Freakin' Freaky

On Friday, O and I went cross-country skiing with her entire 2nd grade class. It was a blast. The kids skied fabulously, and O and I had some wonderful quality time together.

Take this conversation, for example---

O: (struggling to get back up after a fall) Oh, this freakin' ski!

Me: O, you can't use that word.

O: What word?

Me: Freakin'.

O: Why?

Me: Well, because it's a bad word, or rather, it means a bad word.

O: I don't get it. I hear you say "freakin'."

Me: No. I say "freaking," like "I'm freaking out over here."

O: What's the difference?

Me: Well, it's okay to say "freaking out" but it's not okay to say "freakin' ski."

O: Why? What's the bad word that freakin' means?

Me: Oh, you know. That other bad "f" word.

O: What word?

Me: Oh, let's just please forget we had this conversation!

Later, that very same day, I overhear my children have this lovely conversation---

J: Oh, this freakin' pillow!

O: You can't say that.

J: Say what?

O: You can't say "freakin'." Mom said so.

J: Why?

O: Because it means a bad "f" word.

J: What does it mean?

O: I don't know. I think it means "friggin'." And you're not allowed to say "friggin'" either.

Oh my stars! I wanted to hide in the closet!

Here's the Great Thing About Where We Live

Yes, I complain about the snow. And the cold. And the huge sweaters and coats and jackets and hats and gloves. And yes, I hate dressing and undressing my children from snow pants and boots, both of which are usually very muddy. And I'm sick of kids with runny noses and wet dog prints on my shiny floors.

But here's the great thing about where we live.

We can go from here......

to here in about 45 minutes.
And we can have fun in the winter wonderland doing things like this...

and this....we finally made it to the yurt.... But when we're really sick of the snow, we can go here in about 2 hours.....

It's a tough life. But somebody's gotta do it.