Charles and Aunt Mona
Gift card for Barnes and Noble - Luka from Uncle Steven and Aunt Angela
Stuffed Snowman that he hugs and kisses - Axel from Uncle Steven and Aunt Angela
Two fun books - both of them from Aunt Mary Healey
Matching Yellow Shirts from Gymboree - Jim, Di, Emma and Julia

Update on December 27

We are still opening gifts! When we arrived home from our hut trip, we received packages for Uncle Vernon & Aunt Tammy, Jean-Claude & Annick, and Uncle Paul and Aunt Jahna

Updated list

Monkey play house - Axel - Aunt Tammy & Uncle Vernon

Stuffed monkey Axel - Aunt Tammy & Uncle Vernon

Cooties game - Luka - Aunt Tammy & Uncle Vernon

2 sets of French DVD's and activity books Luka - JC and Annick

Book and talking book - Axel - JC and Annick

penguin wool slippers - Axel - Aunt Jahna and Uncle Paul

doggie wool slippers - Luka - Aunt Jahna and Uncle Paul

Big Snow Storm! Blizzard of 2006!?

For more pictures of the snow storm, go here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bodeux/sets/
click on Blizzard 2006 and then on Slide Show.

We had the big snow storm of the year (or maybe not?), starting on Wednesday, Dec 20. 2+ feet total? I was just complaining last weekend that we don't get much snow in town anymore, and then on Wednesday, we got a big blizzard. Pretty much everything was was closed down Wednesday and Thursday, and still some stuff on Friday (today). We could get out of our garage (as opposed to the big blizaard of March 2003, which we all think dumped even more snow than this one) because our neighbor helped snowblow everyone's driveway.

This morning, Luka's school was open again (but between PreK1 and 2 they only had 10 kids) and I took him and Axel to school in the red sled. That was funny! It was hard in the deep snow (they kept falling out), so I pushed it from behind while walking in the deep stuff. Then, we got to the main street and it worked perfectly. Axel laid on his brother, and on the way back, I laid him down in the sled and with the warm sun, he fell asleep. Here are some pictures of our latest snow adventure.

Update December 27

Maybe there will be two "Billzards of 2006"! They are predicting another storm for tomorrow, between 2 inches and 3 feet. Quite a wide spread - we will see what we end up getting!

Axel calls Luka...

Luka's name, according to Axel, is "da". He looks around and calls for him by saying "Da". Close enough, I'd say! Too cute!

Trip to Florida: Dec 3 - Dec 10

Great fun on our trip to Florida, including:

Shuttle Launch Highlights



For more pictures of the Discovery Space Shuttle Launch, go here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bodeux/sets/
and click on Discovery Shuttle Launch 2006 and then Slide Show.

For a home movie of the blast off, go here:
jumpcut.com/ebodeux

Or click the thumbnail below:



- Seeing old friends at pre-launch brunch for shuttle pilot, Bill Oefelein.
- Exploring Kennedy Space Center - and the kid play area.
- Getting Luka a cool bomber jacket. We coveted the kid astronaut suites - they were way cool - but we figured we'd get more use out of the jacket and it is awesome too.
- Access to VIP viewing area - three miles away (or close, that is) to launch pad.
- Unobstructed view of launch pad and night launch. - Trying to see the shuttle launch, but having it scratched on Thurs, Dec 7, was still exciting. Lots of people! Lots of excitement and seeing the launch pad all lit up was cool. - Seeing the actual launch on Sat, Dec 9 was specatcular. - Seeing it take blast off, doing a "real" countdown, seeing go up into the heavens and become like a star.
- Running back to the buses to avoid the by-product of a cloud of hyrdochloric acid falling on us!
- The kids being troopers and liking the launch too (Luka: That was fun!; Axel: "Rrrrrr!" and pointing to the sky).

P.S. - The hotel in Cocoa Beach was not a highlight. The pool area looked fun, but it was too windy. First room we got, the door would not shut, then the next one had mold all over the wall. Ewwww! But, we finally got one that was acceptable. The staff was nice though. Holiday Inn in Cocoa Beach.

Disneyworld Highlights

For more pictures of our Disneyworld experience, go here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bodeux/sets/
and click on Disney Dec 2006 and then Slide Show.

- Luka loving the hotel and asking if it was Disneyworld. It was great a hotel for families with kids with its kidsuites rooms - room within a room - we had the space themed room and the nice pool. Also, it being off-season, it was pretty empty (less noisy) and we were on the first floor just next to the pool (great for letting Axel nap). It was close to Disneyworld, had a fridge and microwave, was fairly roomy, and, it was a "steal" at a $100 a night. See http://kidsuites.com/index.html.

- Luka loving Downtown Disney - free to walk around with fun stuff to see and some inexpensive kiddie rides (train, carousel) that he thought were great. Also, statues of characters for great photo ops.
- Getting candy at Goofy's candy shop there that later served us well on "It's A Small World".
- Two days at Disneyworld. Expensive tickets (around $400 for the four of us and Axel was free!), and it was tiring for the kids, but we had fun. I was surprised and glad that we could take Axel on most rides -- just not the roller coasters, so we rarely had to split up.
- Low season crowds. Waits were usually 5 - 10 minutes or no waits. Only "long" wait was Thunder Mtn. Railroad and that was 40 minutes--not fun with the kids, so it was confirmed we'd never go here in high season.
- Reynald's favorite land was "Frontierland".
- We all loved the fireworks (every night!) and the parades: we saw three -- one in day time and two at night.
- Eating at Cinerella's castle and taking pictures with her before eating.
- Getting free "admission" to Mickey's Christmas Party by just leaving Cinderella's dinner after Mickey's party had already started! (Other day time guests had to leave and pay for admission again if they wanted to attend Mickey's Party - saved us about $45/each, though we would not have gone to it otherwhise).
- Seeing Santa in Mickey's Party parade and at Downtown Disney. Axel put up with Santa and didn't scream, and Luka was enchanted. However, Luka was disturbed because, even though he sat on Santa's lap twice, we forgot to ask him where his reindeer were! I would think that is a FAQ and hope he has a good answer!
- Seeing princes and princesses. Luka asked especially if we'd see princes, and we were so glad we did: Prince Charming in parades and shows, with their princesses. His favorite was Sleeping Beauty.
- Character sightings and photos: Tigger, Pooh, Mary Poppins (whose accent Mommy has to imitate (and badly) often now), Wendy, Chip and Dale, the Fox from Briar Rabbit (I think?), Buzz, Mickey...and others I may have forgotten.
- The Bear Jamboree and the 3-D Mickey movie with Donalad Duck and the talking animals on the wall.
- Some food is really bad there. Disney, are you listening? Just because we are captive doesn't mean we all want to eat greasy crap. Ever hear of cheese sticks or yogurt tubes? Some food was okay though - but you had to look for it. Our food at Cinderella's Royal Table dinner was verrrrry expensive, but it was quite good (the main dishes that is, my dessert was not up to par for the price - but no big surprise)
Mickey's Toontown Fair was great for little kids. We should have gone there sooner!
- We used the Unofficial Guide to Disney and it was a great resource.
- We pretty much rode all the rides we wanted, and some a couple of times. Including:
+ Swiss Family Treehouse
+ Jungle Cruise
+ Pirates of the Caribbean - welcome Johnny Depp/Jack Sparrow (Reynald, then Luka & Mommy)
+ Splash Mountain (Reynald)
+ Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (Eve and Reynald separately using parents switching out program)
+ Tom Sawyer Island - great for little kids
+ Country Bear Jamboree - a Luka favorite. Axel nursed through it.
+ The Haunted Mansion - Luka was a trooper. It was scarier for little kids than the guide book said.
+ It's A Small World - twice as it was a favorite of all involved
+ Peter Pan's Flight - kind of scary for Luka
+ Mickey's PhilharMagic - neat 3D show with Donald
+ Cinderella's Golden Carrousel - at least twice
+ Dumbo the Flying Elephant (twice, but it was low season, so it went sort of fast - see guide book on this one!)
+ Mickey and Minnie's Houses
+ Judge's Tent to see Mickey (Dada and Luka)
+ Kids Play ground in Toontown
+ Donald's Boat (Mommy and Luka - no water though, wrong season)
+ Barnstormer at Goofy's Wiseacre Farm (Luka and Dada - kid rollercoaster)
+ Indy Speedway (Mommy in one and then Luka, Dada, Axel in another - they also went twice)
+ Space Mountain (Eve and Reynald separately)
+ Tomorrowland Transit Authority
+ Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin - one of the favs - the kids and I did it three times. Luka was a little frustrated with the guns - hard for him to shoot - but we thought it was one of the best rides since it was interactive.
+ Stich's Great Escape - hmmm. Good to try something different but kind of weird one.

We had a great time in Florida, but it was tiring, so I think we all appreciated coming home too!

Axel's fav "words"

Axel's alltime favorite word, we'd have to say is:
"ooths" or "oos" or "oosth" or however you'd spell it.

He also likes "dat" and "na....na....na...." and shaking his head to say "no".

But, "oos" gets him giggling the most and he thinks it is really funny when we say it back to him (though none of us can get it exactly right--it is Axel language!)

Oos! Oos! Oos!