School Vacation

We've had a surprisingly restful school vacation week with the exception of last night. Today is the much anticipated Stowe Derby race in which my husband always elects to do the Derbymeister -- two races instead of one, and the classic race, which takes off at noon, is typically a waxing nightmare causing racers to lose sleep the night before the big event. Check out the unusual race, which starts atop Mt. Mansfield and finishes down the rec path in Stowe Village at http://www.stowederby.com/.

Yes, we've had a crazy weather week -- nearly two feet of snow followed by rain and high winds and power outages, which provided us with a great opportunity for a candle-lit dinner. We've skied and shoveled paths around the house and through the yard. On an especially warm, wet day, we joined friends for swim time at a hotel pool. That was a great treat for the kids, although the recent power outage meant that the pool was cold and the hot tub was bath-tub temperature. The hot tub was huge and the kids actually swam a little in there, too.

But the best part of this vacation has been sleeping until about 7:30 a.m. every morning! My youngest daughter keeps asking where we are going -- Grampy's house, maybe? -- because she associates "vacation" with travel, a reasonable assumption. But, for once, we've focused as much on resting as doing this vacation, which is harder than it sounds.