Winter Blues....

Winter is usually my favourite season, but even I am reaching my breaking point.

When is it going to warm up?

Okay, I do not actually mind the snow, in fact I much prefer the snow than the disgusting brown goop – the mixture of mud, slush, dirt and a winter's worth of unburied dog excrement – that shows up each spring.

However, I am so sick of the cold. I am sick of wearing three layers of sweaters inside my house; I am sick of putting on my large, shapeless, yet remarkably warm coat every time I have to leave the house; I am sick of stomping around in boots that look like something astronauts wear; I am sick of being stuck inside my house because breathing while outside causes my nose hairs to freeze; and I am sick of getting fat, because I am trying to help heat the house by baking more.

I would like to pause this winter rant by thanking my parents for insisting that I learned to ski when I was little. If it was not for skiing, this winter would SUCK.

I am so very happy that my daughter LOVES to ski; it allows my family to do something fun, and outside in the winter. Also, since skiing is mainly a weekend activity, and there are really not that that many great weekends to ski each year, it does help make time fly a little bit.

So instead of: Oh crap! What do you mean there are three more weeks of winter!!!

It becomes: Drat! Only three more good ski days left... sigh...

Maybe I should hold off on hoping to finally put the winter gear away, and instead I should pull it all out, pack up and try to hit the slopes a couple more times before I start complaining about the summer heat, and dreaming about snow again.

Oh... screw that ... I am still not going to stop dreaming about a nice tropical beach vacation.

How are you beating the winter blues?

What is with the price of tickets....

During my recent vacation, we went to an ‘eco’ theme park in Mexico, where they charged children tickets based on height, NOT age. At the time, I thought it was interesting, a little bit odd, but interesting. And now, I think it should be done EVERYWHERE!

Last weekend, I took my little one to a water-park, you know, the ones with the wave pool, ‘children area’ and slides… I was flabbergasted (and trust me, I do not get to use the word flabbergast a lot) when I saw how much a kid’s ticket was. Kids THREE and up had to pay full adult fare. Yes THREE!

Now, this would not be so bad, if the three year old can take advantage of ALL the activities at the park, but there is a height restriction on the big slides (not that my little one would have stepped foot on the slide, heck, she did not even want to go on the baby slide, but this is more our problem than theirs.) Back to the problem… why in the world should I pay full price for my little one, when she can only use about 1/3 of the park? Heck, as I was there by myself, I was only able to use about 1/3 of the park - it is not like I am going to leave my toddler alone next to a pool while I go have fun on the tube slide… This was probably the most expensive couple of hours, of sitting in a pool in my life.

I think Mexico had it right; perhaps all theme parks should start selling tickets based on height. If a child can only use a certain percentage of the equipment, they should only have to pay a certain percentage of the price.

Now, I know why my parents insisted that I was 12 for about three years of my life.

photo courtesy of: Kevin Abbott (ka1970)