Ski holidays

We all seem to be more or less healthy again so now I have really got to get on top of this ski vacation and book something. Technically, I did tell B that I was done with being his personal travel agent after he changed the dates on me AGAIN. To borrow a line from Charlie Brown, I wanted to knock his block off. Honestly, he does this to me every single time. He tells me a date that he is free but doesn't write it on the calendar at work, so without fail, someone else books their holiday and then one day, as I am running through the details that I have sorted out, he casually mentions that the date I'm basing it all on is no longer any good for him. ARG.



When he did it to me two days ago, I flew off the handle and said to just forget about the entire vacation, in that case. I had spoken to my mom early in the day and she really wants us all to fly out to Phoenix in February or March and meet them. Now that they are practically retired, they are going to spend 6 weeks out in the sun and they are begging me to come and visit with the girls. How tempting. A bit of sun, a babysitter, Bravo tv... I told B that instead of starting all over with the stupid ski plans, I would just book airline tickets for a flight to Phoenix and be done with it.



But then I thought it over. If I think he is being such a jerk, what kind of punishment is it for me to save him money by not booking an expensive vacation, instead giving him two weeks of calm at home while I wrestle with two kids on an international flight? Basically, I would only be punishing myself. So, my new plan is to book the ski holiday outside of the vacance scolaire and maybe still take the trip to Phoenix with the girls while Ella is off school. Tickets are really cheap for February, although the flight is minimum 14 hours. Yikes.



Only, that means that I still have to find a hotel for a ski holiday....



Geez, I don't know why I am being such a baby about this. I just have to book a hotel. B, in a peace gesture, said that I could book anything I wanted, anywhere I wanted. I bumped into a good friend of mine yesterday who is Swiss and she suggested Villars-sur-Ollon as a great family ski station in Switzerland. It does look nice, but it also looks like it would be difficult for us to drive to. I found a really nice family hotel in Courcheval but I need to verify on the map where exactly Courcheval is (I have to admit that I am BAD at French geography). B suggested Avoriaz, but I think that is only because his brother said that we should go to Avoriaz.

And then I was thinking Meribel, because whenever we go to Tignes or Val d'Isere, we pass the turnoff for Meribel hours* before we reach our destination and each time, I think to myself, "Meribel is supposed to be nice. We should just stop here."



I just need to decide something. I promise, tomorrow, I will have this done.



In totally unrelated news, the sun was finally shining today, allowing me to escape the house for a few hours with Georgia. I don't know which of us needed it more. I walked all over as I had a few little errands that I had been putting off so long as the temp was in the negatives. I bought Georgia a pair of shoes. Aren't they cute? They are from the boutique Filament on rue de Lesdiguières in the 4th, just off the Bastille. They also sell fur liners to put inside, which turns them into the sweetest little winter boots but, unsurprisingly, Georgia's feet were too big to fit in the shoe with a liner so I ended up just getting the shoe. She already had a pair in Liberty print when she was tiny but I've always loved the ones in the metallic leather. After making the poor vendeuse empty the cupboard to show me all the colors they had in this size, I chose these in a color called mauve, although they look a bit more lavendar to me. If you are ever in the neighborhood, this is a shop worth stopping by. They have a great selection of kids toys and clothes. The dress-up costumes are amazing. The soft toys that they have are also incredibly unique. I just always find something here that I love.

On the way home, I dropped into Papier+ for another photo album for Ella. I have taken over the dining room table, spreading out all the photos in chronological order so it was rather irritating to realize that there were only 5 pages left in the last album. I refuse to pick up the mess, because once its out of sight, back in the boxes, I'm sure it will be months before I manage to get at it again. No, no. I just have to push through and get this done. Now that I have another album, it should be done by the end of the weekend. Once the girls are in bed, I can normally get a lot done. Now if only, I could find a nice album for Georgia... No matter how hard I try not to let things slip for baby number 2, I can see that I am not taking nearly as many photos as I did with Ella (which is frankly a good thing, no kid needs thousands of photos of themselves). Don't get me wrong, its not like her life has gone undocumented its just that my standards are a bit higher. She can't just sit there being cute, like Ella, she's got to actually do something. Thats setting the bar pretty high for a kid that can't even roll over yet... (Crazy but true. I've never seen her roll over, although I have found her in bed on her tummy once or twice, so I guess she can do it. But, on the other hand, she's almost walking on her own. )

I don't why I'm still typing. I've got a To Do list a mile long and no babysitter today. Lets see if I can actually make a decision and cross something of that list.





*Ok, well, not actually hours. But that last little bit of twisty turny driving really feels like takes as long as the autoroute part, Paris to Albertville.